Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Apr 01, 2013 @ 07:00 AM
Learn the differences between power, action, taper, bend and more
By Jason Sealock
Every good fishing product resulted as the sum of good materials, good engineering and good construction. Fishing rods possess a unique ability to show off great materials and manufacturing yet it still seems so few anglers understand what goes into a rod and what they should consider in how to buy a fishing rod. We recently spoke with Jeff Schluter, VP of Sales and Marketing for St. Croix Rods. St. Croix has been building rods from the blanks to the finished product stateside for 65 years, so we figured they would be a perfect resource for understanding the terms in fishing rods.
Anglers want the best rod for the money so they are lured in by a lot of marketing and actually a lot of misinformation because terms get blended and misrepresented. We wanted to break down all the differences in terminology for anglers. The four primary references to how a rod blank performs include the following:
- Power
- Action
- Taper
- Modulus or Tonage
“Power refers to how much pressure it takes to bend a rod blank,” Schluter said. Folks often intertwine this with action. But power refers to how much the rod resists bending under pressure. A heavy power rod won’t bend as much as a light power rod.
Action, on the other hand, refers to where the rod bends in the blank. A fast action on a rod means most of the bend will be up near the tip. A moderate to slow action means it bends further down in the blank. If it’s fast, it reacts quick and flexes quick in the tip. If it’s a slower action, it’s slower to react and bends all the way through the rod before it gets down into the power of the backbone.
Some confusion comes with a parabolic bend which simply describes the flex pattern of the blank as it bends through the entire blank. It can also be termed a slow action. It’s been used as a “buzz” word with rod makers in recent years but it’s not always the best action in a rod. Taper is also very similar to action.
Taper describes the changing thickness of the rod blank from the butt to the tip. If a rod has a fast taper, it usually means it will have a small tip and thicken quicker into the blank for more back bone. If a rod has a slower taper it means the thickness increases over a longer distance through the blank. Once you increase your diameter you’re going to gain power.
Materials make the rod, literally
“Modulus refers to the individual meshing of the carbon fibers in a fishing rod,” Schluter said. “Most folks think all rods are made out of graphite. But most manufacturers are using a combination of graphite and other materials because frankly graphite is brittle and not the best material for making a rod. In theory you can use less materials with higher modulus rods because of the stiffness of the materials with more threads cross weaved.”
There’s a lot more to a rod than modulus. People assume a higher modulus rod is a better rod because it has that many more graphite or carbon fibers meshed together. "Quite frankly modulus is not a good measurement of rod quality," Schluter said. "If you made a rod of 100 million modulus it would be too brittle. It would be light, but it wouldn’t be durable."
Carbon fibers, scrim, glue and resin are the components in a rod blank that make it durable and usable. Without the scrim a rod would bend with a crease like a straw under load. The scrim helps maintain its form throughout the load on the rod. The patterns that the graphite and carbon fibers are laid can lend to better blank construction. But the processing and manufacturing of the blanks in a proper environment is what makes for a great rod. That’s where companies like St. Croix Rods have put 65 years of engineering focus in blank manufacturing.
“The rod actions and powers are determined by the tapers of the mandrills, the patterns of the carbon materials used and the number of patterns used in making the rod,” Schluter said. “Those will determine the characteristic of a rod more than anything.”
You can shake a rod to feel the action and power. Maybe bend the tip gently on the floor and see how the rod flexes under load. That can give you a reasonable estimation on power and action in the rod.
How to handle most rod grips
For some anglers the grip often determines why they buy a fishing rod. Most rods have either cork or foam handles. In the last few years, however, newer technologically advanced traction grips have been developed. These new technologies have a lot of advantages like improved grip in wet conditions and added sensitivity but cork has long been considered the constant in rod handles. As you grade up in cork, it becomes more expensive. Lower grade cork will have a lot of filler in it and that is the part that disappears over time and use. A higher grade cork will be smoother and last longer but will make a rod more expensive.
EVA foam handles are lighter and cost much less but may not perform as well as cork in certain conditions.
On the water determination
The number one consideration in a rod is how it handles on the water. Some things like handle grips, length, cosmetics, foregrips become matters of personal preference and taste. You might like a certain handle style, or reel seat or type of guides but many of those things are ancillary to a good blank designed for intended applications.
Heavier power and faster actions are good for baits that require a hookset to drive a hook through a weed guard or plastic. Whereas a bait with a lot of trebles typically fishes better on a rod with a more medium power and moderately slower actions. Baits will load better on a back cast on more moderate to slow action and medium power than they will on heavier powers and faster actions. However very heavy baits will become unwieldy on a rod that is too slow or too weak in power. Keep those things in mind as you seek to choose the best fishing rod for your intended fishing uses.
