Super Ultralight JDM Length

How small is your rod and how light is your line? It's not about the size of your tackle, but how you work it. Come share your Ultralight and Bait Finesse System (BFS) fishing success here!
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Quailtail 1
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Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by Quailtail 1 » Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:12 pm

All my fishing is done from a boat and was wondering the best length rod to find. I have always thought the longer the rod, the further you could cast the bait. However I may not be correct in this assumption. I am looking to purchase a ultratralight JDM rod or even a super ultratralight. I don't fish for trout but for bluegill and crappie. Your comments, suggestions, would be appreciated.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by Alphahawk » Tue Aug 06, 2019 6:39 pm

Quailtail 1 wrote:
Tue Aug 06, 2019 5:12 pm
All my fishing is done from a boat and was wondering the best length rod to find. I have always thought the longer the rod, the further you could cast the bait. However I may not be correct in this assumption. I am looking to purchase a ultratralight JDM rod or even a super ultratralight. I don't fish for trout but for bluegill and crappie. Your comments, suggestions, would be appreciated.
Longer rod doesn’t necessarily mean more distance. I have an 8’ 3” Blue Current TZ that does not cast a 1 gram any farther than my 6’ 10” Blue Current TZ. A lot comes into play concerning casting distance. I don’t have a big difference in casting a 1 gram jig head between a Banshee 6 foot SUL and a Banshee 6’ 7” UL rod. The 6’ 7” does cast a little farther but nothing to write home about. If you’re looking to purchase an Area Trout Rod.....which is mostly where you will find SUL and XUL power rods. A rod length of around 6’ 6” is probably going to be max length in SUL or XUL. You can find some area UL rods in the 6’ 7” range. Abu Garcia has a line of XUL and SUL hybrid light game rods......the Eradicator Real Finesse Series. They have an 6’ 9” in XUL and a SUL in 7’ 3”......along with a SUL at 6’ 7”. These are interesting rods to me and we will get a full report on the 6’ 7” SUL model in about a week. Fishing in a boat when you get into rods in the 6’ 8’ range and longer you will need a somewhat decent length landing net. Landing fish with my rods 6’ 7” and shorter I get away with a landing net with a handle of 26 inches....going to longer rods I need the longer net. As to which rod to recommend....of course there is the Super Bellezza.....which is very expensive. You really have quite a selection of Area Trout Rods in the 170-450 dollar range. The “New” Fine Tail from Major Craft looks interesting but am waiting on Digitaka to get back with me on the weight of the rod....it comes in at 175 bucks for a 6’ 3” SUL. While not high end Major Craft is known for giving great value for the money.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by poisonokie » Tue Aug 06, 2019 6:47 pm

Well, from a purely physical standpoint a long rod should cast further simply because the tip follows a longer arc and therefore travels faster. Of course if it's too stiff it won't load and can't catapult your bait out there, so you won't get much distance at all. On the other hand, if it's too soft it will overload so you might be able to cast further but at the expense of accuracy. There are a lot of factors to consider as far as distance is concerned, chief among them are the crispness of the rod and making sure to cast weights in the rod's sweet spot. I have short rods capable of casting just as far as their longer counterparts and with more accuracy. Obviously there are external factors ranging from the reel, line, and casting technique as well. I say go with a rod that best suits your style and the techniques you plan on using. Personally, I don't like anything over seven feet for any technique because it doesn't seem to help much at all for distance, sensitivity or hook setting power, and versatility tends to suffer.
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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by ultralight » Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:08 am

Agree. Good posts all.

The lighter the lure, the less rod length makes a difference as guide drag, air friction etc all now accounts for a greater percentage of casting distance losses. I recently tried a 5' 6" that blew my mind as it cast within a foot of a 6' 10" rod that has really good casting distance. So I am rethinking my paradigm as shorter rods are simply easier to handle.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by Alphahawk » Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:06 pm

ultralight wrote:
Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:08 am
Agree. Good posts all.

