Need a new rod

[Member]

Have decided that my 7ft rod is just a bit too long for my yakking needs and i have been searching around for a new shorter one but just cant seem to get a good bearing .

Can anyone make any suggestions for a mid hundred dollar graphite spin rod in or around the 5 to 5.5 foot mark?
Funding for a new rod isnt exactly in abundance so it cant be too excy. Will be primarily used for bass fishing in and around trees.

Any help or suggestions is greatly appreciated

Steve

[Member]

What weight? Not seen a lot of spin rods that short, plenty of baitcasters around though.

[Member]

Only light 2-4 kg or slightly heavier and i suppose a 6ft would maybe be ok. Baitcasters are great in their own right but after using only spin gear for 16 years its sort of hard to get away from them, just not very competent with baitcasters yet 

Steve

[Member]

Hey mate dont go too short remember you want to ba able to swing the tip past the end of the yak when ya hooked up 

[Member]

I'm with you Steve,  I love short rods in the rivers.  I've got a couple of extra light 4'6" Smith rods that I use, but they're probably not heavy enough for you 1/4oz spinnerbaits load them too much.  I also use an SJ6400 Loomis GL2 but again it's a bit light.  I don't know of anything on the market here to suit your needs.  Everyone seems to be going longer.

[Member]

I'm with you Steve,  I love short rods in the rivers.  I've got a couple of extra light 4'6" Smith rods that I use, but they're probably not heavy enough for you 1/4oz spinnerbaits load them too much.  I also use an SJ6400 Loomis GL2 but again it's a bit light.  I don't know of anything on the market here to suit your needs.  Everyone seems to be going longer.

Its got me pretty beat to be honest, there is a point where a rod can be just too long and in the road. what weight are the smith rods you use Dale ? A 2-4 kg would do just fine i think but maybe not much lighter.

Yes Beau good point but while casting along creeks its pretty directional as in one way but you do raise a good point, But the trees however have a tendancy to grab the other point on the end of my rod 

Steve

[Member]

Steve,
The lightest Smiths are the B Area Fun range.  They are a very slow fibreglass rod in bright colours.  They run a bit under $200 from memory.  Fish Head Tackle at Victoria Point normally have them.  The other is a Smith TroutnSpin which is a 4'6" 3 piece rod, but it's graphite and way up the price scale.  Handy little rod for travelling though.

The bottom two in this pic are the baitcaster version, but I have the spin rod as well, in yellow.

[Member]

Well dad has handed over his diawa firewolf 8-10lb 5'6" spin rod for me to have a play with .. it is pretty heavy but its so light with such a fine blank and the length is just right so i will just stick it out till i can find a decent blank to build my own rod off of.
Those smith rods sure are interesting looking Dale  maybe an egrell will be on the cards one day later next year.

Steve

[Member]

Hmmm, if only we could talk Eric into doing an S2 that's 5' long.

[Member]

Hmmm, if only we could talk Eric into doing an S2 that's 5' long.

OOOOOooooohhhh 

[Member]

Just got back from go fishing at nerrang to look at rods ... my bank card fell out of my wallet and i ended up with a pflueger Patriarch XT spinn reel ... oops. The range of rods there where pretty nice indeed but still found nothing the right size i wanted ... 

Steve

[Member]

Starting to go bonkers now looking for a rod before i wear out dads firewolf that could pull a water filled weellie bin up from the depths. am seriously concidering ringing egrell dezignz and asking if a 5 ft s2 is a possibility .

I am absolutly astonished noone has snapped up the rod building for the creek kayaking fraternity by making shorter ranged of bass rods that are tree clearance friendly.

Steve

[Member]

Maybe a B2-6 cut off at the butt a bit and built as a threadline?

[Member]

Its hard not having a blank or rod to hold to get a feel for it but something like that may be an idea .. might be able to get samurai blanks but i dont particularly like them they arent that crash hot.

If i found a decent blank to start with i can make my own. loomis blanks are a bit too whippy at the busness end i think but like i said need to hold one to know what i need.

The only thing stopping me calling egrell is their price tag

[Member]

Bushwacker, I've got a lovely little custom Fenwick HMG 1kg rod that I've had for 18 odd yrs. It's hard to read the writing but I think its a GSD 541 blank, 5" 1-1/2" long. I realise this blank's a bit on the light side but you may be able to hunt down something similar.