Check out some rods here at tacklewarehouse.com and see if you don't understand a little more about what you're thinking of purchasing in a new fishing rod. We'll work on applying some of the powers and actions to popular bass fishing techniques in a future article.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 20, 2012 @ 08:00 AM
Learn how to cure the headache of knowing what rod has what line on it with multiple combos
By Jason Sealock
You climb into your boat and start pulling your rods out of the rod locker for a full day of fishing. Before you know it you've got 10 rods on your deck and several that don't have the baits you want to throw today. You start cutting the baits off and digging new baits out of the box. Wait. What pound line is on this combo. Where's my 20-pound line and rod for flipping? Shoot. Which one did I put that 10-pound monofilament line on just for jerkbait fishing? Before we know it, you've slept a time or two and have forgotten what line is on which combination.
You start making wild guesses about which rod has the right line, or how old that line is or if that's actually fluoro or monofilament. It can be frustrating to break off a fish and then realize you're not throwing the bait on the combo you thought it was.
I've been at the avid (aka obsessive-compulsive) bass-fishing lifestyle for about 20 years now. In that time, as you might imagine, I've amassed a lot of tackle, including rods and reels. Keeping up with how much the line deteoriates on 25 combos and what pound test and type of line surpassed the limits of my brain capacity years ago. About two trips to the water and I've developed full-on amnesia in regards to my line and rod and reel combos. That's not a good deal for several reasons.
First, if you do have problems with a certain line type, brand or pound test, you might want to know all the rods that have that line on it and get it off there immediately. Fishing line goes bad. It's a fact. So keeping up with it is really imperative.
Second, because fishing line goes bad, anglers need to know how long line has been on a reel. Chances are if you're not a touring professional angler, you might leave your fishing line on your reel for more than a day, sometimes more than a month. So keeping up with how old the line is becomes more important.
Finally, with varying diameters from differing brands of line, it's hard to just grab fishing line and know if it's 12 pound Trilene XT monofilament or 16 pound Sunline Sniper FC fluorocarbon. So keeping up with the line on each reel helps alleviate mishaps and gives you confidence your bait is being tied to the right line for the job.
There are lots of ways to keep up with fishing line once it's spooled on a reel. Anglers can choose manufactured tags you can add to Rod Gloves that tell you the technique for that rod, and that can clue anglers as to the pound test and type line probably on the reel. There are tags you can stick on the rods or the reels to tell you pound test and technique at a glance in a full rod locker. There are new rod bands from Sunline that can tell you what pound test is on that rod.
These are all helpful, but you still will have to keep up with when you put line on your reel.
The best solution I've found is to just make a spreadsheet. I've been using one and throwing a copy in my boat's rod locker in case I get confused about what is on which rod.
Basically, log everything from which reel to put on which rod, the gear ratio of the reels, the length and action of the rods, the size, type, brand and date spooled for each line and at times even the techniques intend for each rod, although that can change throughout the year as seasons and tendencies change.
It takes a bit to make the first time but once you have it made you can fill it in and keep up with it. I just print off a sheet without the lines filled in and then take it out in the shop and fill in the blanks as I get my combos ready for fishing.
I will sometimes go back in and type all the information in and keep it in my rod locker so at quick glance, I know exactly what rod has what line on it and can go from there as I start changing baits on a trip or span of trips.
Here is a file for you to download to get you started if you have Microsoft Excel:
Rod-Reel-Line Chart
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 06, 2012 @ 01:00 PM
Christmas shopping in July.
That's how I always feel when I'm thinking about heading to ICAST. The ICAST 2102 show finds itself back in Orlando this year. Bring on the humidity, afternoon showers, blazing temperatures, good food, good friends and loads of new fishing tackle.
At Wired2Fish, we're fortunate that many brands allow us to test products way in advance of manufacturing or release at ICAST. Over the years we've been able to tweak some products before release to the public so brands wouldn't run into "gotchas" after production.
This year we've had a lot of products in our hands for months but gave our word that we wouldn't let any proverbial cats out of the bag so to speak. The nice thing is we've already had some real fishing experiences with the products most will see for the first time next week.
That's sort of the point to us in covering new tackle. It's not just what's new, but sorting through the fluff from press release materials to get down to why an angler needs this bait or that line. Obviously the manufacturers have spent a lot of time trying to make products better for anglers. We would be remiss to just say here's the new stuff and not tell you what we like about it.
We also want you to feel more like you're at the show this year so we're going to shoot a lot more hands on video and photos of the products so you have some sense of reference and can get a good feel about the products before you look to buy them later this fall.
This Year's Buzz
Folks like to quantify the show each year based on the new offerings -- "The Year of the Swimbait," "The Year of the Low-Profile Reel," "The Year of the Frog" or "The Year of the Umbrella Rigs." The truth is fishing tackle like any manufactured category of products have trends. Lighter, lower, wider, stronger are all key phrases you see repeated over and over in press releases from year to year and probably lead to the categorizing of each show.
