Don
Well-known member
Selecting the Right Rod
www.tacklewarehouse.com
THIS, and the lures you're throwing. Balance!Not one to actually put the rod in on how I’m casting it. More I match up for what kinda fish I’m catching.
I'm just walking away. Keeping my mouth shut and walking away.I had never realized the different possibilities and/or necessities for specific rods. This business of learning BC fishing has made me watch more YouTube’s and read allot more. This forum helped as well.
Check my thoughts:
Stiffer , shorter: skipping, 6’8-10”, f, MH
Longer, stiffer: flipping, punching, trees,7-7’6”, f,MH
Longer, softer: open water. 7-8’, M-F, M-MH
I remember when we discovered Helgeamites. The real ones. That fishing was awesome! A bass on every cast and you could catch 4-5 out of every helgramite. River only though. We tried them at a pond and the Bass laughed at us."When we were kids, we threw on a nightcrawler with our Zebco poles and just caught." Truth !! Picking crawlers off the grass at night was a sport by itself. Or whatever you could scrounge up to put on a hook. Then I discovered something called a Mr. Twister, that's when the world changed for me. Didn't have jig heads, just a black twister on a bare hook, cast out as far as I could (which wasn't far) let it sink, and just let it sit, eventually the line would start to tighten up and hooked into a bass.
I remember trying to add weight, but it didn't work as well. This was a small farm pond we fished as kids but it had some big bass. It was the slow fall of the black twister, and the leech like appearance on the bottom that got them.Mr twister. Lol. Same thing I used bare hook a couple splits and just wind in. Mine was grey with silver glitter.
If I go for large mouth in the lakes and really wanna catch one I’ll use my small curly tail grub and do the same thing. Still do it.
I'm proud of how patient all of you folks are with learning me the ropes of Bass but My real goal is still Pickerel and someday N.Pike. All of this stuff I'm learning right now is necessary. Necessary in order to catch any prize fish, and I love it, but I will not golf for fish. I went to Fleas all summer and really enjoyed some of the old bargains I got. In many of the pile I bout there were some modern rods....some of them were casting rods....that is my starting point. As time goes by I'll make purchases based on experience. Zoom in to the photos below. You'll see I have allot of yesterdays good stuff and will sort through it in time. Never paid more than 3-5$ and it usually had a sellable reel to boot. Enough reels to re-build for a lifetime (hobby).I guess it's kind of like having the correct sized clubs when golfing?
Very good pointOne thing I don't think many people take into consideration with rod length is your personal height. A person who is 6' vs. a 5'-6" can use a longer rod for flipping, especially when wading in a stream. For example, I've always ran my trout rods at 5'-1" whereas my 6'-0" friend runs them at 5'-6". If I use his, I smack the water as I cannot get to where my power comes in. I guess it's kind of like having the correct sized clubs when golfing?
Anyways, my point is that the lengths you've mentioned Don, power and action are a good starting point but don't commit yourself until you find your comfort zone with any given technique. I know you are on a crash learning course and eager to get out there, take the knowledge you've gathered and go find one thing that you like, enjoy and fits perfect. It will give you a great baseline for other techniques.
Chasing Bass is not easy once you gain knowledge LOL. When we were kids, we threw on a nightcrawler with our Zebco poles and just caught. It doesn't seem so easy today now that I "think" I know what I am doing.
You mean when the salesman puts the rod to his throat and says can you feel that then takes a cheap rod the squeeze’s it tighter and tell you the same thingI’ve never had a problem fishing a rubber worm on the same spinning rod I fish a jerk bait, topwater frog or anything else off of. My rods have multipurposes and multi-species and I have no reason to change from that. I don’t care to hear what rod manufacturers want to sell me. ignorance is bliss and I have mastered ignorant more than they have mastered marketing.