Rod for 1/16-1/8oz jigs

[Craiger12]

Looking for a rod to throw 1/16-1/8oz jigs plus plastic and 1/8oz hair jigs for trout in streams and rivers. I'm thinking an ajing rod will fit the bill best. Thinking something in the 6'-7' range for versatility in smaller streams and medium rivers. Rod will be paired with a 2000 size shallow spool Daiwa spinner and light braid to a fluoro leader. Any suggestions?

[Craiger12]

The Daiwa Gekkabijin Ajing rods look interesting. Anyone with any experience with these or other comparable ajing rods? I'm wondering if I would be best going with an UL rated up to 5g or a L rated up to 8g.

[City17Banner]

I typically don't fish jigs/soft plastics this heavy, so I took a 1/8th oz Keitech Tungsten Super Round Jig with a #1/0 hook and weighed it with a 3" Hazedong Shad soft plastic swimbait and came up with an average weight of 6.71 grams which puts this lure combination over the lure ratings of my EG Poseidon Salty Sensation UL rods such as the: Super Sensor (.1g-4.5g), Limber Tip (.1g-4.5g), and the D-Attacker (.1g-6g).

In this instance I would be leaning towards my favorite EG "light" powered rod which is the PSSS-74SBB "BB Hitman" and is my best all-around light panfish rod, however, this rod is 7'4" so it may be too long for the streams and rivers you will be fishing.

For lake fishing, I highly recommend the BB Hitman for general light panfish use on crappie, bluegills, yellow perch, and white bass from personal experience. I have my two BB Hitman rods paired up with 16 Shimano Vanquish C2000HGS spinning reels and the combination is simply a joy to fish.

Good luck on your rod search!

[Craiger12]

I typically don't fish jigs/soft plastics this heavy, so I took a 1/8th oz Keitech Tungsten Super Round Jig with a #1/0 hook and weighed it with a 3" Hazedong Shad soft plastic swimbait and came up with an average weight of 6.71 grams which puts this lure combination over the lure ratings of my EG Poseidon Salty Sensation UL rods such as the: Super Sensor (.1g-4.5g), Limber Tip (.1g-4.5g), and the D-Attacker (.1g-6g).

In this instance I would be leaning towards my favorite EG "light" powered rod which is the PSSS-74SBB "BB Hitman" and is my best all-around light panfish rod, however, this rod is 7'4" so it may be too long for the streams and rivers you will be fishing.

For lake fishing, I highly recommend the BB Hitman for general light panfish use on crappie, bluegills, yellow perch, and white bass from personal experience. I have my two BB Hitman rods paired up with 16 Shimano Vanquish C2000HGS spinning reels and the combination is simply a joy to fish.

Good luck on your rod search!

I greatly appreciate the detailed response. Let me be a little more specific...the jig heads I will be using will be the Keitech Tungsten Super Round Head in 1/16oz and 3/32oz with #4 hook mostly with 3" floating trout worms and similar plastics. I would also like to throw these same plastics on a split shot rig at times. Hopefully that will help you have a better idea of the total weight of the rigs I'll be using.

Unfortunately I think 7'4" will be much too long for my uses. I have never heard of any of the rods you mentioned but how would you describe the actions and how do they compare to ajing rods? I'm looking at the Daiwa Gekkabijin in the 5'10 UL and 6'2" L models currently but certainly open to other suggestions. I'm willing to spend a little more but would like to keep it around the $200 range.

[City17Banner]

Thank you for the very detailed response in return! Please let me apologize, after you spend enough time on TT, you just assume that everyone knows which Aji rods you are discussing by default.

All of my Ultralight and Light rods that I use for fishing panfish are last generation Evergreen International Poseidon Salty Sensation solid tip rod models and they are simply exquisite to fish in my experience. all of them exhibit true extra fast actions with good power starting about a quarter of the way down the blank.