This year though rather than lumping the new tackle into a category we'd rather just focus on what's cool we hear coming out of each camp.
Berkley
There Havoc soft baits released a few new shapes for this year's show, namely the Pit Boss Chunk for jig trailers and the Rocket Craw which has already helped David Dudley win an FLW Tour event this season.
But they really went to town on beefing up their lines. Several of their most popular lines, namely Trilene XT and XL have been reformulated and repackaged in smaller spools. They offer a couple new monofilaments aimed directly for spinning applications and casting applications.
They have a slick new castable umbrella rig call the Schoolie Rig. It comes packaged by itself or in a great all in one kit with 5 swimbaits, 5 jigheads and the rig. This year will no doubt see a lot of new players in the castable umbrella rig market.
St. Croix
St. Croix has some amazing new designs to their Legend Xtreme Rods. We've been playing with the new medium-heavy power Legend Xreme. The obvious new feature is the all new Xtreme-Skin handles that are very comfortable, light and surprisingly very sensitive. The handles look cool and serve the function of repelling dirt, water and fish slime so they are easily cleaned after each trip to look like new again. The rods feature a new FRS technology that makes a smaller but tougher blank without adding any weight.
Abu Garcia
Yes. We've been putting the new third generation Abu Garcia Revos through the paces as well. We love em. We're not even trying to smooth it over. The reels are lighter, lower profile, cosmetically appealing, and fish extremely well. The Revo S, SX, STX, Premier, Winch and MGX are all astounding reels that will please a lot of anglers this fall. We'll have a lot more about them next week.
Big Bite Baits
They came out with the new Coontail worm that you've probably seen featured in some of our videos this early summer and in a few photos. They also are releasing a new Buzzing Warmouth and a smaller Cane Thumper. Stay tuned for more on those.
Megabass
The now famous albeit difficult to always find stateside Japanese manufacturer is releasing a bunch of new products at ICAST. The Knuckle 60 square bill crankbait, the 110 Square Lipped jerkbait, The Spark Shad soft swimbait, and a frog/creature bait called the Para Bug. We're excited to see these baits, get our hands on them and share them with you all.
Rapala
Rapala has a new line of balsa baits called the BX Minnows that we're pretty excited to check out. There is a jointed BX Swimmer and the straight BX Minnow. They feature balsa encased in copolymer shell that makes them very durable yet super erratic. We've played with the BX Minnow and it looks pretty sick in the water.
Snagproof
We're excited to get our hands on the new Ish's Poppin' Phattie. It's a uniquely shaped frog that has cupped sides to the pointed mouth. It should be a dynamite addition to our frog collection.
Spro
There are new sizes of popular lines coming out of the Spro camp this year. The long awaited Little John Baby DD 60 and the new Fat Papa 55 Medium deep runner both look to be solid additions to already proven lines.
Yum
We got our hands on a bunch of their new plastics already including the Craw Chunk, Mighty Craw, Lil SuzEE and the Yumphibian, not to mention several new castable umbrella rigs to accompany their very popular YUMBrella. Their Flash Mob and Flash Mob Ultralight will be big hits and their mini version for panfish and white bass will be a hit we're sure as well. The Craw Chunk is an awesome crawfish trailer with flapping claws that comes in two sizes. The Mighty Craw will be a killer punch bait or finesse bait alike. The lil Suzee gives them a finesse swimbait in that niche and the Yumphibian looks to be a very viable option for a creature bait for flipping and Carolina rigs.
VMC Hooks
VMC is making a big splash this year at the show we've heard. We've already seen their new offset widegap worm hooks as well as the Rugby Jig designed and approved by Mike Iaconelli. Their new resin encased eyelets will eliminate the problems with line cuts and knots sneaking through the hook eye anymore. They are said to be releasing a flipping hook, offset worm hook, heavy duty worm hook, wide gap hook, heavy duty wide gap, heavy duty swimbait and weighted swimbait hooks as well as a new trailer hook and a new wide gap spinshot hook.
Lots to share from the VMC camp this season.
Sunline
Sunline is offering a new braid and a new finesse fluorocarbon at this year's show. The new braid is the SX1 that was designed with input from Brent Ehrler and Aaron Martens for those applications like drop shots that need a light sinking braid. The new FC Finesse fluorocarbon will also be made for situations like leaders on drop shot or shaky heads. We've tested some preproduction spools and love them both.
Shimano
They are said to be offering a new Calcutta D reel and a new Crucial Castable Umbrella rig rod at this years show and we'll probably see a few new reels that they've kept under tight wraps.
