Favorite Wiggle Wart Rod?

[Bluff-Bassin]

Hey all. Hopefully this hasn't been hashed alread, I did a search to no avail. I'm not looking for specific brand necessarily because everyone has their favorite rod company. But just curious if there is a certain length and action you prefer. Long rod, short rod, etc? They are a pretty light bait so does anyone use a longer rod 7'6"+ to get extra distance?

[dtrs5kprs]

Have two favorites. Both are longer, relatively soft. One is a homemade on the 7'6" Jann's JMX SJ9000 blank. Really a "hot shotting" blank for salmon cranking (hey, they use warts for that right?). Also works well for redfins. Posted a pic of it in one of the rod building threads here.

The other is a ridiculously old All Star 6'6" Zell Rowland topwater rod. Great for anything with trebles. Little scared to use it much b/c it would likely be impossible to replace.

Both those sticks are good for pulling the wart along, and allowing the fish to load up without going to a glass rod.

[Old plug]

Really? a special rod for a wiggle wart.

[MOsmallies]

Old Plug - You gotta start realizing that a lot of guys on here really enjoy the minute details and aspects of fishing. And we really enjoy discussing them and hearing what others use. There's a lot of people who enjoy using the best equipment they possibly can and don't mind paying the money for it... even if it's for one specific bait. I can tell you that I fish decent (but not nearly top end) equipment and if someone handed me something cheap, I wouldn't be able to effectively use it or enjoy using it nearly as much. Call me a gear snob, but I know I'm not the only one here

I personally use a 7'0" MH Shimano Compre TC4 Crankbait Rod with a 6.3:1 Shimano Curado and 10 to 12 lb P-Line CX Premium.... I haven't thrown the Wart to much in recent years, but I'm hoping to fish the early spring more this year and plan to give it a good work out on LOZ.

[Old plug]

well MOSallies the difference I think between most of you and me is I come from a different generation. I know what works for me and to be truthful after 65+ years of fishing it looks to me like there is no real need for a lot of is stuff.

[MOsmallies]

That's probably true... My 71 year old father-in-law still fishes with the same equipment he fished with back in the 80's and early 90's. I don't think he understands why I buy so much new equipment and upgrade it every few years but it's an addiction for me.

[dtrs5kprs]

well MOSallies the difference I think between most of you and me is I come from a different generation. I know what works for me and to be truthful after 65+ years of fishing it looks to me like there is no real need for a lot of is stuff.

My Zell Rowland stick would across definitions. Think I bought it in 97-98 or so, and it gets used for anything hard that is not DD22 size. Warts, sticks, spooks, chuggers, fins, square bills. I just keep an extra reel along to quickly swap line size for different applications.

As a replacement I have a couple of 6'6" St Croix Premiers that feel about the same. One is in the crankbait series and is a little softer, more moderate throughout the blank.

[Old plug]

ADDICTION!!!!! Never have i used that word. I always used NEED. My wife however has referred to it in terms I have not heard since I was a sailor. I guess just feel like there are a lot of outfits out there plying on our NEED. A lot of these pros are running around displaying the rod and reel they are using because they had better do it are somebody will pull a support plug. You will never hear one say he likes something else as well when in truth he does not think there is a dines worth of differance. You know some of these guys use that rod and reel only a short time then it winds up in a shed or a basement with many more like them. I can guarantee you the sponsor does not want something to break down with a bunch of people around. I do not trust pure graphite much in really cold weather. I had a Jonny Morris one time that I liked real well I used to drive a lot of cast with it.Then one day making a driven cast in the high 30s the rod snapped into 4 pieces in my hand. It felt like firing a pistol. I have never had that happen with my favored Ugly sticks. Even though they are considered by some somewhat inferior as a fishing rod. I get in close to 300 days a year averaging about 4 hours or more a day. But I am still fishing Ugly Stik rods I bought in 1976 when they hit the market.

As for as reels I am as old as dirt. I really like Garcia. A Garcia reel is easy to clean, easy to repair and has long long life span. Another reason is I have a friend that does a lot of rod and reel repair. His back counter often has nothing back there but expensive reels in need of expensive parts to repair. I do have a new Quantum Kinetic that I bought for on one of those new Ugly stik Pro lite rods. The reason is Arthritis. I am looking to something lighter to flip and pitch in back of docks. Until the last year or so I never used any anti backlash. I still do not 90% of the time but that is why I bought the Kinetic.

I tend to be the same way about lures. Although I do not have many lures but have boxes and boxes of some I don't use anymore. It seems to me if you have a few that you know them backwards and forwards your going to save yourself a lot of frustration about what they are hitting on when its how they are hitting. a lot of lures will do a lot of different things. I just try to know everything about a lure. Sometimes if you have a bunch to choose from your digging in the tackle and I believe it can certainly hamper you success rate. I have one new lure and that is the BBZ . I look forward to a year of getting to understand it completely.

I guess what I am saying is in my old ways I

[Jerry Rapp]

as long as you addiction advocates have your retirement system in place, and your kids college education in your financial plan, then go buy and whatever you want. Old Plug is very wise. Some don't like to hear that, but that is real life stuff. I still have some 5500c's still in use. They work fine. And my Berkley Lightning Rods are still performing very well. Just be sure to keep everything in perspective.

[rps]

A couple of years ago, while I was recovering from surgery, Hoglaw finished a rod for me made from a St. Croix Scii 70 inch blank with a medium power and a moderate flex. Best wart rod ever!