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Greetings from central Ohio - where I long for open water :-(
I posted here in the Salmon/Steelhead forum because the rods I'm looking at are the G 1336-T Flame Tip Hot Shot and the G 1330-T Hot Shot Mag. However, I'm open to suggestions for ANY Lamiglas Rod that fits the bill. Here's what I'm looking to do - forgive the number of details and it's probably a tall order - but rather than buy 2 or 3 cheapo rods, I'd like to get ONE good rod to cover a lot of species.
- First and most important... Must be made in the USA or have a great deal of American content
- Casting rod
- Good fit with a round reel - most likely a 5000 series Abu (but them new Revos are awful tempting)
- Using mostly 50# test/12# diameter braid or 12# Polycarbonate.
- I fish mostly for bass (LM and SM), catfish, and Ohio reservoir muskies (but only once or twice a year).
- I use unweighted worms frequently... both finesse and stick types.
- I use use small to medium crankbaits and topwaters (jitterbugs)
- I use buzzbaits mostly "waked" across the surface.
- For musky - downsized baits (2oz or less, but a couple are bigger) and fish mostly during the casting time of year... very little trolling.
I was looking at the Hot Shots thinking they'd have a bit more fight against big cats, the occasional "oopsie - I caught a carp" and the muskies - but realistically, they may be overkill for most of what I catch. Since I use low stretch lines, I like the rod to have a little bit of give to it. I do have some other rods - one 4# ultra light for panfish and one 8# spinning outfit for GP pond/river use... so I guess if those are the "small" and "medium" rigs - I'm looking for a "large" :-)
Hope that's not too much info - but I figured more is better than not enough.
Thank you very much for your time - and good luck on the water!
Zeke
Take a look at the new XCC725. It has a light enough tip for the plastics but can handle the bigger cats.
Josh Cooper
Lamiglas Rod Squad Guru
Josh,
Thank you very much for your time. I will check that one out. By the specs, it looks perfect. Just a couple questions.
Other than more flex, will there be any issues tossing lures exceeding 2ozs? I just want to avoid damaging the rod.
What does the "Comp" stand for in "Comp. Crank"?
Zeke
Comp means it's a composite graphite/glass blank. Lures as heavy as you mention would really slow up the blank and overload it.
Your Hotshot rod idea has merit, but the grip length is too long. Buy a blank and shorten the grip to a more comfortable fishing length and you'd get a much nicer rod. Still the rod is being pushed pretty hard with a 2 oz lure weight. Hard to get one rod be a decent smallmouth and musky rod.
No one knows as much as all of us.
2oz. will not damage that rod but it will be overloaded and affect the distance you are able to cast. I chose that rod because the tip is stiffer than the G1336t and will not be as prone to break when overloaded like the G1330t.
Josh Cooper
Lamiglas Rod Squad Guru
"Hard to get one rod be a decent smallmouth and musky rod"
You ain't kiddin!
I've found that crankbait rods come closer to a "do it all" rod than any other style - or at least that's been my experience so far.
Since the market trends dictate specialized rods tailored to a single purpose, it's hard to find one that's marketed as a true all-species multi-purpose rod.
I've never fly-fished so I know exactly nothing about it - but do fly rods have the same degree of specialization? One of my fishing buddies uses fly rods exclusively - saying he's able to catch bluegills or blue cats with the same rod - he lets the rod do the work and just has the net handy when hauling in a biggun.
I think that's why I was leaning towards the Hot Shots - thinking a longer rod with less power and a slower action could do more things... but I forget that the ability to toss heavy baits suffers.
"...it will be overloaded and affect the distance you are able to cast"
Shouldn't be a problem if the distance loss is no more than, oh, maybe 25%. I know there are trade-offs and I'd rather see the musky side of it's performance suffer. When Musky fishing, we work mostly the outside edges of weed beds. I adjust my casting a little bit to toss bigger baits and don't expect miracles :-)
Your off a bit on your discription of Hotshot blanks, as far as salmon/steelhead rods go they are the fastest actioned blanks out there.
Some of the heavier powered blanks get used in the saltwater pier fishing, surf fishing and even as saltwater fly rod blanks for sailfish,etc.
The disadvantage to the Hotshot or any other fast blank is that if they are highsticked the soft tip just folds over, none of the power gets transfered to the lower blank as it should and the blank will fail quite dramatically. Sooner than many others style blanks would in the same situation.
Still the light tip/heavy butt power make them very versatile as far as the fish species/line weight/lure range they will fish.
No one knows as much as all of us.
Thanks everyone for your time and thoughts - really appreciated.
Zeke