Advice on rod

Ts1

Hi all,

I have a spinning rod that I use on the shore. I'm wondering if it could be used on freshwater. It's 11ft, weighted for 60-100 grams. Is that to heavy for trout on the liffey? Could it be used for Pike or other coarse fishing maybe?

Thanks,
B

stevenmu

The short answer is yes you can use it, and it should work ok spinning for trout, perch, pike etc. Spinning for trout on the liffey you'll be using quite small and light spinners which won't curve the rod much so you'll have trouble casting them very far. For coarse fishing, normally people would use rods with very delicate tips to help with bite detection, using your rod you'd be pretty much reliant on using a float and having it set up perfectly for bite detection, but it should work ok (you'd need to be very gentle when you strike too ).

Ts1

Thanks for that Steven. That's a good help.

I put a 20lb mono line on it last week for the sea. Would this be ok for pike with a trace? Would I need a lighter one for the trout?

Thanks again.

coolwings

A 60-100g casting rod has a test curve of 2 to 2 1/2lbs.
This means it's designed for lines of 10lbs to 15lbs breaking strain.
Allowing for knots and their weakening effects, lines of 12lbs to 18lbs are what it is happiest with. In freshwater terms it would be labelled as a pike/salmon rod.

On the Liffey we are using lines of 4 - 8lbs for bottom fishing, and 3 - 5lbs for fly on topwater and spinning midwater.

So you will be using a long leader of light line, as an invisible link below the main line, and casting weights that a a bit light for casting long distance.

For bottom bait fishing it should do just fine, but go easy on the fish or you'll break those light tippets.

If I was using that rod on the Liffey, I'd get some 3"-5" frozen fishbaits, or pike lures and load up a spool with 10lbs bs line and fish for pike. When you locate a pool with pike in, you would have good fun.

Ts1

Great thanks for that info. That will get me started on freshwater. Might invest in a Greys Grxi at a later date... Fly seems to be the way to go.

Cheers
B

Ts1

I dug out an old 8ft shakespeare rod that has hardly been used. Did a bit of research on it. It's rated for casting 20 - 50 grams. How do I calculate the test curve? Couldn't find anything on the net.

Should I use the other one for the beach and just use this one on the river?

Thanks

coolwings

TS1: If your rod is rated for casting 20g-50g, thats a middle weight of 35g which = 1.2lbs, and that should be the test curve if it's rated correctly. TC 1lb 2oz (= 500g).

* * *

The test curve is the weight or force required to deflect the tip 90 degrees from the butt.
Say it's got the handle held against a vertical wall, parallel to the wall, and you pull on the line with a spring balance. The rod tip ring and the piece of rod inside it will go horizontal when the spring balance is displaying the TC for that rod.

Generally a rod can cast 1 oz for every pound of test curve, and a rod is ideal with a line of breaking strain 5lbs for every 1lb of test curve.

Examples:
My Daiwa Kevin Nash Stalker 11' 6" made from carbon-kevlar whisker, hypalon handle, fixed reel fittings, has a TC of 1 1/2lbs.
Therefore it casts up to 1 1/2 oz nicely (30g = 1oz) which is 45g.
And it handles a line of 7.5lbs Breaking strain perfectly (5x1.5lbs) which is (2.2lbs=1Kgs) 3.4kgs bs.
In practise I use it for general spinning and medium bait fishing for carp, large trout, salmon, and light sea fishing for bass, mackerel, etc. it won't break a 6lbs - 8lbs line no matter how hard I pull with the rod held correctly and bending but if rod is lowered inline, those lines could be broken. It casts a very very long distance with a 6lbs line, and a 10lbs shock leader.

Example 2:
My Bruce & Walker Stepped up MkIV 10' Carp rod in fibreglass, cork handle, sliding reel fittings, has a TC of 2 1/4lbs.
The casting weights are optimum at 2 1/4 oz (= 70g)
The line strength is 10lbs -12lbs.
That makes it an ideal spinning rod for big pike, spring salmon, and medium sea spinning rod, although a tad short for surfcasting it can be used with a rodrest extender tube to lift the line out of the surf, good for light uptiding, perfect for big fish from the float tube.

Both those rods have a graduated parabolic action (bends almost all through and bends under load down to point above handle, with a slightly finer tip than an all through label suggests) and when fish are hooked, very few come off during play. the fine tip makes them cast lighter weights than they are rated for in the same way as a lighter fast action rod does.
A faster action rod with the same TC would have superior striking at long range due to it's stiffer lower section, but a significantly greater number of fish would come off in play when the fish get closer and pressure is on the hookhold. I fish for hardmouth species most, so that type of rod would cost me dearly, like eg a 20% higher loss rate of salmon hooked on small spinners, based on my own extended tests.
The parabolic action makes both rods perform very well with multiplier reels as well as fixed spool reels, and gentle enough for casting fragile baits.

Ts1

Cheers, thanks for that Coolwings.