G.Loomis
They have a new GLX Crankbait Series debuting at the show as well as new GLX Flipping rods. WE're anxious to get our hands on these as they are said to be 35% stronger with brand new reel seat designs.
Ima
Ima is introducing a new floating jerkbait/wakebait and a mid depth crankbait called the PinJack 200 that we're anxious to see and test.
Gamakatsu
The Swivel Shot should come back at this show and be released finally and they are also offering a new Short Shank EWG Treble in regular and 2X Strong versions. We should also see their Alien shaky heads and the G-Finesse Wacky Head.
Eco Pro
Eco Pro Tungsten is coming out with a bunch of new stuff at the show we've heard. We've seen their new castable umbrella rig that is modifiable called the Roll Tide Rig. But we also hear they've got three new jigs, two new jig heads, a punch weight with skirt collar and maybe some other stuff as well. This will be a fun booth to visit because we're pretty OCD when it comes to terminal tackle.
Damiki
The Korean based manufacturer has been bringing lots of cool tackle to the market each of the last few years and this year sounds like much more of the same. We've not got to see any of the new products yet but we here there is a big 11-inch Air Mega Miki II worm, a deep diving narrow bodied crankbait called the Abyss 90 plus a new creature flipping bait and a soft bodied swimbait for umbrella rigs or on a single jighead. We've already got a note to swing by and see their new stuff.
That's just some of the stuff we've played with or heard about leading up to next week's show so stay tuned to wired2Fish next week. We're going to be bringing hourly blogs and videos from the show highlighting ALL the cool fishing tackle we find. We're tasking a force of guys at the show this year to make sure we cover it all for you so keep it locked on Wired2Fish starting next Tuesday night and the NEW PRODUCT SHOWCASE from Orlando and Wednesday morning from the ICAST show floor.
Christmas in July is upon us.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 22, 2011 @ 10:15 AM
It's Christmas time and of course that means sharing time with family but it also means there is going to be some gift exchanging going on. We get asked all the time what folks should buy for the fishing significant other. That's what started us doing the Wired2Fish Wishlists.
But we don't like to lead people astray and tell them to buy something just because it's new. We like to have held the lure, coat or rod in our hand before saying whether someone should give it as a gift to someone they care about.
It's impossible for us to review all the new tackle that comes out between ICAST and Christmas but we sure make an effort to. A lot of stuff will be coming in reviews over the next few months, tackle on these lists and not. But these are a few items that if we were buying some last minute Christmas gifts we might look for. We've provided links below to all our wishlists and in each wishlist is hopefully a link to each product and where you can buy it. Obviously a few things are not available yet so we did the best we could with that.
For those that missed our 2012 Wishlists, here are the links to each one:
Reels
Rods
Apparel
Terminal Tackle and Accessories
Sunglasses
Lures
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 @ 12:02 AM
There’s no denying it. A new rod can make you feel like your fishing has improved almost overnight. Probably nothing else in our fishing arsenal has that immediate and dramatic effect on how we feel about our fishing than a new fishing stick.
Rods and reels were definitely the big hit at ICAST this year. We listed some of the reels we like for 2012 in our Reels Wishlist. So now we’ve put together a bunch of new rods and maybe one or two “new to us” rods that we think you should check out.
Abu Garcia Veritas Microguide Casting Rod
This is an affordable, good looking, functional baitcasting rod that features lightweight, microguides, a nano-fiber knick proof coating, exposed rod blank at the reel seat, split grip handles and of course the attractive price for all those features. The rod casts really smooth.
The reel locks down tight with the unique fore grip. We have several of the original models of Veritas rods that we bought through Tacklewarehouse.com. But we just recently got to test the microguide rod. We’ll have a full review soon, but we’re happy with the performance, especially at the $99 price point.
Denali Jadewood Flipping Stick
We think the Jadewood series of the Denali rods is one of the best rod buys in fishing. The small company designs their rods in Arkansas and has them made to their specifications through careful testing and analysis with various techniques and input from their growing prostaff.
The Jadewood Flipping Stick is new to their line-up. The rod offers great comfort, great accuracy when pitching and flipping. It loads well and really lets you lean into the fish. The rod has served double duty as a swimbait rod and castable umbrella rig rod as well. Both are great to fish on this rod, and we’ve taken numerous bass in the 5 to 7-pound range already on the rod. If you want a budget priced flipping stick, this is the one.
Dobyns Randy McAbee Cranking Rod
This rod came out a little while ago, but we’ve just recently got to experiment with it. We're so blown away by how well it casts big deep diving plugs, we figured there were probably a bunch of folks like us who didn’t know about it that needed to know. It’s unique features are a little more backbone and an amazing 8-foot length. That sounds like too much rod, but it launches a big plug like no rod we’ve ever seen before. We’ve been throwing it a bunch lately on some different areas where we’ve had some big bass lately and the rod loads well, has great sensitivity and is comfortable to fish with, even at 8 feet.
