RODS FOR ADVENTUROUS SURF CASTING

When we go on a surf fishing adventure it’s somewhat different than doing it at home.  On our home turf, we can go out for a few hours and return home when we tire of it.  When we travel to a far off location we dedicate a lot of precious vacation time and money to the venture.  We are committed to fishing all day long for days in a row.  This means many more casts and much more foot travel than we are accustomed to.  In addition, most adventurous locations require casting very long distances.  All these things are quite fatiguing and we find this fatigue to be a large limiting factor in catching fish.  The choice of rods can make or break us.

As we research long distance surfcasting, we find recommendations for very long powerful rods (over 12 feet).  Most of these rods are quite stiff in the lower ½ of the rod, quite flexible in the tip, and require strength, advanced casting techniques, and excellent timing to properly load the rod.  They also have very long butt lengths. The fame of these rods comes from competition casting and/or bait casting with heavy sinkers using pendulum type casts.   In these situations, fatigue is not a large factor because of the limited number of casts one makes.  They are capable of stupendous distances but the casting styles necessary to use these rods to their potentials are not condusive to dodging surf and making many many casts per day.

A very few experts are willing to point all this out and for all day extreme distance plugging they direct us elsewhere.  They recommend an 11-12 foot rod with flex that goes all the way through the length of the rod, a stiff tip, and a lure rating in the 2-4 ounce range.  This has proven out multiple times with a variety of rods I have seen other people use.  We need a light 11- 12 foot rod to throw our ideal 2-3 ounce plugs.  We need the butt to be around 24 inches long to avoid having to reach out when passing it across the body.  We need stiff tips to take advantage of our more rapidly executed casting styles.

It is a little difficult to research factory made rods because manufacturers frankly are way off on their published rod ratings.  Most factory 11-12 foot rods carry a 3-6 ounce rating when in fact they should really be rated 2-4 ounces.  We usually have no idea of the tip action unless we can physically see the rod.  You can find some good quality budget surf rods for around $100.  You should look for one that has a stiff tip and a flex through the butt.  A long butt 12 footer with a stiff tip can have its butt cut down to cut down to 24 inches (about 6 inches) without affecting its action.  A 12 foot rod with  flexible tip can have 6 inches cut off the tip to give a stiffer tip.  If you are on a budget, you can find (and possibly modify) a good factory rod for around $100.

A custom rod can also be made.  There are a few very excellent blanks that fill our needs.  The best easily available blank for the money is the Rainshadow 11 ½ foot 1387 or 1386.  The 1387 is a little stiffer than the 1386 and when you are fresh, it casts a little farther.  The 1386 is a little more limber than the 1387 and it loads easier resulting in longer casts when you are tired.  Large men might prefer the 1387.  Smaller men and women might prefer the 1386.  Both rods will easily handle powerful fish up to about 50 pounds.   Both rods are very light and capable of very long casts.

The custom rod should be outfitted with Fuji Lowrider guides.  The lowrider guides add a little distance but more importantly they avoid the line from wrapping around the guides when using powerful casts with spectra braid lines.  If you get a line wrap around standard guide during casting, it will likely break off your lure and possibly tear the guide right off the rod.  In addition, the lowrider guides are much smaller than standard guides and this makes packing and transporting the rods (esp. in small rental cars) easier.

There are a few custom surf rod builders that can be found with a little internet research.  They can build you a very fine rod for around $300.  Be aware that these custom builders require long lead times and a degree of patience in dealing with them.  It is within the capability of almost everyone to build his or her own custom rod.  It is not difficult and it’s very rewarding to use a rod built by yourself. You can build a 1387/1386 yourself for a little over $200.  Mudhole.com is a large supplier of components and they have excellent tutorials on their web site.  Fishsticks4U.com is a good supplier of Rainshadow rod blanks.

A rather unique rod is the Breakaway LDX.  This is a completed rod made and sold here  http://www.breakawayusa.com/shop/rods.htm  The LDX is a 13-foot rod with a very long butt.  The butt can easily be cut down to 24 inches which results in a rod just slightly over 12 feet in length.  The LDX is amazingly light and it has a very nice progressive flex from the tip to the butt.  It has spinning guides that are sort of a hybrid between lowriders and conventional.  The LDX is rated for 3 to 5 ounces but it casts very well with 2 ½ ounces.  It also has the capability to move up to 3-4 ounce lures if the situation demands it.  This is a very powerful rod with tremendous amounts of fish fighting capabilities and it’s amazing that it retains its ease of use qualities.  It is probably not the ideal rod for those of small stature but most men can handle it quite well and use it to plug all day .  It may not be as versatile for back home usage as the rods described previously but it’s a tremendous big fish - long distance plugging rod at a tremendous price of about $200.