What kind of rod am i looking for?

[dnullify]

I've only ever had Medium Heavy and Heavy action rods, as I spent all of college fishing the CA delta. Now I'm fishing mostly coverless rocky reservoirs/perc ponds I'm finding myself fishing mostly lighter bottom contact baits as I fish from the bank (and hate loosing hard baits). I was looking into a new spinning rod as I don't really like my current one - however I thought I might look into a light weight/finesse casting setup.

However from what I've seen on youtube, a lot of "BFS" baits are smaller than what I throw on my spinning rod right now - I'm not sure what action/lure rating I should be considering for my use. I don't like to carry many rods with me so I tend to stretch the limits of my rods.

I like to throw small t-rig worms/craws with a 1/8oz bullet (I snag significantly more with more weight), shakey heads/ned rigs, finesse jigs, 3.8" keitechs, and small topwater. Line will probably be around 8lb copoly or 15lb braid. I'm probably going to relegate my tatula CT to this, but am looking into a SV/Air spooled daiwa if I need one.

I honestly don't know what action/power rod I need. I do know that the stated action/power and the actual performance varies from brand to brand, and i don't have enough experience to know what I need. I'm having trouble getting the distance/aim i need my dobyns 734 with lighter stuff right now - however I also don't want to be underpowered and not have enough rod to set the hook or pop the bait over rocks. Any advice would be appreciated.

[TommyG]

http://www.kistlerrods.com/store/fishin ... _1Y44WcF9A
Won't break the bank.

[jtgibso1]

rather than the power/action specifics, since you know they vary by brand, i'd look at the rod lure ratings. something that goes around 1/8-1/2 or 1/8-5/8 would be good because anything heavier you can go to the 734 you already have. either a fast or an extra fast action would be best for the single hook bottom contact baits you're fishing.
if you throw out a price range on what you expect to spend that might help narrow down the search a little bit.

[dnullify]

http://www.kistlerrods.com/store/fishin ... _1Y44WcF9A
Won't break the bank.

That rod sounds interesting, I've never heard of a light-medium-heavy. 1/8-3/4? That sounds crazy.

rather than the power/action specifics, since you know they vary by brand, i'd look at the rod lure ratings. something that goes around 1/8-1/2 or 1/8-5/8 would be good because anything heavier you can go to the 734 you already have. either a fast or an extra fast action would be best for the single hook bottom contact baits you're fishing.
if you throw out a price range on what you expect to spend that might help narrow down the search a little bit.

That's what I've figured. I wasn't sure how brand-specific lure ratings are, or if they were as comparatively useless as power ratings. My shimano compre heavy and Dobyns fury 734 both have the same lure rating, but I've been able to get away with a lot lighter lures on my Dobyns than my compre. I was hoping to spend $125 or less, although if there's no improvement over what I've got in that price range I'll wait and save up.

What relationship if any does power have with sensitivity? I know having a faster tip will help with imparting action to the bait, but assuming I'm using lighter wire hooks, but would going lighter than necessary on a rod make me miss some bites?

[bigfruits]

it sounds like youre throwing about 1/4oz total weight. a zman trd is 4.2g and after you add a 1/16oz weight you are at 6g. ML or M depending on manufacturer.

i have an NRX 852s (1/8-3/8oz) which is my favorite spinning rod by far. it has a lot of power but can cast light lures very well.

i would take a hard look at the 852c. if you are going to be throwing 1/8oz total weight i would not recommend the 852 and would get something lighter.

[jtgibso1]

i don't think you're going to find an 852 nrx for $125 or less, but if you do let me know and you can buy one for me too!
power has nothing to do with sensitivity and if you're going to use 15lb braid, you shouldn't be missing any bites even going light with the rod. i have a phenix recon 2 682c that's good for throwing fairly light baits and i use 15lb braid on that one and have no issues on hooking up.

[dnullify]

it sounds like youre throwing about 1/4oz total weight. a zman trd is 4.2g and after you add a 1/16oz weight you are at 6g. ML or M depending on manufacturer.

i have an NRX 852s (1/8-3/8oz) which is my favorite spinning rod by far. it has a lot of power but can cast light lures very well.

i would take a hard look at the 852c. if you are going to be throwing 1/8oz total weight i would not recommend the 852 and would get something lighter.

So I'm most probably not in the BFS range, I gather. Even my dropshot rigs are 1/8th oz sinkers with 5" roboworms or the likes. One day I'd love to own a rod like that, right now being a bank angler it's too large an investment right now.

i don't think you're going to find an 852 nrx for $125 or less, but if you do let me know and you can buy one for me too!
power has nothing to do with sensitivity and if you're going to use 15lb braid, you shouldn't be missing any bites even going light with the rod. i have a phenix recon 2 682c that's good for throwing fairly light baits and i use 15lb braid on that one and have no issues on hooking up.

I've been contemplating switching up my yo-zuri hybrid to 50lb braid with a long fluoro leader to fix that very problem with my 734/Tatula CT combo. I've never caught a fish at the end of my long casts which begs the question of whether i'm just missing a lot of bites entirely! Do you think the Phenix maxim 7'3" ML would be in the ballpark of what I'm looking for, or something that's 1/8-5/8 would be better suited? The maxim's skip over M, so I'm assuming they designed the MH to deal with the top end of the weights.