The lighter the lure, the less rod length makes a difference as guide drag, air friction etc all now accounts for a greater percentage of casting distance losses. I recently tried a 5' 6" that blew my mind as it cast within a foot of a 6' 10" rod that has really good casting distance. So I am rethinking my paradigm as shorter rods are simply easier to handle.
I agree. My sweet spot for a long time was the 6’ 9”-6’ 11” range. After using the 6 foot super ultra light I am now more apt to get rods in the 6 foot range.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by ultralight » Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:29 pm

This is why I said that of the 'budget' made in Japan JDM Ul rods, I believe that the Corto 6' 1" to be the sweet spot for 'bang for the buck'. If I did not build my rods, I would have one of those for my regular rotation.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by edwelch1 » Thu Aug 08, 2019 8:08 am

I really enjoy the 6'4" length on my St. Croix Legend Elite Panfish LXF, which is technically a light power, but I still consider it as an ultralight family rod. I went back and forth between the 6' ULF and the 6'4" LXF in the store, and more-so settled on the LXF because the action felt a bit better to me, and I liked that it had a bit more backbone than the ULF. Rod length on either would have been fine for me. The longer 6'9" and 7' rods felt like too much length for such a light power rod, where I wouldn't see much benefit to having the extra length, at least fishing from a boat. Even though it's rated for 1/16-3/16oz, my 6'4" LXF loads up and casts plenty well enough with 1/64oz jig heads tipped with 1.5-2" plastics, where I don't see a need to try and squeeze any more distance out of a rod by getting a longer version.

I know most JDM UL rods are 2+ piece rods, but some of the shorter ones come in 1 piece, and I prefer 1 piece rods, so if I were looking at JDM UL rods, I would definitely be looking first at the shorter 1 piece rods.
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Balance on length...

Post by ultralight » Thu Aug 08, 2019 9:43 am

I also like 1 piece myself, and go as long as 8 ft 1 piece.

Regarding length, I want to add a bit of balance to my comments. Longer UL rods do offer some substantive advantages, a primary one is to give more leverage on the fish as the line can be more vertical in its angle, and stress the fish faster. Secondly, it allows you to move the line around and over obstacles. I fished last year at a lake that has many bushes etc (caught my year's PB on this lake - a number of 3-5 lb trout) and most of the good fisherman well versed with this lake use 8 feet long UL rods.


So there's no 'one size fits all' length and casting distance is one consideration among many.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by Quailtail 1 » Sat Aug 10, 2019 2:08 pm

I know Major Craft has nice rods as I have one from them. What other brands/manufacturer should I be looking for. The Super Bellezza as Alphahawk mentioned is in short supply. Besides it is nearing the 500.00 mark.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by Knotty » Sun Aug 11, 2019 7:30 am

I'm in agreement with the others who say length doesn't gain much, if any, distance with very light lures and rods. I can cast a Trout Magnet about the same distance with a 4'6" Daiwa XUL, a 6'6" Teton SUL or a 7'6" Kuying ajing. At some point you're just overloading the tip. That idea is more apparent in fly casting where it's all about controlled loading and unloading of the rod. Try to put power into a 2 wt and it gets you a bunch of nothing. With UL and lighter rods I often find myself working too hard to get distance when a more relaxed can do the job better.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by ultralight » Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:02 pm

4' 6" as far as the 6 or 7 footers? Wow. That I've not experienced myself. My 4+ footers do cast significantly less but perhaps I need to build one for all out casting performance and see how that goes. (perfect train alignment in the guides/reel, and top end Torzites) 4 footers are way easier to handle than the longer rods obviously.

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Re: Super Ultralight JDM Length

Post by Knotty » Fri Aug 16, 2019 5:54 pm

ultralight wrote:
Thu Aug 15, 2019 6:02 pm
4' 6" as far as the 6 or 7 footers? Wow. That I've not experienced myself. My 4+ footers do cast significantly less but perhaps I need to build one for all out casting performance and see how that goes. (perfect train alignment in the guides/reel, and top end Torzites) 4 footers are way easier to handle than the longer rods obviously.
FWIW, I'm only talking about lures around 1 g. At 2.5 the 7'6" ajing will definitely outcast the 4'6" XUL AGS. Also, for full disclosure, I'm just going by what I see. Have never cast them side by side or measured distances.

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