For example, the Super Sensor is a true one-piece Aji rod that weighs 60g or 2.1oz, and when combined with the 17 Shimano Vanquish FW Tune 1000PS, I've been able to land smallmouth bass up to 22" in length after fantastic fights and judicious use of the Vanquish's stellar drag system. The solid tip helps provide extra sensitivity for these rods while also making the tip very brittle so it's a bit of a toss-up between the risk of rod tip breakage against having extraordinary sensitivity while jig fishing. So far in five seasons of fishing, I still have all of my rod tips despite crazy "incidental" fish catches including a 16# carp biting my slip bobber rig on one of my BB Hitman rods one spring day a few seasons ago.

Typically, I fish the 1/32oz Keitech Super Round Jig head with a #1 hook and either a 2" Sawamura One Up Shad, 2" Keitech Easy Shiner, or a 2" Fish Arrow Flash J Shad depending on how much flash and tail movement/vibration I want while fishing. The total combined weight of the jig head and these soft plastic lures is between 2.3g-2.6g so I hope that gives you a rough idea of how heavy these jig and lure combinations are in comparison to what you are intending to use. I can reliably cast this general presentation about 50-60 ft in ideal wind conditions with the Super Sensor which is 6'7" long, and about another 10 feet further on the BB Hitman which is 7'4" in length. Lastly, I fish only natural lakes and flowages (reservoirs with minor current flow) in MN and NW Wisconsin for reference.

I can't provide you any feedback on the Daiwa rods as I've never owned or fished with any of them before. I can, however, recommend the Tict Ice Cube IC-69P-Sis Rockin' Power (I swear that's the actual name of the rod model) as it has enough power to fish your rigs and is 6'9" in length and it has a fairly forgiving tip which may help you when roll casting while fishing in streams and rivers. You can find further information about this rod in the link below.

Otherwise, I'm certain one of the "regular UL" forum posters who has more knowledge about the Daiwa rods may be able to shed some light on these rods and their applicability for your specific fishing purposes. Good luck with your rod search sir!

Here's a Google Translation Link: https://tict--net-com.translate.goog/pr ... _tr_pto=sc

[Hobie-Wan Kenobi]

I just got a Gekkabijin AGS XUL BFS rod and that is insanely nice feeling rod. Super light, sensitive and very minimalist built.

I say that because people were talking about the Daiwa Gekkabijin spinning rods.

[City17Banner]

I just got a Gekkabijin AGS XUL BFS rod and that is insanely nice feeling rod. Super light, sensitive and very minimalist built.

I say that because people were talking about the Daiwa Gekkabijin spinning rods.

Thank you HWK. I knew you had a Gekkabijin BFS reel, but I didn't know if you also had a Gekkabijin rod too. I may have to give BFS a try one of these days!

[Alphahawk]

Ive owned Daiwa Gekkabijin Aji rods.....much too rigid for me. Take a look at the 2018 Corto's and the Tict Rockin' Power.


Regards

[Craiger12]

I know I have seen a thread around here on the Major Craft Aji-Do. Anyone else with any experience with these rods? I appreciate all the recommendations, I'm just trying to keep the price point closer to the $200 range. This is not a rod that will see a ton of use as this is a much smaller niche compared to my typical fishing.

[City17Banner]

I know I have seen a thread around here on the Major Craft Aji-Do. Anyone else with any experience with these rods? I appreciate all the recommendations, I'm just trying to keep the price point closer to the $200 range. This is not a rod that will see a ton of use as this is a much smaller niche compared to my typical fishing.

I have several Major Craft UL & L rods and the pair of remarkable Major Craft Truzer TZS-S652H/AJI rods is still in my boat as a light popper (DUO Poco Poco 40F) and all-around general use panfish rod since it literally can do it all. If this isn't your primary method of fishing, I could easily see the Major Craft Aji-Do 5G AD5-S682M/AJI as a great rod for this secondary fishing purpose.

If you are concerned about the overall quality of the Major Craft rod blank and rod components, don't be, my experience with the Truzer, Crosstage (slip bobber rigs), and Corza (bass rods) model lines has been fantastic with no failures of any note to date.

