I have a customer that is asking me about making him a 15 foot long surf type rod for use as an anchor rod for king fishing off a pier. We talked about it a lot and both of us feel that the longer rod being moved at the butt at the same speed as shorter rod will generate a lot more speed at the tip and give a lot more casting distance. He says he uses either a six or eight oz. claw sinker for the anchor weight. Getting more distance would allow him to run his bait further out into the ocean. My question would be how much more distance could he expect? The extra expense of the longer rod won't make much sense if we would only be talking about a few feet. He's hoping for another thirty yards or so. Any ideas?

James,
The only way to positively know for sure is to build one and test it.

I hope that the fellow who is asking that the rod be built is a sturdy fellow.
A 15 foot long rod with a 8 oz sinker at the end will be a heavy load for even a big fellow to handle.

I think that the theory is sound, as long as the rod and its blank is up to the task to swing this pendulum into the water.

If he is really interested in distance, it might be a better bet to get into powder charged harpoon design. I would expect that some of the harpoons that are on modern whaling ships can shoot a lure out the end of the cannon a good bit.

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By the way, you are asking about whether a 15 foot rod will give him more distance in a cast.
The question to you is: More distance than what right now. i.e. what sort of rod and reel set up is he using currently?
The other very big part of the equation, is that if the 15 foot rod is much longer th an the current rod, will the caster have enough strength to get the tip up to the desired terminal velocity to maximize its casts?

Since you are talking about such extremes in both distance and weight - it is going to be tough to say for sure without actually tying up a rig and doing some tests.

Remember to test the theory, you just have to glue on the tip of the rod, use good tape to put about 8 guides on the rod, and then use a bunch of tape to tape the reel solidly to the blank.

You don't need to worry about a reel seat or grips or thread or finish to put yourself in a position to do some test casting.

If you happen to have a 3 piece blank with say 3-5 foot sections, you could start with just two sections and have a 10 foot rod and establish a base line for casting distance.
By the way, if you have a multi section rod, and you are going to use the blank for test casting, be sure to tape the top blank section with several layers of masking tape to insure that during your casting tests, you don't have the upper rod section split out due to the force of casting. The tape will simulate the normal thread wraps that you put around the base of any upper section that is built to insure that the blank does not split out.

Then, cut the tape off the reel, add the last section, one more guide and then tape the reel back to the bottom section and continue test casting.
These numbers won't be totally accurate compared to a well built and finished rod, but they will certainly give you some good ball park numbers to base a build./no build decision.

Good fishing.
Roger

While it might make sense on paper, in reality there comes a time when a person can no longer move the butt of the longer rod as fast as he can a shorter rod, at which point the plan falls apart. Maybe.

I can’t guess your customer’s physical stature, but I’m an even 6 feet tall, weigh 185lbs and have been involved in serious athletic endeavors all my life - I’m pretty confident that all else being equal, I’ll get more distance out of a 12 footer than a 15 footer for the simple reason that with the weight and the length you mention, I wouldn’t be able to move the butt of the 15 footer anywhere near the speed I can move the 12 footer.

Now it may be that your customer is a really big guy and with the knowledge that anchor rods aren’t cast very often, don’t rule the long rod out solely on my comments above. Do make sure he can swing the rod fast enough to take advantage of the extra length. If he can, he may well get enough additional distance to make the project worthwhile. It would almost surely add more than just a “few feet” to his distance.

Also make very sure the pier he’s fishing from allows rods of that length. Some piers have rod length restrictions.

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i was talking to a pier fisherman awhile back and discussed this topic with him. he agreed that if he can't cast the 15 footer it would hinder his distance. the other part of the equation is he like the idea of having a 15footer as the anchor rod as it raised his line higher so he was able to get his bait further. how about using a 12 footer to get the casting distance, yet have a 3foot extenson to add to the rod for placing in the rodholder. i am not sure if it will work, but in theory it should get a little more distance. we never got around to testing this

Your client might get more distance by simply using a different sinker such as Frog tongue sinker and placing the rod in some type of extension on the pier. Fifteen footers would be fairly awkward to cast especially on a pier that might be crowded.

Jeff

Columbia, SC

I use a 13'2" Most plankers use a 12' some like me use a 13' . To get the rod higher on the pier most use about a 3' piece of PVC pipe and bungee cord that to the pier .Now you can slip the rod in & out to lower your rod if someone else is hooked up on a big fish and need to get over you. I think JMO that 15' is probably a bit much .

I agree with Darrell, 15 feet is probably a little much for an anchor rod (at least for me it is). Most people I've seen use between 11 and 13 foot surf rods and still get the anchor out a long ways. I use a 12'6" rainshadow 1508. It might actually be harder for him to cast if the rod is that long and if he cant cast it very well, that defeats the purpose of being able to put the bait out further. Honestly, the longest I would go on an anchor rod is 13 feet but thats just my opinion. Once you go longer than that it would be harder to cast especially since you have limited space on the end of a pier.

OK thanks. Good food for thought. I guess I need to talk to this guy a little more before we decide what to do.

I have a 15 foot 3 piece spinning rod that I no longer need. I will sell cheap!

I am 6'7:" tall and weigh in at 300 lbs. I used to cast this thing out and take a short rest. I would then slide baits attached to my 8 foot fighting rod the rest of the day.

On the other hand; I don't pier or trolley fish any more but do OK with 13 foot rods on the beach.. I spiral wrap them because even repeated casting with a conventional rod will kill you; a spinning rod not so bad. .

My ''Run and Gun' rod happens to be a 11 foot UL spinning rod with 1/4 to 1/2 oz lures.

A 15 foot rod IMO, would make a good radio antenna.C2

I build a lot for the pier and surf crowd, and i see this kind of thing all the time. Customer equates longer rod with more distance, which in some cases is very true say 10' heaver vs 12' heaver for example. I spend a lot of time on piers and do my share of pin rigging, The pros that I see out there are using 12-13'6" max and that's where the average man is going to fing his best distance with 8oz. My expectation of your client without knowing him is that a 15' rod will give him less distance, not more. JMO.

Tight Wraps

Walt Davenport
"Roadhouse Rods"

Hi. I'm a die hard pier/ king fisherman. You see two types of heavers on the pier, the old school lamiglas with a size 28 tip top and about 12 ft. vs. new school which is same length and much much lighter. they both throw about the same in distance. I will say this, a few feet in length makes a small difference, but only if you have the reel that can perform also. the extra distance i've seen is in the reel not nessessairly the rod. But relistically, your bait doesn't need to be off the pier that much, due to the face that most kingfish shoot the piers and hit the close corner baits. and the occasional wandering cobia. My opinion is, the extra footage really isnt going to benefit the person at the cost. I hope this helps.