Casting Rod Observations

[Mitch f]

1. My quest to find a casting rod for the river that's 6'2" or less and throw an 1/8th oz jig has reached critical mass. Since I do mostly river fishing in cold weather, I want to be able to throw smallish hair jigs or crawfish with a baitcasting rod. The only reason I use a spinning rod is because right now I have no other choice, except like Al once said you use a baitcaster and re-teach your thumb to release earlier than normal. You need the shorter rod on the river to get under the low hanging branches and since I like to use a side arm cast, I feel a 7 ft rod is just too inaccurate. Besides most lures work better with a shorter more accurate cast at the "zone of ideal effectiveness" at a certain distance from the boat. I went to Cabelas the other day in my search and went up to the counter...."Can I help you find something Sir? Maybe I said, but it might be a tall order. "what is it that you need?" I told him I wanted a casting rod 6"2 or less to throw and 1/8th oz jig. "Thats no problem". Off we walked to the St. Croix section, as he started looking thru all the rods he soon realized the lowest rated rod was 1/4 oz at minimum. "HMMM", he said, "I guess I thought you said 1/4 oz". For the next hour we looked at every rod in the store and on the Cabelas web site....Nothing. Finally we both agreed the the best way was to make a custom rod from a blank, One with a fast or extra fast tip, medium or medium light. The only ones close are drop shot rods that are usually 6'10 to 7" long. I think Im going to have another project to work on now. Ha, like I really need another project.

2. I've come to the conclusion that crank bait rods are becoming more and more a useless product designed by rod manufacturers to sell you another rod. I realize the intent is to have a limber enough rod to keep you from pulling small trebles out of a fish's mouth. That's right if you are using extra small trebles. With the invention of EWG trebles, which penetrate so deep I think the days of a cranbait rod are numbered. Even though they load up and cast a mile, CB rods have little or no feeling at all and I think a big fish can swim up and in one motion grab your crank bait and spit it out without you even knowing what happened. I've lost more fish by not getting enough strength in the initial take than pulling a hook out of the fish's mouth. Now if you are lake fishing and are throwing deep diving crankbaits all day where you have to cast the lure a country mile I can see the usefullness of a limber CB rod.

[podum]

Mitch, I started a thread about this topic a couple years back. I'd be very interested to hear the results of your rod blank experiments. I'm still looking . . .

[Smalliebigs]

LOL.....Mitch we are friends and as you know looking for the same rod......the closest thing I can find that you and I want is made by Daiwa and it's called the Pixy and they are only made in Japan. I found a few on ebay for over $400 but, they look like what we are looking for.around here you will only find Pixy reels which are very nice for finesse casting....the rods are very hard to find and not cheap.

product idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rps]

I fish a 6' fast action, medium power SCV St. Croix blank I tied with Recoil micro guides in a spiral fashion with a split Fuji grip. It weighs nothing. I put a Revo MGX on it. It weighs nothing as well. I can easily fish 1/8 to 3/4 ounce baits. The only problem? Nearly $500 in the rig. Is it what I wanted? Oh yes!

[Mitch f]

LOL.....Mitch we are friends and as you know looking for the same rod......the closest thing I can find that you and I want is made by Daiwa and it's called the Pixy and they are only made in Japan. I found a few on ebay for over $400 but, they look like what we are looking for.around here you will only find Pixy reels which are very nice for finesse casting....the rods are very hard to find and not cheap.

product idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pixy sounds pretty gay!! LOL

[Wayne SW/MO]

A Falcon Low Rider will do it, the LFC-3-166 LR Finesse Special Will do it. It's rated 1/8th - 3/8th oz. Falcon for what ever reason puts a long handle on their casting rods and it's easy to chop 3" off the butt. I have this model with a Curado Bantom on it and you would never know it had been chopped 3".

[Guest]

I agree with the crappy crankbait rods.

I use a Falcon eakins jig special for deep divers and square bills.

Nothing beats an old pistol grip fenwick for short arming casts under limbs.

Just rig it with 8lb-10lb gamma and thumb it real good.

Growing up in the delta and fishing around cypress trees, demanded a short arm approach.

I know its a lost art, using the pistol grip but I even use it around boat docks during the spawn.

When Im cranking finesse sized cranks on the rivers, I go to a spinning rod 6'6 medium action.

I like the crappie crankbaits in a baby bass pattern or brown craw.

Bandit 100 is tough to beat.

I know another member, Hoglaw, that specializes in light custom rods built for the rivers.

He does top notch work too.

[Al Agnew]

It's a tall order to find a rod that can both handle the 1/8th ounce jigs AND have enough backbone to set the hook when using the jigs. It's almost a mutually exclusive thing. You need a fairly light power rod to load up when casting stuff that light, but you need about a medium power to have good, positive hooksets. And when you add in the fact that shorter rods are hard to find these days, and rods of lighter than medium power are just as hard to find, I'm not surprised you didn't find anything among all the rods in the store. I did the same thing at the Springfield Bass Pro. That Falcon Low Rider that Wayne talked about should be about as good as you'll find, and so far, I haven't found that rod in any store I've been in.

I bought a Gary Loomis Temple Fork Outfitters rod, 6.5' medium action, rated 6-12 lb. line and 1/4-3/4 ounce lures, to do exactly what you are wanting, as you know. It barely loads up enough to cast the light jigs, but I can cast them well. I wouldn't say it's the most accurate rod to cast. It does set hooks well. My former rod was a Kistler Helium 6'3" that was really sweet, but I broke it.

As for crankbait rods, I've still not completely figured out WHY you want a more moderate action rod for crankbaits, but as a long time crankbait angler who has gone through a lot of rods, I just know that if you're using a rod that has a fast action, you'll miss more fish, or lose more fish in the first few seconds. It really doesn't make sense to me, but it has held true to some extent...whenever I've tried a fast action rod with cranks, it just doesn't work quite as well. But I can't stand the feel of a glass or composite rod like most of the less expensive crankbait rods are. Glass is heavier and mushier, and makes for a very inferior rod in my opinion. So you're left with looking for moderate action graphites, which are also rather difficult to find. I use a Loomis crankbait rod in the jetboat, and a BPS 5.5 ft. medium action Tourney Special in the canoe--it's pretty cheap, and the cheaper graphites often tend to be a more moderate action, which is certainly the case with that rod.

[Smalliebigs]

Al, do you like the GL /TFO 6.6 baitcaster??? I bought two on when Andy posted a link to buy them for $50 and bought two.....haven't used them yet.

[Gavin]

Short casters are tough to find...I made 2 5' casters last year...not quite happy with either. Was planning at least one more for this season...Probably one of the 5'6" model, maybe a 6' too.

http://www.northforkcomposites.com/catalog/bass