[Craiger12]

I know I have seen a thread around here on the Major Craft Aji-Do. Anyone else with any experience with these rods? I appreciate all the recommendations, I'm just trying to keep the price point closer to the $200 range. This is not a rod that will see a ton of use as this is a much smaller niche compared to my typical fishing.

I have several Major Craft UL & L rods and the pair of remarkable Major Craft Truzer TZS-S652H/AJI rods is still in my boat as a light popper (DUO Poco Poco 40F) and all-around general use panfish rod since it literally can do it all. If this isn't your primary method of fishing, I could easily see the Major Craft Aji-Do 5G AD5-S682M/AJI as a great rod for this secondary fishing purpose.

If you are concerned about the overall quality of the Major Craft rod blank and rod components, don't be, my experience with the Truzer, Crosstage (slip bobber rigs), and Corza (bass rods) model lines has been fantastic with no failures of any note to date.

Thanks again. I have no concerns about the quality of MC rods, just hoping it will fit my needs. Are you suggesting the M vs L version of the Aji-Do simply based on the rod's rating of up to 3g vs 5g? I just want to be sure I'm not going too heavy in the case that I'm just throwing a 1/16oz jig and light plastic or a light split shot rig.

[ss30378]

I know I have seen a thread around here on the Major Craft Aji-Do. Anyone else with any experience with these rods? I appreciate all the recommendations, I'm just trying to keep the price point closer to the $200 range. This is not a rod that will see a ton of use as this is a much smaller niche compared to my typical fishing.

I have the 5' aji-do rod and it's a very crisp rod. While i can't compare to the longer versions my 5'er is 1.6oz and is very sensitive. Mine is paired with a Shimano Soare ci4 500s making the total combo weight at 6.5oz. Guides on the 5' are very small for a spinning rod, and it is surprisingly stiff for such a light rated rod. It does work well for the 1/16-1/8oz range though you would need to have the drag set light for trout since the rod is a bit stiffer and doesn't have the give that a normal trout rod would.

[Craiger12]

I know I have seen a thread around here on the Major Craft Aji-Do. Anyone else with any experience with these rods? I appreciate all the recommendations, I'm just trying to keep the price point closer to the $200 range. This is not a rod that will see a ton of use as this is a much smaller niche compared to my typical fishing.

I have the 5' aji-do rod and it's a very crisp rod. While i can't compare to the longer versions my 5'er is 1.6oz and is very sensitive. Mine is paired with a Shimano Soare ci4 500s making the total combo weight at 6.5oz. Guides on the 5' are very small for a spinning rod, and it is surprisingly stiff for such a light rated rod. It does work well for the 1/16-1/8oz range though you would need to have the drag set light for trout since the rod is a bit stiffer and doesn't have the give that a normal trout rod would.

Thanks for your thoughts. That makes me think I should stick with the L version rated to 3g and just be careful not to overload the tip. I won't be going any higher than 1/8oz so I'm not too worried. Sensitivity is mostly what I'm looking for since I'll be fishing light jigs in current. I predominantly bass fish and prefer faster crisp actions so while that might not always be ideal for trout I think it will feel natural to me and should be ok with single hook lures. Maybe going with the 6'2" version will make the blank a little more flexible. Thanks again for checking in.

[DirtyD64]

What price range are most of these rods? Figured I would ask because 80% of my panfish lures used are jigs in the title's weight range. For now I have 2 $100 range rods that handle it well, but would eventually like to step up to something nicer in the ultra finesse category.

[City17Banner]

What price range are most of these rods? Figured I would ask because 80% of my panfish lures used are jigs in the title's weight range. For now I have 2 $100 range rods that handle it well, but would eventually like to step up to something nicer in the ultra finesse category.

When I looked this morning, the 6'2" and 6'8" models were both ~$180 with free shipping and add in the typical PayPal currency conversion fee and you are looking at ~$200 to your door sir!

Please feel free to PM me if you want the link to conduct more research on your own or just Google at your leisure.