Hi guys. So I made a post yesterday about casting with a trolling rod. I was wondering why many people say you can’t cast a trolling to it’s rated lure weight. Is the blank constructed differently? Does it have to do with rod response in specific situations (for example, bottom bouncing)?

I don't think anyone said you can't cast a trolling rod, it's done all the time in the Pac NW, you drift or float fish the river from the bank one trip, and then fish from a boat soaking a plug, spinner, or bait the next, or even troll/mooch a herring the next trip, it's just that casting stores energy from the weight involved and bends the rod much more than statically suspending or resting a weight on the bottom, even reeling in the offering bends the rod far less than casting. You can probably lob a 5 oz. weight with that rod, but the response and resulting performance will be less than satisfactory.

On the canal if we were waiting to load up I would grab a trolling rod and sling Buzz Bombs from the point by Whitney Shellfish Lab. I caught many backlashes and a few fish as a kid.

The ideal trolling weight and the ideal casting weight are not necessarily going to be the same thing. But that doesn't mean the rod can't be used to cast with.

.........

Also depends on the reel being used. Many reels designed for trolling are not designed for casting. This is especially true for offshore saltwater trolling.
Norm

Not always but typically a manufacturer lists the rods specs related for the application it's designed for. In this case it's designed for trolling a certain weight. Trolling a couple ounce puts a lot less stress on a rod than casting a couple ounces. There is no issue with it in respects to casting. It will cast. The potential problem is will it cast what the specs are. I'm guessing probably not. I believe there was or is a manufacturer that listed casting and jigging weight recommendations for their blanks because they're different.

You also don’t want to cast most saltwater jigging rods with more than about a quarter to a third of their weight rating for principally the same reason. Vertical jigging barely loads a rod in comparison to the acceleration involved in casting. The buoyancy of water also decreases the felt weight of the jig.