If you need a new deep diving crankbait rod, you should definitely check out this rocket launcher.
Fenwick EliteTECH Smallmouth Spinning Rod
There have been very few rods and reels designed just for smallmouth bass. They often fight differently and strike differently than largemouth, and Fenwick tapped some top smallmouth resources to make several rod models for spinning and casting in their new EliteTECH Smallmouth series.
The spinning rods feature very comfortable hybrid cork grips, a unique reel seat, and thin but strong blanks with very attractive frog green blanks. The rods were light, sensitive and had good tip actions with powerful back bones. It’s key when fishing for smallmouth to have a rod that can continually drive a hook as they often trap lures in their crushers and keep the hook from sliding into place. So constant pressure from a strong rod can often hook those bass that clamp down. We’ve caught several largemouth and a couple small smallmouths on drop shots so far and are very pleased with how it casts and loads under pressure.
Pinnacle Perfecta Microguide Spinning
We received a prototype to photograph and test on this unique concept rod that features a hybrid microguide system. The first guide looks almost flared in reverse that tapers the coil off the spinning reel into the micro guides up the rod. We’ve fished it a couple times and the rod is amazingly light, very sensitive, features a comfortable cork grip and casts fairly well for a new concept guide system.
The rods are not yet available but should be after the first of the year. Many folks have been raving about how good the new Tournament Class of rods and reels from Pinnacle are now, and the new spinning rods seem to expand and extend their growing improvements in rod and reel manufacturing.
St. Croix Rage Rod
The new rods from St. Croix are all the Rage. Okay that’s a really bad pun, but we’ve been fishing a medium heavy 7-foot Rage rod for a few months and have caught several bass on jigs, chatterbaits, lipless baits and spinnerbaits on the rod. Anglers will notice an increase in the number of guides on this rod as well as a very unique grip that won’t get slick, even in the rain. It’s comfortable and even seems to keep your hands warmer on those cold days.
This rod has an astounding 13 guides. The increased number of guides seem to keep the line off the blank of the rod and provide a nice even load when setting the hook and leaning into a bass with some shoulders to it. If you’re looking for a great all purpose rod, this might be a good choice for you. Check them out locally because the new grip is interesting and you’ll want to see how it feels in your hand.
St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye Rod
The St. Croix Legend Tournament class rods are newly redesigned for the upcoming season. Both the bass and walleye lines added rods and totally re-engineered the blank construction with a new process involving NSI (Nano Silica) to make them lighter but stronger and more durable. We like when companies take popular tackle and figure out how to make them better from season to season. It shows a commitment to quality and customer loyalty to a product line.
We checked out the Legend Tournament Walleye Snap Jigging rod. Scott has played with it some and likes the way the rod controls his rapid and violent rips on the jig but also has enough tip and backbone to hook and play big walleyes out of the depths. The rods are noticeably lighter and more sensitive, and if you loved the original series, you’ll really like the new and improved versions.
Rod Gloves
Once you buy all those news rods, you want them to last. Buying a rod is an investment in your fishing, just like buying a boat. So you'll want to keep it covered and protect it from those knicks that ultimately lead to breakage and compromise the rod's strength.
We love our Rod Gloves. They fit snuggly to the rod, but the mesh material keeps it from dinging and scratching while riding in our trucks, boats, rod lockers or wherever we might carry a rod. They come in tons of colors and you can even brand them with custom logos. Definitely worth a few bucks to protect a $100 - $300 investment.
Obviously there are a lot more new rods out for the upcoming season, but we wanted to share the ones that we fished and liked. Rods are getting better every season and a good rod can give you a lot of confidence in a new fishing season.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Mon, Sep 19, 2011 @ 08:25 AM
Continuing with the 6 rod bass fishing system by addressing reels
So in our last Combo Clinic, we addressed the thought that 6 rod and reel combos could serve the purpose of covering all your bases in bass fishing and keep you from retying the whole trip next time you go bass fishing. Then we addressed the actions of the rods and what techniques they could cover.
Now we want to address 6 reels for bass fishing for our 6 rod/reel combo system. These reels will match up with the 6 rods we addressed to cover a wide base of techniques. One thing to remember on reel speed, the more the bait moves the less gear ratio you really need. The less it moves the more gear ratio you need because you’ll often have more slack to take up in your line.
So we’ll match reels 1 through 6 to our rods one through 6 from our 6 Rod/Reel Bass Fishing System blog.
