Hunting Washington Forum
Other Activities => Fishing => Topic started by: DeerThug on February 13, 2025, 06:05:45 PM
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Looking to up my fishing game. As retirement nears need to switching gears. Looking to get a new pole. Cant to the bait casting reel will just end up with a mess so will be with open face reel. The poles I have do not cast that far unless I have a bunch of weight in front of it. I see other guys with just a lure slinging it way out there.
Any thoughts.
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What are you fishing for? Not all poles work with everything.
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In general, short rods really limit casting ability. A longer rod will almost always cast farther, everything else equal. It's just leverage. For "general" freshwater , trout and maybe others, including casting from the bank in WA I'd say 7' is the bare minimum and 7.5' or 8' are better. Think 'light' or 'medium light' action. Sometimes I even use a very light 10.5'- but I think that length may give diminishing returns on casting distance.
Line weight is a big factor in castability also. Lighter will give more distance, but you have to balance that with durability.
As stated, there's lots of variables that could affect your choice of rods, so more info would help.
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Line go to is maxima green. Thought I’d try pline TCB. Teflon coated braid. It cast really well 17lb on a spin reel
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Aren't poles for beans?
Rods are for fishing. :chuckle:
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The length of pole may not have as much of an effect on casting distance, as line size and line type does. I can put 14 lb. mono on a 9 foot pole and it casts decent. Yet I can put 30 lb 8 strand braided line on a 6 foot pole and cast it 50 to 75 foot farther. You might save you some money by just switching to braid. Maybe I missed, but what are you fishing for?
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My personal opinion on fishing poles. You could go buy the top of the line fishing pole, spend $300-500 on that pole. But unless you’re a professional bass fisherman it won’t catch you anymore fish that a $100-150 pole. I just got back into salmon/steelhead fishing this year and now have 5 new poles that I use. My new favorite pole now is the Ugly stik salmon/steelhead carbon. I have 2 of those now and they are the 10’6” models, I also have a carbon 9’6 and a 8’ gx2 ugly stik. All my stuff in spinning gear.
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I normally don't brag about the length of my pole........but........
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Happiness is a bent rod. :tup:
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Just go to Sportco and get an Okuma rod. Best bang for your $.
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I also prefer Ugly sticks. I outfish my fishing buddy, who prefers $200 to $300 poles for salmon. And he is always breaking his expensive rods!
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When I was a little kid at a sportsman’s show with my grandfather, i distinctly remember talking to 2 other old guys at a fishing booth. They told me if it costs less than $20 it’s a fishing pole. If it’s more than $20 it’s a fishing rod.
I bought a couple new Fenwick spinning rods for my trip to the Boundary Waters. 7’ and 7.5’ medium and medium light. HMX I think, and then I splurged a little on the medium one and got a Fenwick Elite Bass rod. That thing is awesome. Both are great but that Elite is awesome.
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What kind of fishing are you looking to do?
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Casting distance has more to do with rod length and user skill. Having a spinning rod doesn’t necessarily mean you can cast further.