Come to think of it, if $125 is too limiting I can save up for a bit and stretch it out farther. I only get to fish 2-4x a week and the bite locally is so bad I'm in no rush to get a new setup. I think tomorrow I'm going to have to bring in my tackle bag and weigh out all of my rigs and lures to get a good idea of the weights I throw. I know I've got jigs/frogs/swim jigs/spinnerbaits well covered with the rods I have now - which is funny because they're the baits I throw infrequently.

[adam lancia]

Try one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Daiwa-Tatula-Sp ... qO&vxp=mtr Won't break the bank, light and pretty sensitive.

[bigfruits]

i don't think you're going to find an 852 nrx for $125 or less, but if you do let me know and you can buy one for me too!

sorry! missed the price range.

[cortman]

I have a setup that seems kind of similar to what you're looking at. It's a Medium power Fast action 13 Fishing Omen Black, 6'10", with a Lews Team Lews Lite reel in 6.8:1. With super thin 20 lb Seaguar braid and an 8 lb leader it throws 1/8 to 3/8 oz baits perfectly. Not quite BFS but on the lighter side.

[dnullify]

Daiwa has a tatula rod that is 6'10" M XF, with a rating of 3/32 - 1 oz, which is a crazy wide range. I have zero experience with Daiwa rods but I've read their power descriptions are kinda all over the place. Is the XF tip too fast, or better for bottom contact baits? All the other medium Daiwa rods in the lineup are "regular" tipped and rated 1/4-1 which is what my 734C fury is.

nevermind, I googled and it's got the megatop tip meant for drop-shotting. Probably way to flexible for texas rigs.

[LowRange]

Daiwa has a tatula rod that is 6'10" M XF, with a rating of 3/32 - 1 oz, which is a crazy wide range. I have zero experience with Daiwa rods but I've read their power descriptions are kinda all over the place. Is the XF tip too fast, or better for bottom contact baits? All the other medium Daiwa rods in the lineup are "regular" tipped and rated 1/4-1 which is what my 734C fury is.

nevermind, I googled and it's got the megatop tip meant for drop-shotting. Probably way to flexible for texas rigs.

I've got that rod and admittedly I've only fished with it once with a booya pond magic spinner bait but think it would be great at 1/8 ounce sinker texas rigs.

[dnullify]

It's definitely interesting. Read a few threads on it and opinions seem to be all over the place, granted there doesn't seem to be much consensus on what to do with it or what it's for. How is the distance casting things like 1/8th t-rigs? I read somewhere that if it's too light you'll loose accuracy, too heavy and the tip loads up too fast on the cast hurting distance. Otherwise it sounds like a fun rod, I tend to catch smaller fish and horsing them in is less fun then a good fight.

It's $109, might be worth a try. Only other rods in that price range i've found so far is the Phenix maxim ML which seems to be a more traditional ML 1/8-3/8 which is probably too light. I'll start looking for traditional medium rod 1/8-5/8 rod or 1/4-3/4.

[dnullify]

I brought in my Tackle bag today and weighed out all my favorite baits.

Further all my dropshot sinkers are either 1/8 or 3/16, same as my shakey heads, both of which i either use trick worms or roboworms.
I've read pretty much every post regarding the Tatula 6101MXB I can honestly not figure out whether it will work for bottom-contact finesse uses. I've never handled a solid-tipped rod, I have no idea how it casts. Judging by the numbers, most of what I throw finesse-wise is between 8 - 12g. Definitely not BFS.

rather than the power/action specifics, since you know they vary by brand, i'd look at the rod lure ratings. something that goes around 1/8-1/2 or 1/8-5/8 would be good because anything heavier you can go to the 734 you already have. either a fast or an extra fast action would be best for the single hook bottom contact baits you're fishing.
if you throw out a price range on what you expect to spend that might help narrow down the search a little bit.

I was fishing the Mag II + 3/16 yesterday on my 734 and was casting plenty far, but that's more than 3/8 oz which is well within that rod's ratings so you're right the rod i'm looking for is somewhere between 1/8oz - 5/8. The tatula sounds about right, except I'm reading that some are saying it's not so good for horizontal bottom presentations (from the bank everything's horizontal). The Phenix Maxim is 1/8-1/2, but it's got a moderate tip and based on a video i saw it's kinda wet noodle-y. I'm having trouble finding alternatives under $175.

[LowRange]

If I were to use a rod from my arsenal to fished what you have listed, I would use either my Zodias 610ML or my Tatula 610M. The neat thing about the Tatula 610M is that the solid tip is only 8 inches long and really only the 1st 4 inches are extra fast and soft. The Zodias ML falls right in line with the range of baits you have listed and while it is versatile enough to do bottom contact but it's not a purpose built bottom contact rod. The Zodias 172M is rated at 1/4-3/4 but is stiff tipped making it poor at 1/4 ounce and is mod-fast in taper making it a far cry from being a bottom contact rod.

I would look for something rated down to 3/16 ounce like a GLoomis BCR663 or something but longer.