Rod question

[FishinBill]

I have been upgrading my rods and reels...the wife lets me buy 1 new outfit a year, last year was president baitcaster with a st croix premier 7'mh fast action, this year same reel but st croix avid 6'10" m xfast action.

my question is this, what pound test would you go with and what baits would you use on each?

my thoughts, my medium xfast: cranks and blade baits

mh: jigs and plastics w/heavy braid

just curious. I have one other bait caster, a 6'6" gander rod and reel that was a replacement after my father-in-law casted my old one into eagle lake on a wicked back swing that hook my rig and off it went!

[TurnUpTheFishing]

I think what your planning will work good. Whats the action, on the GM combo? It may work for dock fishing with it being a bit shorter.

[Deitz Dittrich]

In my opinion... a MH rod may work for spinners.. but I dont use a MH rod for cranks. When I fish cranks(and I fish them a lot) I tend to loose a lot of fish on MH power rods. I think your much better off with a M action on cranks..

On lures that have thier own action a slower action rod with less power is better.. and lures that you must impart the action on a faster tip with heavier power seems to work best...

[bklimek]

Deitz I agree and disagree with you on this one. I think a MH rod can be just as effective as a M action rod. A MH IM6 rod has a different flex action from that of a MH IM8 and these even vary between brands. I have an older IM6 Berkley Stinger rod MH that is 6'6" that I use for cranking. I can tell the difference between the action from that of my Shimano Compre 6'6" MH rod. The statement you made "On lures that have thier own action a slower action rod with less power is better.. and lures that you must impart the action on a faster tip with heavier power seems to work best..." is how you should gauge the rod you purchase for cranking.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Ok.. I'll then agree and disagree with you as well.. You make a very true statement.. the smaller the IM rating the slower the action of the rod.. USUALLY.. however, if you look at many of the crankbait masters of the B.A.S.S. world.. many of them use fiberglass rods.. which would be no where near any MH graphie rod, no matter what its rating is...

To be totally honest.. its really to each thier own and best to match thier own fishing style. For you, you have found a 6'6" IM6 rod to be your best crankbait rod.. for me I often use an 7' IM8 M action or a 7' compisit rod(glass and graphite...)

People need to expieriment to decide what works best for them... which is kinda what you were saying.. well put!

[FishinBill]

Who makes fiberglass rods and how much are they usually? From what I understand, they get more flexible the more use/fish you catch on it....I've have been wondering who makes these and how much they usually run

[Deitz Dittrich]

FishBill-there are quite a few different companies that have a glass rod. I know fenwick, shimano, st.croix and all the major rod compnies have glass rod blanks. They usually run a bit less than graphite rods. I have not heard that they become weaker the more fish you catch on them.. that may be an old wives tale!

[FishinBill]

Not get weaker....more flexible. Was something I saw on BassmasterU on espn some saturday morning. I don't remember how they explained it exactly but it sounded interesting none the less

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Whats the logic behind using a lighter power rod for fishing cranks? Ive never heard of this before. I use MH 7' IM8 graphite, I dont seem to lose many fish.

[Deitz Dittrich]

TUTF-

When a bass or anyfish for that fact swipes at a crankbait, you are putting pressure on the lure at the rod. Most of the time a fish will just inhale like they would to pull a lure off the bottom. If your rod is too stiff, and doesn't have give the fish will not get the bait as deep and thus loosing more fish. Where if you use a glass rod or lower power rod when the fish inhales, the rod will give before you set the hook and get the bait in deeper.

Thats the theory anyways!

[priorbass]

hey deitz hows it going....hope I can help here...action and power are to different things in a rod...a good crank bait rod will be a mod to mod fast action...this means the rod loads slower...as for power that is more of how much back bone the rod has...keep in mind power and action are different...we build alot of crank rods in mh power with modfast action...alot to do with line and lure weight also as to which to get...alot of guys like glass for crank baits because of the mod actions...we have a 8 foot glass rod that is a light saltwater blank that is a light power with a mod action that has a soft tip and can throw a DT16 a mile but has all the back bone you need...so as for crank rod it would always be a mod to mod fast action and med to med hy power depending on line and lure wt...hope this helps