I fish for anything anywhere, but my heart belongs to surf fishing. I throw a lot of 8oz n bait rods, and this got me thinking. When we are using a rod designed to throw 8oz there are more times than not that a big fish cant come close to loading the rod fully, the extra power is for casting. When watching some video of some top surf casters I was really paying attention to how the rod was loaded. More often than not the rod is what we would call overloaded during the cast, the rod tips were bent well past 90 degress to the butt. Now I have been into long distance tournament casting for a couple years and am a decent caster myself. I have photos of my tournament rods being "overloaded" during the casts or at least by the looks of it over loaded. Yet I can say for sure that the rods still had plenty to offer power wise. Anyway question at hand would be when rating a surf rod for casting weight where would you stop your ratings with bend of the rod? What if the rod performed better at a heavier weight yet it was bent past 90 degrees during the cast?

I think a lot depends on your casting style. Some guys really whip the rod and some start a little slower and let the rod start to load before really laying into the cast. I'm not a surf caster so I can't answer your questions other than to suggest you already know what is best for you.

I am curious about casting compared to fish fighting. I have always said we put more of a load on a rod casting it than fishing it. Let me ask you this; what line class are you fishing when casting 8 and bait? Have you ever casted weights near that range without any shock leader? I have always felt the shock leader needed to be near 10# test for every ounce. I have broken 20# test casting a couple of ounces yet I'd never break it (on the same rod) with a hookset. Maybe it has something to do the short amount of time the blank is asked to handle it? To me, the slow motion pics I see, suggest way more abuse than most high stick conditions.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Having had to rate and still am rating surf blanks for casting weight I do it the "tried and true" method. I test cast with weights in 1/2 oz incriments and see how little it will cast and how much until it "goes soft" ! Say I have a blank that casts on the low side 3/4 but will throw 5oz ok on the high side but it goes soft at 5 1/2 oz. I'll rate the rod 3/4 -4. I'll also take the time to find a sweet spot and make note of that. I like to underate a bit only because guys will push rods at times.. at least I know I have!! Overloaded at least to me means the blank no longer has the abilty to cast the weight it's being asked to comfortable. Might not be the breaking point but it's no longer effective or able to cast the weight!!

John Martines Wrote:
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> Having had to rate and still am rating surf blanks
> for casting weight I do it the "tried and true"
> method. I test cast with weights in 1/2 oz
> incriments and see how little it will cast and how
> much until it "goes soft" ! Say I have a blank
> that casts on the low side 3/4 but will throw 5oz
> ok on the high side but it goes soft at 5 1/2 oz.
> I'll rate the rod 3/4 -4. I'll also take the time
> to find a sweet spot and make note of that. I like
> to underate a bit only because guys will push rods
> at times.. at least I know I have!! Overloaded at
> least to me means the blank no longer has the
> abilty to cast the weight it's being asked to
> comfortable. Might not be the breaking point but
> it's no longer effective or able to cast the
> weight!!
Hey John give me a call sometime, need to talk to you

704-798-0386

Russell,
In tournament casting settings I topped out at 670 something feet. I have had some casts longer than that but they wasnt official. In the world of most fisherman I am an above average caster, in the world of distance casting I am average to slightly over average at best. I use 17lb sufix tritanium on an 8n bait rod with a 50lb shock leader. As far as casting styles go, in slow out fast is "correct" technique. Anyway this is just a curiousity

I really beleive that we do put more pressure on a rod casting more then fighting fish and with surf casting that is mostly true. The only thing about that is the only constant is the or can be the casted weight, The fishes weight and fighting strength can change from a guppy to a whale... Chuck I'll buzz you up later!!