Rods - am I missing a trick?

[ga33a]

6 hours ago, oscsha said:

As others have said I do see a use for shorter rods but not as all rounders , but its fashion same as using big pit reels for everything .

That explains why, when I asked the guy in the shop to recommend some reels to replace my broken ones, he showed me something that looked like the winch from the front of a Land Rover despite me telling him they were for small to medium lakes 😅

[elmoputney]

6 hours ago, oscsha said:

I blame Alan Blair LOL,.

The waters I'm fishing at the moment mean i use my 11 or 12 ft rods .

As others have said I do see a use for shorter rods but not as all rounders , but its fashion same as using big pit reels for everything .

I don't think it is all about fashion I think its down to the fact they are Available to buy these days, I seem to remember years ago all you could get were stalking rods or carp rods usually 11 or 12 ft, neither totally suitable for my current situation, embrace the change I say now you can have rods for all situations and you're still not happy about it ? 

 

[chris]

The fact of the matter is that you can do pretty much everything you want (within reason) using either 10', 11' or 12' rods. People are changing their 12's for 10's for no real advantage in most cases.

Personally I think one of the most overlooked aspects is for years practically everybody had a set of 12' rods and the tackle barons noticed this and decided to open up a whole huge market in trying to sell us something hardly any of us had and labelled them 'must haves'. The boom in rod sales must have been enormous, and of course we all 'need' an appropriate set of reels too.

Cynic, me? perhaps a little 😉

[elmoputney]

Any business wants to find a way to fill a particular gap in the market though, that's just business, for me there is a benefit to using 10ft over 12 so I am glad they did 😁

While everyone always knocks the industry they have some blooming good ideas to make our life on the bank better and there are some great things out there, and in my opinion it's better than ever for getting the right kit for the right situation 

[oscsha]

2 hours ago, elmoputney said:

I don't think it is all about fashion I think its down to the fact they are Available to buy these days, I seem to remember years ago all you could get were stalking rods or carp rods usually 11 or 12 ft, neither totally suitable for my current situation, embrace the change I say now you can have rods for all situations and you're still not happy about it ? 

 

Never said i wasn't happy about option being available !!!

[elmoputney]

24 minutes ago, oscsha said:

Never said i wasn't happy about option being available !!!

Sorry if I offended, I meant that more generally by the way as in people still aren't happy having options available  😁

perhaps I should have read it again before posting 

 

[yonny]

1 hour ago, Dannygooner said:

The big pit Reels is the one that gets me. Are they necessary unless fishing a massive body of water?

We need to bear in mind that many (most?) anglers will only have one set of rods and reels to cover all the waters they fish, small or massive.

So if we can have one reel that can fish under the tip and cast a million miles we need big pits. Same with the rods, a 12 footer can fish under the tip or at 150 yards. A 9 ft rod cannot do that.

I agree that in an ideal world we use the right tool for the job but not everyone has the luxury of owning several sets.

I have multiple sets but they're all 12 and 13 footers. I do have different size reels though.

[elmoputney]

3 hours ago, Dannygooner said:

The big pit Reels is the one that gets me. Are they necessary unless fishing a massive body of water?

I still use my big pits,5000 series so it isn't a massive big pit but I dont really see a much better alternative really, I got a bait runner with my barbel rod, but the line lay and twist makes it much less pleasurable to use so I stick with them as they work and they are hassle free, 

[dayvid]

I have been reading this thread and over the last couple of days ,and racking my brain as to why I would use rods shorter than 12 foot , and can honestly say  I never would and have never had the need , yes I have fished tight swims as with most us ,but cannot think for the life of me that I thought my rods may have been to long .

I personally think their has been some great marketing out their to make the short rods the must have thing.

[yonny]

3 minutes ago, dayvid said:

I have been reading this thread and over the last couple of days ,and racking my brain as to why I would use rods shorter than 12 foot , and can honestly say  I never would and have never had the need 

Likewise. In 20 years + I've never come across a spot that requires shorter rods. Guess we're lucky lol.

[carpyian]

times ive been in a tight swim and found it a bit hard to cast ive just put my waders on and waded out a little 

[oscsha]

13 minutes ago, dayvid said:

I have been reading this thread and over the last couple of days ,and racking my brain as to why I would use rods shorter than 12 foot , and can honestly say  I never would and have never had the need , yes I have fished tight swims as with most us ,but cannot think for the life of me that I thought my rods may have been to long .

I personally think their has been some great marketing out their to make the short rods the must have thing.

PFFFFFFFFFFFF your just not urban enough

[elmoputney]

48 minutes ago, dayvid said:

I have been reading this thread and over the last couple of days ,and racking my brain as to why I would use rods shorter than 12 foot , and can honestly say  I never would and have never had the need , yes I have fished tight swims as with most us ,but cannot think for the life of me that I thought my rods may have been to long .

I personally think their has been some great marketing out their to make the short rods the must have thing.

Well having used some for a while I can say they have really helped me, most of the time I couldn't get enough back swing with a 12 foot rod to compress it enough to cast to the spots I wanted with a 10ft I seem to miss all the trees and bushes behind and can cast clean without catching anything, it's great 

43 minutes ago, yonny said:

Likewise. In 20 years + I've never come across a spot that requires shorter rods. Guess we're lucky lol.

