Spinning Rods

[Terrierman]

I've got a 6'6" light / fast Clarus. I pretty much exclusively fish the rivers and creeks and find it to be plenty for any of my needs. I really like that rod a lot.

Guessing that for what you are wanting the medium / fast would be plenty stout enough.

[Bill Babler]

Line weights and how they preform with certain rods are printed on most all the top end rods. Very similar to a fly rod, you want to stick with the weights of line that the rod company says preform the best on their particular blank.

Example if you chose a light or mid light action rod with a Moderate flex and the extreme top line rating on that blank is 10 or 12 pound test, you will not get the performance you desire. Say if you chose that medium to medium heavy and throw 8 or 10 pound test with a Full or Moderate Full Flex you will be much happier and the rod will preform as you expect it to.

Also most all top end manufactures will not only post on the rod the weight of the rod, but will also give you a flex indicator. This is another great step in providing you information on the performance of the rod. Falcon offers Rod Flexes in XF-F-MF-M-S

A 6'6" to 7' Cara with a Fast tip with a 3/8oz. jig will pretty much if you want throw the entire spool of 8# mono on either a 2500 series Excellor or a Stradic. When casting distance is of real importance and for us here with our super clear water on the Rock it is most times. I will chose a fast tip or a tipflex rod.

Baits such as a tube, shaky head, 3/8th. or lighter jig, jerkbait, and topwater baits work extremely well on the MH Fast flex. for cranking you need to move to a Medium flex. For drop shotting I prefer a 7' medium with a Medium/fast flex. I don't want it all on the tip, I like my rod to give some help to the line and the bait that is sometimes as close as 15' from the tip. Very seldom even with a to big hook set on a drop shot will I have someone break the line by using a Medium flex rod. A tip flex on a short string will break them time after time.

I have also been having folks ask about the IM rating of the graphite in rods. Pretty much right now I believe both Falcon and St. Croix are using what both are calling on their top end rods a 120 modulus 100% graphite.

[Jacob W]

Falcon rods will also have the power of the blank labeled in with the model number, as do other high end rods makers. Cc-5-17mh-t7 model is a "5" weight medium heavy, a 4 would be more of a medium action, and a "7" would be more stiffer heavy action.

[hknfsh]

Good information indeed. Sorta gettin' the Falcon bug now. But as was mentioned.....the shimano clarus is a very good rod for the money.

[hknfsh]

Good information indeed. Sorta gettin' the Falcon bug now. But as was mentioned.....the shimano clarus is a very good rod for the money.

[Football Head]

You will never go wrong with a Falcon

[Old plug]

I do not like Fast tip In the fast tip range for action. Just pick the rod up off the rack and put the tip on the floor upside down and flex the rod you can see the action and feel the strenght. I will not buy a rod unless I have ran it through that test. MH with a M action jist about covers all my fishing needs. I have a M with M action that I like to use with early spring Rouge and other lures. It delivers the rouge softly. That is the reason I can cast a Rouge without a lot of problems. As far as I am concerned a heavier rod with a fast tip is a fish loosing rod.

[Champ188]

My 2 cents would be to buy the very best rod you can afford. A Clarus is a good rod but it's a rather low-modulus rod that is better suited for throwing "winding" baits that move fast and elicit reaction strikes. The lures you mention above are all "dragging" baits, which require that you detect the strike and set the hook. You will feel far more bites with a higher-modulus graphite. Yes, you will pay more but in the grand scheme of things, you'll likely be glad you spent another $80 to $100 and upgraded to a better-quality rod.

If he hasn't sold them, the Falcon Caras that Bill mentioned would do you very proud. My prized shaky-head spinning rod is a St. Croix Avid series, and you might look into something like that.

A veteran BASS tournament pro once told me, "Sometimes you want hi-tech and sometimes you want low-tech." With dragging baits, you want hi-tech (high-modulus graphite) for the added feel it gives you. For moving baits, you want low-tech for the forgiveness you get from a spongier rod when setting the hook and playing a fish.

Hope this helps some.

[Old plug]

I make no distinction between what is winding,dragging, cranking or a dozen or so other applications they claim (for sales purposes) you need. Heavy or light application and how well its constructed is all. I want is it to feel comfortable in my hands. I will throw whatever I want on the rod. Feel is a developed skill for the most part. If it was not you could not tell the difference between bumping a rock and a hit.

[abkeenan]

My 2 cents would be to buy the very best rod you can afford. A Clarus is a good rod but it's a rather low-modulus rod that is better suited for throwing "winding" baits that move fast and elicit reaction strikes. The lures you mention above are all "dragging" baits, which require that you detect the strike and set the hook. You will feel far more bites with a higher-modulus graphite. Yes, you will pay more but in the grand scheme of things, you'll likely be glad you spent another $80 to $100 and upgraded to a better-quality rod.

If he hasn't sold them, the Falcon Caras that Bill mentioned would do you very proud. My prized shaky-head spinning rod is a St. Croix Avid series, and you might look into something like that.

A veteran BASS tournament pro once told me, "Sometimes you want hi-tech and sometimes you want low-tech." With dragging baits, you want hi-tech (high-modulus graphite) for the added feel it gives you. For moving baits, you want low-tech for the forgiveness you get from a spongier rod when setting the hook and playing a fish.

Hope this helps some.

^---Every word of this is spot on.