Fishing Gear Tips

Finding A Fishing Rod That Is Perfect For You

Although many fisherman prefer the beauty and light touch of antique cane rods, todays fishing rod offers modern features that can be just as attractive.

Usually a fishing rod measures 6 to 16 feet and varies in it’s capacity to bear weight and tolerate strain. The length has quite a bit to do with it’s ability to withstand the strain put on it by the fish and determines the performance of the rod used for angling.

Here are some typical fishing rods and their uses:

Cane Poles

Cane poles are of the oldest and most simple types of fishing poles. Typically they are made of bamboo or any other flexible type of wooden material. Cane rods are much loved by fishing collectors and some of the older ones will fetch a pretty penny plus some fisherman swear they work better than the newer ones!

Cane poles are traditionally used for fly fishing.

Fly Fishing Rods

Todays fly fishing rods are usually made out of graphite or fiberglass and come in different lengths and actions. Usually a beginner will start out with a fiberglass rod and graduate to a graphite once they become practiced. These rods come in 3 different “actions” - slow, medium and fast. Slow action rods are good for small lighter fish. Medium action are the preferred rods for beginners as they are easy to handle but don’t have as much flexibility as the light action. Fast action are only flexible at the end and are good for distance casting and large fish.

Spinning Rods

When someone today says they have a new fishing rod, it is probably a spinning rod. These come in many styles and varieties and can be used for heavy or lightweight fish. Most commonly, spinning rods are used in rivers and ponds or lakes for bass, trout and walleye. They usually come in sizes of 5 and 7 feet long. Spinning rods are flexible and rather tolerable to stress.

Jigging Rods

Jigging rods are good for deep water fishing and work well with heavy bait or lures. They are most common in ocean fishing where the line depth can reach to 200 feet. These are solid rods which are quite heavy and made specifically for the jigging of the currents. These rods carry heavy lines that can withstand the currents and action of the ocean. Usually these rods are used for catching haddock, cod and halibut.

Choosing a fishing rod that is perfect for the type of fishing you want to do is important, but you may find that you want to start off with a more inexpensive rod and work your way up. This is what most fisherman do and it’s not uncommon to peer into the garage or toolshed of an avid fisherman and find 10 or 20 rods stacked up!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.