If
you buy a rod with "salmon" written on it expect
to pay a premium! There are many fine spinning
and bait rods from the coarse fishing fraternity
(especially carp and pike rods) which will stand
the test more than adequately, but remember that
it must have a solid butt section. Salmon are
basically a sea fish and fight accordingly!
I am not a fan or carp rods which
don't have an all through cork handle. In salmon
fishing you will be holding the rod all the time
and its important in cold weather to have something
comfortable.
Bait fishing rods tend to have
a more flexible and sensitive tip than spinning
rods, but its a minor point.
The bottom line is that one rod
should do you for both activities. It also means
that you have less tackle to carry about.
Rod
Action
The action of the rod required
will depend on the type of reel you are using.
A through action rod is best for using with multipliers.
It allows you to wind the whole rod up in a slower
casting action. Middle to tip actioned rods are
best used with a fixed spool reel.
Some people say that a tip action
rod is more accurate, but I'm not convinced. |
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I
have to own up here.. I am a tall fellow and I
fish a big river, so my preference is for a long
rod usually 10-11'. I know that in the United
States there is a move towards shorter and shorter
spinning rods. I have even seen guests trying
to use these short collapsible jobs. and my advice
is to leave such short rods (less than 9') at
home.
A short rod either gives up on
butt strength so that is is not a stiff poker,
or its so flexible throughout that it does not
have the power to land a fish.
It is only fair to the fish to
use a rod which matches with its size, fighting
capacity and the flow of the river. If you are
using a short flimsy rod you will have an awful
time controlling the fish. The fish will inevitably
become over-stressed and if you take it too far
it will never recover (Root and Bohr effect i.e.
the blood becomes acidic causing even more lactic
acid to be released, causing an unrecoverable
downward spiral).
So please - fish with a rod which
is man enough for the job.
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The
test curve measures the amount of strain it takes
to turn the tip of the rod over to 90 degrees.
This gives you a good indication of how much weight
the rod is designed to cast.
iMost spinning rods fall into
the 1.25 to 2lb test curve and are ideally suited
to casting typical salmon spinners which fall
into the 20-40g range. But if you are going to
be doing a lot of dead baiting with big baits,
or using heavy leads in high water you should
be looking at test curves around the 2.5lb mark
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If
you are looking for distance casting on a really
big river the quality of the rings is important.
A matt rod gives off less glint
than a sparkly one. These are designed to catch
fishermen not fish.
Make sure the reel seat is strong
and big enough to hold the chosen reel. Flimsy
fitting will not do. |