Sometimes I think I would love to fish a nice big swim, that's all flat and easy to set up in with ample space, but then I also think that in 20 years time most lakes will be all manicured and it's nice to have to trek through brambles and overhanging trees and have to set my brolly up in less than ideal areas, 

34 minutes ago, oscsha said:

PFFFFFFFFFFFF your just not urban enough

Has Alan Blair upset you before you seem to really hate him ? 

41 minutes ago, carpyian said:

times ive been in a tight swim and found it a bit hard to cast ive just put my waders on and waded out a little 

That would be fine In some swims but some lakes are quite deep in the margins 1 accidental wrong step and I could be nose deep and at 3am after a bream would be a bit of a chore 

I probably wouldnt have gone for 10ft rods without being constantly frustrated by my 12 foot rods but I am glad I have they make my fishing easier and more pleasurable and that suits me I want to enjoy my surroundings not be in a constant battle against them, I really just don't get why people seem so against them without having tried them for themselves 

[commonly]

I wanted a small telescopic rod to take on holiday a few years ago. The tackle shop only had a 5 piece 6 ft shimano tribal one. Comes in a small tube. Absolutely brilliant bit of kit, I can leave a section out and have it down to 5 ft. 

I keep it in the van with a a 2 piece landing net and stalking bag. I can get in under overhangs that would be impossible, even with a 10 ft rod. 

Only thing is I just don't get the chance to use it😒

[oscsha]

46 minutes ago, elmoputney said:

Has Alan Blair upset you before you seem to really hate him ?

I could count on one hand the people I hate , there's people I don't like though .

I've never met Alan Blair (so can't form an opinion) , all I would say is I don't think the direction he has/is taking carp fishing is good ,but that's just my opinion .

As for manicured swims in 20 yrs time it will probably be the opposite with clubs struggling to find members and holding onto waters .

As long as you or any individual is happy with short rods then happy days  , its just they are not really the all rounders that the marketing men have us believe .

[Carpbell_ll]

I'm more than happy with my 10 footers, even with a 6000 size baitrunner on fluro mainline and a 2 oz lead i can cast the length of a football pitch, the park pitches are full size so that's between 90m-120m, if i was to use a larger reel with a casting line and 3oz lead i bet i could easily hit  a bit better than that.

My 12 foot rods were a cheap set in comparison, but i have always felt a 12 foot rod was the wrong size for me.

 

[elmoputney]

I am not a Nash fan and don't own a lot of there stuff at all, but the concept behind the scope range is a good one for those wishing to travel light and keep everything compact, I can see the appeal while I don't see the appeal in going fishing in a busy town centre on a Saturday night I guess some do each to there own ,

I guess I am old enough to make my own decisions and I don't feel I was hoodwinked when I bought them and I certainly knew what there limits may be but so far I haven't been compromised by them (just by myself) 

 

 

[smufter]

On 30/07/2019 at 18:08, kevtaylor said:

I dont understand why you think a shorter rod casts more accurately, I'd argue the opposite is true

 

 

It certainly does in my hand.......  because that's what I'm used to

😉

[yonny]

13 hours ago, elmoputney said:

Sometimes I think I would love to fish a nice big swim, that's all flat and easy to set up in with ample space, but then I also think that in 20 years time most lakes will be all manicured and it's nice to have to trek through brambles and overhanging trees and have to set my brolly up in less than ideal areas, 

I hate big manicured swims. Really winds me when I'm on a water and the gaffer thinks he's doing everyone a favour by swim building with boards and pea gravel. Looks awful imo, give me a nice overgrown pit any day.

[bluelabel]

it's not a fashion thing for me... I fish small waters... nothing bigger than 4 acres and on most there's tree canopies, so the shorter rods make sense for me, plus they can live in the boot of my car without dropping the rear seats so the whole kit is out of sight of prying eyes... and the reels are Shimmy Aero X 4000 hardly big pits..

also as a case in point my cane carp rods are 9'3" Sharpe's... circa 1955 and Walkers rods were 10'2" the longer 12' rods were developed by Rod Hutchinson for DISTANCE work...

[oscsha]

Rods evolved and got longer and lighter as better materials i.e glass then carbon among others becomes available , this evolution of materials and design of rods has almost come to a holt so the days of wow look at this slimmer , lighter or new mega casting rods are over . 

IMO the likes of Nash realised this and rather than just do what everyone else was doing they invented a new concept which they have done extremely well , is it for everyone NO , would some of these customers be better off with longer rods probably yes .

The market will go full circle and in 10-15 yrs we'll probably be using 14' rods  

[smufter]

1 hour ago, yonny said:

 give me a nice overgrown pit any day.

Your wish is my command..... 😣

 

[carpyian]

now that's a weedy patch 😂

[elmoputney]

1 hour ago, smufter said:

Your wish is my command..... 😣

 

It's for those hairy moments you need a 10ft rod 😁

[kevtaylor]

6 hours ago, smufter said:

It certainly does in my hand.......  because that's what I'm used to

😉

Great - and if you were used to a 12 - 13ft rod you'd probably find yourself being even more accurate 👍