A pro angler's guide for choosing rods
Anyone who has gone shopping for a fishing rod lately knows there are passel of "specialty" sticks out there to choose from.
One of the best sellers is the flippin' stick. The rod is built with a high degree of stiffness, which translates to optimum power.
As good as the flippin' stick is for wrestling large fish out of thick cover, in most cases it is a poor choice for working a topwater plug, drop-shot rig or tout tail.
Specialty rods are available for other fishing applications. Many companies are designing rods especially for use with crankbaits, topwaters, spinnerbaits, soft jerkbaits, swim baits, lipless crankbaits and frogs.
Bass pro Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., is a stickler when it comes to rod selection. In fact, Martin is just as picky about the rods he uses in combination with specific lures as he is the choice of club he uses on the golf course.
"You can tee off with a putter, but you will get a lot more distance with a driver," Martin said. "The same principles apply with rod selection. Certain rods are better suited for performing some jobs than others."
Martin offered up a crash course in rod selection for a few popular lure styles.
* Crankbaits: Martin prefers a graphite composite crankin' rod with a medium or medium/heavy action, depending on the diving depth of the lure. He likes a 7-foot, 6-inch rod with a medium/heavy action and soft tip for casting hard-pulling deep divers long distances.
"Some guys like fiberglass for deep cranking, and it definitely has some advantages," Martin said. "But so does graphite. One of the biggest has to do with deflection. The backbone of a medium/heavy rod allows me to blow the bait right through a brush pile without the bait loading up. It helps the lure deflect off limbs and snags, which helps draw more reaction strikes."
For medium divers, Martin recommends a 7-foot rod with a medium or medium/heavy action. He drops down to a 6-foot, 6-inch medium action for square bills and other shallow diving plugs.
Lipless cranks? He suggests a 7-foot medium/heavy action to reduce fouling when ripping the bait around grass. He opts for a medium action of the same length in open water situations.
* Football jigs and Texas rigs: The football jig shines especially bright when dragged across rock and shell. Martin likes a 7-foot medium/heavy with a soft tip for casting footballs or any other bait that he is dragging on the bottom. The medium/heavy action provides backbone for solid hooksets, while the soft tip allows him to finesse the bait over rocks as opposed to hopping it.
"A heavy-action rod is so stiff it will cause the bait to spring forward too much when it comes over a rock," Martin said. "That's not a problem with a softer tip. Plus, I think it entices more bites and reduces hang-ups."
Martin's rod of choice for casting a Texas rig is a 7-foot heavy action. He likes a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy or extra-heavy action rod for flipping plastics into heavy cover, brush or vegetation.
* Spinnerbaits: Martin relies on a 7-foot medium or medium/heavy rod to launch his spinnerbaits in open water situations. He likes a shorter 6-foot, 6-inch medium action for target fishing around docks and stumps because it enhances accuracy.
* Topwaters and jerkbaits: "I'll go with 6-foot, 6-inch medium action 90 percent of the time with both lures," Martin said. "The shorter, forgiving rod helps me impart good action to the bait and to hook more fish when they take it."
* Buzz frogs and hollow frogs: No secret here. Think heavy. "You need a lot of backbone in a frog rod to jack up the fish," he said.
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