Looking for a Crank Bait Rod

[DavidSA]

John-

I'm a strong believer that crankbait rods can help you hook more fish relative to some stiff fast action rods. I spent a season fishing crankbaits on what I later found out was a fast action rod and missed more fish then I'd missed the previous 5 years. As an experiement, I switched to a cheap bps cranking rod and the hookup problem went away immediately. My only issue was that at 7ft it was heavy and I lost sensitivity.

Over time, I wanted a better cranking rod and ended up buying an Airrus 6ft rod that they are closing out for about $70 delivered to my house. I've fished it most of the season and like it a great deal. One of the things I like about it is that I can fish virtually any crankbait in my box on this rod. Normally I throw 1/2oz cranks but sometimes more, sometimes less and I can throw them all plenty far with a regular curado with 15lb test on it. I'm sure if I bought multiple lenghts of cranking sticks in different powers, I might get slightly better performance but I don't want a boat full of cranking rods. I wont' claim the airrus better then the other recommendations above this post but for my money, it gets the job done for me.

One other alternative I will mention in case you don't throw crankbaits very often. I have a 6.6M Moderate action co-matrix spinning rod that I have used to throw smaller crankbaits over the last few years. Coupled with 15lb Pline braid and a stadic spinning reel his rig transfers an incredible amount of feedback to your hand and I have not lost any fish that I'm aware with this rig. I fished it in a tree infested lake and could tell exactly what my bait was doing. My fishing partners were equally as impressed. I don't recommend spinning gear for cranking because if I do it all day I get very fatigued but if you don't crank much this might be an option that gives you more flexibility. best of luck

[John Gaustad]

Sorry I haven't replied to all of you for your suggestions but I've been out of town working (shudder).

Thanks to all of you. I could probably get by with a 6 to 6'2" one piece rod. I'll check out the various rods y'all suggested.

I don't suppose anyone uses something so gauche as an Ugly Stick in 6.5 to 7.0 range (two piece of course) for this application?