Hello,

Fishing as a non-boater, so trying to maximize rod duties. What I'm wondering is how strictly one need pay attention to a blanks reccomended lure weight when pitching? I'm concerned on both ends of the spectrum. Say a given blank is rated as fast, 3/8 to 3/4 oz.
If I'm pitching a 1/4 oz jig with a no. 11 pork frog trailer, I'm likely at 3/8 oz or so, but will this load enough for a good pitch?
Similarly, if I need a 1 oz tungsten to get a texas rig through the Hydrilla, will I be okay, even though it's above the rating?

I realize that answers might be very different if I were to cast, but this would be strictly for pitching.

As a co-angler, all my rods need to have some versatility!

Thanks and happy holidays,

Craig

Swampland Tackle to the left, the knowledge and the products to set you up right.

Craig,

When pitching, the rod doesn't load much, unless you are really aggressive with your pitch. You are relying on the energy that the lure gets from the pendulum motion, plus what you give it by raising your rod tip. It's usually easier to get by with an overpowered rod for a technique than it is to get by with an underpowered rod for a heavy cover technique. As a co-angler, your partner may not be too thrilled about going back into the thick stuff to retrieve one of your bass that would have came in the boat with a more powerful rod.

If you think you'll be punching enough to justify the build, I would build the punch rod and use either the punch rod or your 3-4 power MB jig/worm rod for pitching as the situation dictates.

As mentioned, check in with Bill and Lance at Swampland, they will get you going in the right direction.

If I were to take 5 rods, for the back of the boat in a tourney, it would be a drop shot rod, and 3 power MB, a cranking rod, a 4 power MB, and a flipping/punch rod. The rods may not be perfect for each technique, but you are going to be in the ball park for whatever you need to do.

Joe

Thank you,

Good point on making the boater go get them! I was planning 40# braid with a 20# FC leader. I wonder if the Castaway BB1 would load well enough for accurate low pitching of a 3/8 jig with trailer?

Craig

Craig,
Don't over think this situation.
The line and lure ratings are very broad.
But in the real world, the rod can actually work with an even broader range of lines and lures.

Always, always set the drag on your reel to be no more than 1/2 the breaking strength of the line. This will help give a good margin for the rod to avoid breakage.

Other than that, take your candidate rod, and try pitching and jigging with a very wide variety of baits and lures. Then YOU will know if the rod will work for your particular satisfaction.

In years past before folks became very specialized with rods, lines, reels etc. a fisher person would have one rod, one reel and one line.

Whenever they wanted to go fishing with what ever lure, bait or weight that they needed to do the job, they would tie it on the end of the line and go out and do the job.

So, simply put, there is an optimum value of weight, lure, jig, bait and line that has been thought to be perfect for a given rod by someone.

But in real world practice, any given rod can generally work with a much much wider variety of terminal tackle and lines than might otherwise be printed on the rod.

As I said at the beginning of the post, be sure to set the reels drag to avoid damaging the rod from line over stressing. Then, simply increase the casting weight that is on the end of the rod, and see how it handles the weight. When you get to the point where you are overloading the rod on the cast, you will know it and easily see and feel it. Then you will know, that for your casting style and need, the exact upper end of your casting weight.

You can also repeat the tests by going to lighter and lighter weights, until you stop getting enough load on the rod to meet your needs.

Remember, a person that put a label on a rod, may in fact have had considerably different needs, and or requirements for the rod, when they made the chart for the rod. Test yourself and come to your own conclusion. Just use caution when you approach the upper limit to avoid over stressing the rod.

Good luck
Roger