Last week I was fishing one of the Tennessee river lakes in North MS. The water temp was 47F and the air temp was 40F. Since I'm pretty slow to figure out patterns it took most of the day to figure out the fish were holding on steep points in 25-35'. (Caught 1 small "spot" in about 38') My buddy and I had been fishing jerkbaits, carolina rigged worms, and 3/4oz football jigs most of the day. When we finally found the fish we changed to shaky heads and started to catch fish. So here's where I'm opening the "can of worms". My buddy and I were both fishing the same 1/4oz ball shaky head with the same 4" worm. The difference was our rods and line. He was fishing a 6'6" GLoomis spinning rod with 8# Fluoro and I was fishing a 7' Castaway casting rod with 12# Fluoro. The question always in my mind when I'm fishing shakey heads deep is "Sensitivity". My buddy said he could feel the bite, but I couldn't. Yet, I caught just as many fish. Obviously I looked at the difference in line size since he was fishing 8# on a spinning rod.
So here is the question I have been trying to solve since I began building rods. Can you tell a difference in "sensitivity" between a "high end" factory rod vs a moderate priced blank that we all build on from Batson, Castaway, Mudhole, Lamiglass, St Croix? If I look back at my situation, I believe the difference in sensitivity had more to do with line size than rod blank. I know everyone has their own favorite rod blank. I'm not looking for a different perfect rod manufacturer. I am interested in how you consider sensitivity in relation to all the other factors like durability, weight, etc.

Sensitivity (feel) is affected by anything and everything you do to a rod. Material, weight, power, action, construction, etc., all affect it. However, in practical terms, the human hand can only detect differences beyond a certain level. Much of what is written about sensitivity is written in absolute terms, not in practical terms.

Line certainly makes a difference, particularly when stretch is involved. But even then my guess is that your buddy didn't "feel" the strikes any more than you did. He's simply keying on something that alerts him to a strike and without giving it much thought, believes he's feeling it. You should have swapped rods and then you'd know if there was any practical difference in terms you could actually feel.

And remember that sensitivity, or feel, is not the end all, be all, of detecting strikes. I can watch most of my fishing buddies in action and detect more strikes on their rods from 100 feet away than they can with the rod in their hands. Most of the fish I catch are hooked before I ever actually feel anything. I see the strike by the movement of my line, slack or tight makes no difference. In fact, I believe one of the most helpful things you can do in improving your strike detection is to learn how to read line movement (or lack of it) against current speed.

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If you ever have the chance to fish with Tom and he suddenly tells you to set the hook. Do it even if you do not feel anything. You WILL hook a fish. I know. I have been there and done it. And it really @#$%& me off.

Todd, i think you have hit on the main reason i use white or yellow braids and very good sunglasses. Sure a good rod helps. BUT:the visible braid does way more for me than any other thing since i learned to sharpen a hook in increasing catch rate. With braid i can tell you when my drop shot weight comes off gravel and onto oysters or mud in Pickwick. Nylon and Floro, not so much. With the colored line i can see as it moves sideways or often: towards me faster.

I too will agree with Tom on the issue of line movement but, in the case between you and your friend,I think you may have had better bait presentation and were more appealing to the aggressive fish.If he could feel em',and you did'nt, He should have outfished you if you were'nt watching your line.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

I'm rod builder, a bass fisherman, and a sensitivity nut. I just finished building a medium-light IM7 rod blank the same way as a previous 54 mil. modulus blank of the same power and length. Both were built as light as possible without compromising other performance attributes... micro guides, 00 thread, minimal wraps and medium-build epoxy, all cork, and a split-seat. Nothing unnecessary was added to the rods, not even hook keepers or winding checks nor butt wraps, and a micro fly guide was wrapped as a tip-top.

Yes, the higher modulus rod is more sensitive, but only slightly. I can still feel every hit on the IM7 with low stretch line.

However, the big surprise to me was the weight difference, especially the apparent lightness of the tip in "tip-up" techniques like plastic worm fishing; the light tip of the high modulus rod makes a huge difference in perceived weight when fishing the rod vertically. Since a rod is like a lever, the apparent tip weight must go up quite a bit when the rod pivots in the hand, due to velocity/momentum.

So, while sensitivity was originally my number one goal in getting back into rod building, my focus has changed. Now my main goal is a light rod.

Now I am thinking my next build should be a shorter blank one power up to reduce apparent tip weight even further.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2012 12:30PM by Gary Snyder.

Rod sensitivity is a matter of opinion rather than empirical evidence. A great number of anglers can determine a rod's relative sensitivity without ever laying a hand on the rod, if only they can get a look at the price tag.

How many 33, 43, 54, 72 million modulus rods are actually made 100% of the advertised material? Hmmm...

How many tips are lower rated material than the butts? Hmmm...

How much does epoxy/carbon ratio and epoxy type - something seldom revealed - play into the equation? Hmmm...