1. 7:1 gear ratio baitcaster reel
Main purpose: heavy lifting for flipping, pitching, punching and frogging
2. 6.4:1 gear ratio small profile baitcasting reel
Main purpose: palmable reel for short wrist snaps with topwaters and jerkbaits
3. 5.4:1 gear ratio baitcaster reel
Main purpose: low torque cranking reel for keeping crankbait in strike zone
4. 7:1 gear ratio baitcaster reel
Main purpose: fast reel for taking up slack on worms and jigs that are fished with rod
5. 6.4:1 gear ratio baitcasting reel
Main purpose: the faster speed will keep your spinnerbaits and swim jigs up but not too fast
6. 5:1 gear ratio spinning reel in 1000 to 2000 spool size
Main purpose: light line bass fishing with shaky heads, drop shots; back-reeling is a bonus
With these reels matched with our 6 bass fishing rods, you can cover a lot of bases on every trip and spend less time retying and more time covering water. Day in and day out 6 combos really get fished more than most. Obviously having more will give you more options without having to re-tie, but these 6 combos will give you plenty to start with.
The 7:1 gear ratios can take up a lot of slack quickly which is a bonus for baits you fish with your rod. When fishing for bass with bottom contact baits like jigs, Texas rigged plastics, Carolina rigged plastics and punch baits, you often have slack, created by lifting and dropping your rod tip. These high speed reels can take up the line quickly when you feel the slightest “tick.” It makes you more efficient at hooking bass with contact baits.
Same can be said for the 5.4:1 or lower gear ratio reels. The more a bait pulls because of its action, like a spinnerbait or a crankbait, the more torque is created on the reel. If you reel these type lures with a high speed reel, it’s actually harder on the reel and on you to reel against that torque. But if you take the gear ratio down several notches, reeling these baits is breeze.
You’ll notice we selected a mid-range reel for things like topwaters, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, chatterbaits, etc. The reason is because you often need speed to take up slack when a fish strikes but for the most part with these baits you have tension on the bait most of the time because you’re constantly moving it. If you drop down to 5:1 gear ratios it can be hard to pull a bait up out of the grass or weeds on a long cast. If you go to high with a 7:1 ratio you can have a tendency to move the bait too fast and not slow yourself down. So a midrange seems to serve dual purposes with those baits.
We’re interested to hear more about what reels you like for what techniques and see how they fit into this matrix in both part one and part two of our 6 Rod/Reel Bass Fishing System.
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Sep 13, 2011 @ 12:20 AM
I have guys ask me all the time how many rods and reels do I have. The short answer is too many. There is probably an "anglers anonymous" group somewhere for guys like me. I want to try the newest bass fishing toys. Even before I had to try these toys and report on them so you guys know which toys to play with, I had this nervous tick when I went into the tackle shop and there was a new bass fishing stick for which I developed an insatiable appetite.
The next question that usually follows after confessing my fetish for feathery light fishing combos is "how many rod and reel combinations should I buy?"
Six. Yep it's an exact science. Okay maybe nothing in fishing is exact, but in bass fishing I think six will get most guys to where they need to be in their competitive nature, whether that be against the bass or the other bass anglers in their club. Of course I might have six rods stuffed in Rod Gloves jammed into one rod tube in my Ranger rod locker and another 20 jammed in the other tubes.
But more often than not, I start piling rods on my deck when I'm not sure what the fish are doing, and what I started to realize was I would only get 4, 5 or 6 rods out in about 90 percent of the situations. That's fishing clearwater highland Ozark impoundments like Beaver Lake or Table Rock Lake. That was fishing Tennessee River fisheries like Guntersville, Kentucky and Pickwick Lakes. That was fishing muddy grass laden fisheries like Lake Dardanelle on the Arkansas River or clear grass laden fisheries up north like Champlain in New York.
It seems like I never really go more than about 6 rods when I'm trying to figure the bass out. And pretty much everything after that is some duplicate or derivative of those six rods.
So take your favorite six rods and see how close they come to this set of bass fishing sticks.
- 7-foot, 6-inch heavy-power baitcaster combo
Main purpose: Flipping, pitching, punching, frog rod and swimbaits
- 6-foot, 9-inch medium-power baitcaster combo
Main purpose: topwaters and jerkbaits
- 7-foot medium-power baitcaster combo
Main purpose: crankbaits
- 7-foot medium-heavy power baitcaster combo
Main purpose: texas-rigs and jigs
- 7-foot medium-heavy power baitcaster combo
Main purpose: spinnerbaits, vibrating and swimming jigs
- 6-foot, 9-inch medium power spinning combo
Main purpose: shaky heads, drop shots, lightweight plastics or light jerkbaits and topwaters
You can do a lot of bass fishing with various patterns, in many weather conditions, seasons, types of fisheries and situations with these six combos. It basically gives you a strong mix of contact baits (worm, jig, shaky head) and reaction baits (topwater, jerkbait, crankbait, and spinnerbaits).
