This is only in reference to bass fishing and is what I've seen here in Texas. The diversity of techniques used by today's fisherman requires far more rods than what was needed in the past. When you throw baits that range from under 1/8 oz to as large as 8 oz and nearly everything in between, you need a very broad range of rods. It isn't marketing. It's necessity.

Calling a light/medium light casting rod a Shaky Head Rod or Finesse Rod is marketing, but it does serve a purpose. For anyone new to Shaky Heads, it gives you an idea of what power and action you need for that technique. A medium weight rod will not work for the smaller finesse presentations. In fact, if it wasn't for the popularity of Shaky Heads and Drop Shots, I doubt you could by a quality casting rod in medium light at your local bass tackle store.

If a bass fisherman today uses all the techniques at his disposal, he will need a minimum of 5 or 6 rod types or he will be sacrificing performance with one or more of the techniques. My job as a rod builder is to provide the best tools for my customer's goals. I don't need to call a rod a Drop Shot or Shaky Head rod, but that's what it is if that's the technique he's wanting the rod for. If he wants a medium for finesse fishing as a recent customer did, I try to discourage him. When that didn't work, I gave him a loaner medium and medium light to try out on the water. Of course he picked the medium light Finesse Rod because that was exactly what the rod was built to do, throw small light finesse baits.

The labels we put on our rods may not be relevant, but it's very important as both a fisherman and rod builder to know what rods work best for the different techniques. Put "Finesse Rod" on a medium heavy rod and you won't sell a single one to an educated fisherman. You may sell a few, but I doubt your customer will be happy when he tries to throw his 1/16 oz jig and 4" worm. You'll also loose your credibility because anyone with a bit of knowledge will know you don't really know about or understand the technique.

Part of our expertise as rod builders is knowing what blanks work best for our customer's goals. It's knowing that if he ask you to build a finesse rod he can also use to throw DD22s or a T Rig, you need to tell him it won't work. The best assembly, components and fit don't mean a thing if you're trying to throw a DD22 on a light power rod. Label them however you wish, but you better know what rods work best for which techniques. If you don't, your no more helpful than the local big box sporting goods retailer.

Lance, I know of 3 guides, 20 miles south of you that guide for salt water fly fishermen,. It is very popular in most of South Louisiana, If you ever catch a red on a fly rod, you will throw your 845's away.

Hummm great answers to rods. I fish Ironheads (Steelhead) in Western Washington local rivers, That said I have 10 steelhead rod, each rod is designd to fish a perticular way be it well be used plugs, spinners, bait. or bobbered. Also It depends on the rivers I intend to fish. This well predicate what rod I am going to use . Also I need to know what the River water flow is. As you can see even US fresh water people have a lot of choses to make. Emory are you reading this.
Good Wraps Bob

No one rod can do all things . It's nice to dream about traveling the world fishing for trophy size fish with one rod.

Unfortunately look at how many different kinds of fish there are in just the good old USA. We have Pan fish, Bass, Crappie, at least 6 type of Salmon and numerous Types of Trout and how about our ocean fishery. For each fish I mentioned there are at least 10 rods you could use.
Good Wraps Bob

Lance - as to your question "so the question is, whats up with all the lure-specific rods? . i think if i had to take one rod for every lure in my tackle box id give up fishing. "

I'm with you - I have more bass lures than I can carry in my boats - and a rod for every lure would be - well - too many. However, it's not lures we should be building bass rods for - but techniques. There are a lot of them - but they're not endless, like lures. Now that we've got the question right - there is an answer - knowledge and understanding of the different techniques to be used

Your new to rod building - I understand. When I started building my first rods (in 1957) , it seemed simple and easy - at least for the first 25 years or so - see what you have to look forward too. However, the last 20 + years have been a different story - as my knowledge and understanding of bass techniques were forged in the fire of competition - my rod building was no longer simple and easy but matched the complexity of the techniques I was using. Inspired by a close friend to think and build outside the box (my old way was simple and easy). I did. The rest is history. You've come to the right place to stir the pot - and learn - these guys are good. Here and the pages of RodMaker , plus the ICRBE - could have saved me 25 years - 50+ years ago - you're a lucky rod builder to have these resources - today.

Richard I agree with you. When I first stsrted building. You did not need much of a learning curve. What was bad was no one shared a sigle thing.
Good Wraps Bob

Lance - to follow your analogy - I would be very willing to bet those duck hunters use different shot sizes and loads for teal versus mallards versus geese versus swans in the few places that is permitted. And the choke tube option has been already mentioned. The fact is - one person could get by with one shot size and shell combo for every type of waterfowl but not without some sacrifices in either range or density of patterns. The knowledgeable sportsman might optimize his options by adjusting the loads in order to optimize his ability to harvest the game at hand... the same thing goes for walleye rods as the aforementioned bass rods.

We fish a huge variety of manners to bring walleyes to hand. A combination rod can be used to accomplish several tasks if the budget requires it. But my Lindy rod would work poorly as a jigging stick in the currents Mississippi, and my vertical jigging rod would work less than great for casting and setting the hook for slip-bobber use - where a long steelhead rod works great. My longline trolling rods would not work very well for jigging and my jig pitching rod would work less than optimally for some of these other uses. Could I get by with several rods instead of a bunch - perhaps - but to have the proper tool to accomplish each task is a joy and a good deal of the reason I make my own rods.

To each their own, and your results may vary - for me - I enjoy building what I believe is the optimal tool to present each lure or bait to the fish in different manners - and then catching a fish on that item I designed. The rods I build meet a need - and some are used for other fishing as well - that just tells me I did a great job on the design and that the blank is one that is highly versatile - not all are created equally. Good luck with your fishing - :) Chuck Ungs

i think all the responses are great. i just want to say that my original assumption seems to be somewhat true: rods built for a specific task/lure/fish are much more popular in the freshwater world.

on our big boat, we keep three different types of rods: heavy duty casting rods, stand up rods, and trolling rods. we take the same rods we trolled blue marlin with all day and deep drop them for swordfish at night.

Lance - I think you make a important point when you add your geography to your list of variables because that narrows down target species and habitat and therefore narrows down the range of tasks/lures/techniques. If you broaden the scope of SW fishing to include other destinations I think SW starts to approach FW in terms of gear, if not exceed. As mentioned, if the SW angler is heading to SW FLA to fish 10,000 Islands the choice of species and habitat increases the need for different rods. The same would be true if fishing the Keys in the back bay versus outside the reef. Move to up the E Coast and start fishing the thin water of Misquito Lagoon for Reds or off the beach for Pompano and the choice of baits/lures and presentations changes again and so will preferred gear. Move up to the OBX and it changes again. Sometimes you can troll off the beaches with Bombers for citation Rock Fish (Stripers) weather permitting but sometimes have to move into the sound and throw Rattle Traps for schoolies. Fishing off the Point for citation Red Drum with Hatteras Sticks is a whole different game. Sometimes you have to be satisfied bottom fishing multi-hook rigs for Whiting, Spots or Croakers. Each area will have anglers that have mastered the tough bite and narrowed down the best techniques and gear for the most potential success, but added together there is a significant range of different SW gear combinations.

My personal "marketing" approach is to build for fishing I'm personally familiar with and referring a request to someone that lives, fishes and builds in areas of the country and for species with which I'm not familiar.

steve i agree 100%