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Don't think that the "high end" factory rods are built on any better of a blank than the ones you mentioned. Very few are. I have fished with low end rods and once you get tuned into the bite you can match anyone fish for fish. It might be watching the Line or holding the line with your finger. Ill take a well built custom 35.00 blank over any High end rod on the market.

Its also having a bit of a 6th sense. I fish walleyes alot. most of it drifting. some times that rock you just bumped that felt like any other rock you have bumped in the last 30 seconds but it caused you to hit it and fish on. Why did i set on that bump when it was like all the others? I dont kow but i am glad i did.

Kevin Gross
Many men will spend their whole life wondering if they made a difference. Marines dont have that problem - Ronald Regan

Sensitivity is not a myth! Some rods are more sensitive than others and you should be able to build a custom rod that is more sensitive than any factory built rod.

Sensitivity is not a myth! Some rods are more sensitive than others and you should be able to build a custom rod that is more sensitive than any factory built rod.

Well said Peter.

Mike also has a great point. Many 'high end' factory rods are ruined by having 5 huge guides on them instead of 7 smaller guides.

jeremy

The majority of posters discussing "sensitivity" are bass anglers. L.M. bass literally inhale baits with a good deal of force in what is usually calm water. On the other hand fly fishermen present nymphs upstream, which makes it very hard to keep a tight line, and trout sip nymphs versus bass @#$%& down their prey. If I were to follow any supposed expert angler's advice about rod sensitivity it would be a nymph-fishing trout angler, not a worm-fishing bass angler.

As was said in the beginning, there are many factors that go into an excellent fishing tool. To sacrifice any one feature seems to take away the importance of custom rods. A good balance of all factors is what brings the customer in. I don't understand the fly fishing analogy. Would you tell a potential flyrod customer that sensitivity is unimportant? It sounds as if you're saying a good set of eyeballs is the most important thing in flyfishing? Are you contending that blank construction and material is the least important for this fishing technique. Would the proper size flyrod out of the big box stores at 29.95 be just as good as anything you can build for casting nymphs upstream and sensitivity has no bearing?

To the contrary, the largest bass I've ever caught, smallmouth or largemouth, took the lure/fly extremely softly. In fact, you'll find that 9 times out of 10, the larger the bass the softer the take.

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I contend nothing about the equipment or its supposed sensitivity. I simply stated that detecting a pick-up casting upstream to a trout with a gentle take requires greater "sensitivity" of whatever sort than detecting the relatively aggressive strike of a bass in slack water, where keeping a tight line is relatively easy. And IF I were to rely upon someone's opinion (rather than objective data) about which rod was more sensitive, I would value the opinion of an accomplished nymph angler over the opinion of an accomplished worm angler, no matter what type of rod was in his or her hands.

Bass are not generally the heavy handed hitters you suggest. As someone that has fished for most all freshwater species over 5 decades, bass are often the most selective and most subtle strikers you'll find. Most of the large bass I've caught on plastic worms never gave any hint that the worm had been picked up - they don't hit them hard. The take is so very subtle that unless you watch your line relative to the current or lack thereof, you'll have no idea the fish has picked up the worm. And the larger the fish, the more true this is. On flies, I find trout to be far more obvious when taking a nymph (my specialty) than nearly any smallmouth bass is.

One of the reasons that so many bass fishermen never become adept at fishing a plastic worm is because the strikes are so subtle that most never feel them. You have to become a "line watcher" in order to be highly successful at it.

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Todd,
I tend to agree with you on the myth of sensitivity.
I also agree with several of the other posters, that a "light" rod can allow the fisherman to catch more fish.
I won't say that the light rod is more sensitive, I will suggest that it will allow the fisherman to catch more fish. This may be to less fatigue, a different weight to lever arm ratio, an ability to watch the line better since you aren't so concerend about holding up a heavy rod.

I have done a few vibration studies, and have found that often a very inexpensive - heavy blank, can actually transfer vibrations better than a much more expensive thinner walled blank.
But having done that and then fishing with both built up rods, I will still catch many more fish on the much lighter thin walled rod.

So, as you said in your initial post - there is more to catching a fish with a rod and reel, than a rod that is reputed to be very sensitive.
But, I also agree with several of the other posts, that - depending on the species being fished, the lighter rod tends to catch more fish more of the time.

Take care
Roger

Largemouth bass are the most intelligent and most selective fish that swim. Only the junveniles hit lures and flies with abandon. Most any of legal size can take in a plug and spit it out before the fisherman has any idea whats going on.

This is the reason that bass fishermen as so hepped up about having sensitive rods. I think its important to take a multi pronged approach with the lightest rod possible and to use light but low stretch line. Every advantage must be taken if you really want to know about every strike that takes place on the end of your line. Even then I sort of believe that we never feel even ten pecent of the strikes that bass make on our offerings.