Obviously after 25 years of buying tackle, I've amassed a lot of duplicates which is nice because when I do figure out the bass are on a crankbait bite, I can rig up four crankbait rods and give them several different looks.
But when you first set out to find bass, you really only need one or two of a certain reaction bait and keep rotating through them until you figure out what the bass want. Then as you start to figure out they are on a certain type of reaction bait or a certain type of contact bait you can bring your duplicate rods into play.
But when I was getting started, six rods served me well for a lot of years. And even now I've had several trips where four to six rods were on the deck when I was really on the bite good. If you have a bunch of rods, going back through your Rod and Reel Matrix can be a good exercise to find your six productive combos.
My favorite days are actually those days when you have one rod on the deck and everything else is in the rod locker. But more often than not the bass are changing and we're constantly having to test the gamet of presentations against the mood of the bass. Plus we have all these fun toys and it seems a shame to leave them in their Plano boxes too long.
How many combos do you find yourself fishing on an average fishing trip? How many would you like to have to be "comfortable" with not having to retie your lures all the time on a fishing trip?
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 29, 2011 @ 09:24 AM
Posted by Jason Sealock on Thu, Jul 28, 2011 @ 01:45 PM
Well we've wrapped up most of our coverage from ICAST, and we've had time to go back and review our notes and our photos from the show in Vegas. It was a whirlwind three days, and while I'd love to say we saw every booth at the show, the reality is there are 1,221 booths at ICAST and 26 hours to see as much as you can. Even if we spent only 5 minutes in a booth, we'd only see 25% of the show.
So we try to blow through as fast as possible to see everything. The new product showcase helps get an idea of what there is to see and then we make the rounds. And unfortunately we don't get to nearly all the booths. But we did get a ton of blogs done and a bunch of the top products covered from the show for you.
The Best of Show to us has become a very watered down popularity contest at ICAST. The winners are sometimes spot on and sometimes ridiculous compared to the competition. So we take the voting with a grain of salt and do our best to vote on the products we think are original, but also the ones we think are the best products for you guys, the anglers.
In all our coverage and visits, we came up with the products we think will be the true BEST OF SHOW from ICAST in the categories that apply to all fishermen on the bank, in a boat, in a kayak or wading a stream. We came up with who we think will be the real winners with anglers in terms of originality, productivity, quality construction and eventually sales.
Those categories that matter to all freshwater anglers are Rod, Reel, Hard Lure, Soft Lure, Terminal Tackle, Line and Storage.
So without further ado, here is our take on the true Best of Show.
Best Reel
Actual Winner: Abu Garcia Revo MGX Baitcaster
Wired2Fish Winners: Quantum EXO Baitcaster and Spinning, Abu Garcia Revo MGX baitcaster
Reasoning: These are higher dollar reels, but made with the best components available. The Quantum EXO reels were a very original idea, feel light as a feather but also feel incredibly strong and tough. They were smooth and featured amazing control. Likewise with the Abu Garcia Revo MGX although we feel that $350 price tag will be a hard pill to swallow for 90% of anglers. But if you demand the very best, there are some new options to consider.
Best Rod
Actual Winner: G.Loomis GL2
Wired2Fish Winners: Quantum EXO rods, Abu Garcia Villain rods, Phenix Recon Series, St. Croix Rage Rods, Okuma Helios
Reasoning: All of the rods mentioned made affordable to somewhat affordable, lightweight, powerful new rod lines for anglers. Part of the trends we saw in rods this year was reduced weight, better reel seats, exposed blanks, handles that merged with the blanks, better guides, etc. We expect all of these new rod lines to do well this coming season.
Best Hard Lure
Actual Winner: Sebile D&S Crank
Wired2Fish Winners: Rapala Rippin Rap, Rapala X-Rap Pop, ABT 5-inch Banshee, Vagabond Swim Hustler Inject
Reasoning: The new Rapala Baits just keep getting better. We've got some serious man-crushes on the new Rippin Rap and X-Rap Pop. The finishes are great but the shape and engineering of the baits really makes them unique from other offerings. The swimbaits are going to be winners too. The mid-sized affordable swimbaits are really getting a foothold with anglers and we think these two displayed some unique, detailed high-end features at good prices.
