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Posts: 750
Location: Minneapolis, MN | Do rods really throw all lures in the listed weight range effectively? Looking at the Tackle Industries MH its rated for 1-6 oz or the st croix xxxh that's rated for 8-30. I know rods have ranges sure, but I the case of my xxh mojo musky, 4-10, we are dealing with a range where the heaviest lure is only 1.5 times heavier, instead of 3.75 or 6 times greater for the other rods. |
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Posts: 410
Location: one foot over the line | You can throw a pounder with an ultra-lite if you want, but when it comes time to set the hook, you might experience a small problem. |
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Posts: 245
| Depends on the rod and the person using it.
I never look at the lower weight rating, i've never used a rod that can cast 1-6 oz (i have a TI) and don't believe there ever will be one. |
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Location: sneaking out to get on the water ;-) | A lot comes down to personal preference and how the rod loads for casting, handles burning, and how it handles the 8. Some baits like cowgirls are very light but pull like a truck and other baits like dawgs are heavy but come in easy. There is no perfect single rod and every manufacturer rates their rods differently. Best bet is to play with some in the store or if possible try someones out on the water. |
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Posts: 750
Location: Minneapolis, MN | How does personal preference play into how effective a rod handles the lures in its listed range? |
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Posts: 537
Location: Gilberts IL/Rhinelander WI | Some people like to throw tens with a long ranger, some a slingblade, some the big dawg, others the big nasty etc.....all within listed range of the lure. It's personel preference and opinion of what pros/cons of each rod makes it the "right" one. |
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Posts: 209
| The lure weight spec has always been my go-to indicator (on paper) of how stiff a rod is. I've always thought the lower end of the range is roughly a weight that will barely load the road for a cast (I also think it's somewhat arbitrary), and the upper end is what the rod can handle without getting damaged. I've broken a rod before throwing a hard cast with a bulldawg that wasn't meant for baits that heavy. |
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Posts: 114
Location: Kingston, Ontario | Also broken a rod casting bait too large for the rating so I pay attention now. For the lower end, I just use that as I guide depending on what baits I'm casting that day. For light baits like spoons, I will use my lightest rated rod beacuse otherwise you are doing all the work on the cast vs the rod doing the work. |
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Posts: 127
| All good points - just to add even more confusion:
Another thing to keep in mind is how your lure resists wind (aerodynamics/density). Lets take a supermodel vs say a regular bull dawg - even though the regular bull dawg would fall below the minimum weight range of a Big Dawg St. Croix, and the Super Model would be within the weight range, I bet you can cast the regular bull dawg further all day. At the same time, you would be over-gunned rod wise for the regular bull dawg while working the lure, but would be able to burn a supermodel with the same rod..... makes perfect sense, right?
You really have to evaluate a rods action to make the appropriate choice. Lure weightings are an okay starting point, but they are subjective at best and garbage at worst. Each manufacturer has their own unique way of evaluating. One guys 1-6 is comparable to another guys 1/2 - 2. There's no industry standard that must be followed or adhered to.
A tip that will load up well with the desired lure, but still maintains hooksetting power throughout the blank during retrieve is key. That's what makes a large bucktail rod difficult for example, you want to be able to have a bomb cast, but still not have the rod over-load in the figure 8 or retrieve, leaving you with no hookset power!
Its all in what you want a rod to do, and with Musky Lures covering such a wide and unique range of demands finding a "do-all" rod can be difficult. In all honesty though - lures like topwaters, crankbaits, and large plastics is pretty straight forward. Not saying that the right rod doesn't make a difference in those applications because it DEFINITELY does! Its just that finding a perfect big blade rod, is far and away the most difficult, just my opinion. |
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