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Light weight surf rod


adkel53

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Hi Raiders,

I'm looking to purchase a new rod for surf fishing targeting mainly bream and whiting and the occasional tailer or salmon. My requirements are:

  • two piece. Length in the 9 to 11 foot range.
  • light weight (4-6.kg line)and not too stiff in the tip
  • suitable for a threadline reel

Does anyone have any suggestions and/or experience with such a rod? I saw a very nice 9'6" Wilson Live Fibre rod at a well known boating and fishing outlet for $165 yesterday but want to check out other options before committing my dollars.

Cheers and thanks in advance.

Kel

Edited by kel
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Are you lure fishing or bait fishing? If your bait fishing then a 12 ft rod is ideal, as Stewy said it helps keep your line out of the wash. A shorter rod and the line will be constantly hit by waves and drag your bait back in.

If your lure fishing then a bit shorter will make it easier to put some action on the lure but at the cost of keeping your line out of the wash (admittedly less of an issue with lures as you're retrieving them all the time).

If you're bait fishing then any rod will do unless you have to cast a mile. I have an old Shimano Taipan that cost $100 and it's great for bait fishing and not too bad for lures either.

If you're lure fishing then you probably want a better quality graphite rod. The problem with surf rods is finding something that will cast relatively light weights. Most are designed to cast weights of 2-6 ounces which is ridiculous for spinning. My recommendation for this work would be a Nitro Surf Assassin. Excellent light weight rod and will cast a lightish lure well. Only issue is the price, if you butter up your local tackle store owner you may get it for $350 but I can almost guarantee you'll love it!

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I own a Nitro Sniper for my beach whiting fishing. It is 10'6, 3-6kg, is as light as a feather and ultra sensitive. I use this same rod for throwing 30gr metals. I can cast them a genuine 70-75m with a 4000 certate and 20lb braid. Great fun on the sambos and i hope to have a crack at a few leadies with it when i get back to Sydney.

They retail for $330

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I own a Nitro Sniper for my beach whiting fishing. It is 10'6, 3-6kg, is as light as a feather and ultra sensitive. I use this same rod for throwing 30gr metals. I can cast them a genuine 70-75m with a 4000 certate and 20lb braid. Great fun on the sambos and i hope to have a crack at a few leadies with it when i get back to Sydney.

They retail for $330

Forgot about that one, it'd be even better than the Assassin for what you want if you want to spin.

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I've got a 10' and.a 12' Wilson live fibre and they are very good rods but if you ask me my fav is my wifes 11' Snyder Glass Magbream. A composite blank that is very light, has a nice soft sensitive tip which is perfect for bream and whiting but plenty of grunt to tackle sambo's and tailor.

Kingys

Edited by kingys what kingys?
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Hi mate, if you're after cheap option, I can personally recommend the Shimano Catana Coastal Light (10ft 6in, 2pce, 3-5kg line rating). Bought mine because it was cheap (for about $70) and thought I could use a knockabout light rock/beach rod, but it's become one of my favourites because of its versatility. Aside from light beach fishing (both bait and spinning), have used for luderick (off the rocks and in the estuary), and even spinning for salmon, bonito, etc.. from the rocks (can cast a 30g metal slug over 80m using 8lb Fireline).

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Are you lure fishing or bait fishing? If your bait fishing then a 12 ft rod is ideal, as Stewy said it helps keep your line out of the wash. A shorter rod and the line will be constantly hit by waves and drag your bait back in.

If your lure fishing then a bit shorter will make it easier to put some action on the lure but at the cost of keeping your line out of the wash (admittedly less of an issue with lures as you're retrieving them all the time).

If you're bait fishing then any rod will do unless you have to cast a mile. I have an old Shimano Taipan that cost $100 and it's great for bait fishing and not too bad for lures either.

If you're lure fishing then you probably want a better quality graphite rod. The problem with surf rods is finding something that will cast relatively light weights. Most are designed to cast weights of 2-6 ounces which is ridiculous for spinning. My recommendation for this work would be a Nitro Surf Assassin. Excellent light weight rod and will cast a lightish lure well. Only issue is the price, if you butter up your local tackle store owner you may get it for $350 but I can almost guarantee you'll love it!

Hi abecedarian, I've got a shimano taipan 12" rod but haven't worked out what reel to put on it. So what reel and set up do you have on yours?

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Hi abecedarian, I've got a shimano taipan 12" rod but haven't worked out what reel to put on it. So what reel and set up do you have on yours?

There's a few reels I've used with mine depending on what I want to do. I've put a baitrunner 6500 for bait fishing, twin power 4000 for spinning and the guide placement is such that it will handle an overhead reel too. So I originally had an Abu 6000 on it but stopped using that reel as it's drag is terribly bumpy. Nice reel aside for that.

Basically anything from a 4000 to 8000 spin reel or an overhead that's not too huge will work nicely. Really great rods for the money!

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i too have a shimano taipan, however it is showing its age, the butt cap has completely disapppeared & its down to the metal tubing. also the reel seat where the reel clamps on does not stay in the fixed position anymore, i can literally tuirn that section of the rod 360 degrees around on itself.

i also am in the market for a new replacement rod of this type of nature. i would mostly be using it on trying to catch jewfish and alike from wharves around the harbour. the reel i would be using for it would be a shimano baitrunner 8000D spooled up with 50lb power pro braid (yes i know, overboard with the lb but i also use this reel for offshore kingfish fishing & ive only got the 1 spool).

i currently only have 2 rods im looking at atm, them being the:

- Penn Slammer 1102 Spin

Length(imperial): 11'

Length(metric): 3.30m

Pieces: 2/P

Rating: 6-15kg

Casting weight(g): 56-170g

Blank: Clear solid tip

Guides: Fuji

NB: the reason for looking at this is because i already have Slammer 702 st matched up to an abu garcia soron stx20, & the Slammer 701 gbh 10-15kg rod for offshore fishing & they have never faulted me yet.

- Shimano Endura 12' Surf Rod 2 piece, 12ft, 6-10 kg.

NB: its a clearout rod from a fishing store at the moment.

my question is, can anyone give me feedback on the 2 said rods i have mentioned in terms of quality and longevidy etc. also if there are any other rods i should be looking at but have missed, please let me know...my price range is somewhere around the 100$ tops so no snyder glas etc.

sorry to hijack ur thread kel, b ut it seemed that we were almost in the same market for rods etc lol.

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