Best Soft Lure
Actual Winner: Kopper's Live Target Mouse
Wired2Fish Winners: MightEE Power Finesse Worm, Optimum Top of the Line Swimbait, Koppers Mouse, Evergreen Kicker Frog, Jackall Clone Gill
Reasoning: We were looking for soft baits that did something different and gave us some new options. The MightEE is a big thick straight tail worm made specifically for use on heavier shaky heads for power shaky presentations, something we've employed a lot in recent years. The Optimum Top of the Line took the line-thru design in swimbaits and made it where we can fish these baits over heavy cover without snagging. The Koppers Mouse puts an interesting spin on frog fishing, but a bass will probably still think its a frog. The Evergreen Kicker Frog employs a single hook design that we like for better hookups. Look at a jig and worm, you get rock solid hooksets with the single hook baits. And the Jackall Clone Gill gives us a drop shot, and bed fishing option that we haven't had in such a lifelike profile and look.
Best Terminal Tackle
Actual Winner: VMC Spin Shot hook
Wired2Fish Winners: VMC Spin Shot hook, Eco Pro Diamond Peg, Eco Pro Wacky Rig Weight, Trokar Treble Hooks
Reasoning. The Spin Shot from VMC is the real deal. Jason has been wrecking the fish on this hook for weeks. Both of the Eco Pro tackle pieces are very well designed and simple solutions to common fishing problems. We really like their simple but very well made answers to our angling needs. And those Trokar trebles should really add a new dimesion to hardbait fishing, with penetrating hooksets on short striking fish.
Best Line
Actual Winner: Berkley NanoFil (Best Of Show Overall Winner)
Wired2Fish Winners: NanoFil, Seaguar Senshi and Seaguar Kanzen
Reasoning: We've used all three, and it's nice that lines are being designed for anglers that have demanded that certain hassling aspects of fishing line be corrected in higher end lines. We love NanoFil. We're still learning what its limitations are, but at this point, we've had a lot more success than shortcoming with the line on our spinning reels. The new Senshi monofilament is very cool. It's supple, smooth and really fishes well. Same with the Kanzen braid. All three of these lines will do well for their brands.
Best Storage
Actual Winner: Plano Hydro-Flow Tackle Management System
Wired2Fish Winner: Plano everything
Reasoning: Has Plano made a storage solution that wasn't good? They make so much good stuff in so many shapes, sizes and configurations that there is something for everyone, no matter how you like to fish. We're very intrigued by this new Hydro-Flow system. Rain, water spray, etc. can get in your boxes and damage your tackle with rust. However, this system might alleviate that for anglers. We're interested to see how it performs in a damp boat compartment.
We'll be following up with our take on the ICAST Show as a whole. What was great about it and what we think would make the show even better in 2012. What are your thoughts on the new stuff you saw from the show? What other options would you put in place of ours?
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Posted by Jason Sealock on Tue, Jul 26, 2011 @ 09:15 AM
Pinnacle totally revamped it's baitcaster, spinning reel and rod lines last year when it released it's new Tournament Class tackle. This year it added a bunch of new reels in both spinning and baitcasting as well as two new lines of rods. More than 25 new products in all.
The new Optimus XiHS is a Hand Tuned reel that features high-end technologically advanced components and materials. Each reel is tuned by technician before it leaves the plant to make sure the reel is performing optimally before you ever pick it up.
With Duraluminum gears and worm shafts, carbon fiber drag systems that reduce heat and wear, 7.3:1 gear ratios, and 10 double-shielded ball bearings this reel is smooth, solid and good looking to boot. It's very comfortable to palm which is a plus for fishing all day with a setup not to mention it only weighs 7.1 ounces. It's their top of the line reel and will retail for $249.99.
They also released a hand-tuned spinning reel. The Optimus Hand Tuned Spinning reel is a 5:1 machine with quality components and material that is tuned to work extremely well out of the factory. It comes in 30 and 40 sizes, and the frame, sideplate, rotor, spool and handle are crafted from advanced reinforced carbon fiber that's stronger than aircraft aluminum. Their waterproof multi-stack drag will keep water and debris out and keep the drag operating smoothly.
Seven double-shielded stainless steel bearings and one for unlimited anti-reverse keep the reel smooth and solid while fishing. These reels will retail for $149.99.
They also added a microguide rod line and a walleye rod line to their product offerings for 2012. The new DHC5 blanks feature no fiberglass scrim. The Double Helical construction yields a sensitive, light blank. Then with the new addition of microguides. The Fuji microguides feature Alconite inserts that make for a light rod with great cast control. The rod line will contain 10 models that will retail for $189.99.
Not to be left out, the new DHC5 Walleye Rods will give toothy-critter chasers a high quality rod for a variety of techniques and fisheries. They will have the same featured components of the DHC5 bass rods but will be in 10-technique-specific actions geared toward walleye pursuits, from vertical jigging to slip bobber fishing. These rods will retail from $189.99 to $199.99 depending on length.
Pinnacle is definitely growing a following of loyal folks who've seen the great performance of their rods and reels over the last year. We talked to several media guys at the show who have fished their stuff and really love them and we've just started fishing the reels in the last couple of months. We'll keep you updated as we use more.
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