R14 brought up an excellent point. Another thing to consider is that one person's "worm" rod is someone elses "spinnerbait" rod. Everyone fishes differently ... they use different line, different baits, and present their baits in different fashions. After selling all of my All Stars to you guys, I went and did something on Friday that I've wanted to do for a long, long time - I ordered some customs. I decided to use John Miles for several reasons: he's minutes from my house, he listened intently to what I wanted in each of my rods, he took exact measurements and asked specific questions about what I prefer to fish (line weight and lure weight) of each rod, and he gave me a heck of a deal since I needed so many (nine). This weekend, I'll be getting the "RR specials" built to my exact specs with graphite handles, titanium guides, color-coded thread (each application has a different color) and split grips and I can't wait. Here were the nuts and bolts of my wish list for each technique-specific rod:
Pitching rods - I got two of these since it's what I prefer to do 90% of the time. Each rod will be 7' and the blanks were chosen based on the fact that I pitch with either 3/8 or 1/2 oz jigs or lead, and each rod will be suitable for 15lb flouro up to 50lb braid.
Spinnerbait rod - 6'10" MH(ish) rod that will allow me to throw (primarily what I stick to) 3/8 and 1/2 oz SBs. I wanted these rods to be slightly shorter so that I could more accurately toss SBs around docks and under tree limbs.
Topwater rod - 6'8" rod with a lot of power in the butt and mid-section, but with just enough tip to walk a Sammy or twitch a Pop-R. I wanted a little stiffer rod than what I'm accustomed to for TW because I usually throw BBs and wanted something that would horse a toad out of the slop. This was also the shortest rod that I ordered and did this so that the tip wouldn't slap the water while working a walking bait. Suitable for 15lb mono.
Shallow Cranks - 6'8" rod designed for tossing shallow cranks around in tight quarters. Like the rest of my CB rods, it will have an overall moderate taper from butt to tip to keep a bass from ripping those trebles free. This rod will be suitable for 1/4 - 1/2 oz shallow running cranks (less than 8') and 12 lb mono.
Shallow Cranks - 7' rod that will be identical to the above except 4" longer. I'll use this for the same application except it will be more for open water when accuracy isn't as big a factor. Most of the time it will be spooled w/ 10lb flouro. This is the rod that I'll also primarily throw Traps on.
Deep Cranks - 7' rod patterned after the other CB rods, but this one will be used for 3/8 - 3/4 oz baits that run in excess of 8' and have a slightly heavier action to it. Again, 10lb flouro will be on this one.
Carolina Rigging rod - this will be a stout, heavy action rod that measures in at 7'3" and will hurl massive gobs of lead through the air for several miles. It will also back-up as my frog rod for fishing the slop. Ideally, a frog rod should probably have a little more "give" to the tip section than this rod will (because those frogs are so light), but I fish frogs 10 minutes out of the year and wasn't about to buy a rod for that purpose ... this one will do fine. The plus side is that the overall stiffness of this rod will yank a bass out of the slop on the G real, real well. It will have 50lb braid on it.
Spotsticker rod - my one Fairy Wand (spinning) was designed so that I get great sensitivity when fishing a shakey-head (usually 1/8 oz). It will have a graphite split, TN handle and measures 6'10". This rod is probably going to be about what most would consider Med action, but it will have a slightly over-all faster action to it. A lot of times I'm deep with these baits, so I wanted something that would take up line faster on the hookset and not have too much "give" when driving that little light wire hook home. 6'10" was a compromise length for me because it would give me enough length to set the hook, but still short enough to make accurate tosses under docks. Ideally, I'd like to have two of these rods - one 6'6" and one 7' - but one will do me if this one turns out the way I believe it will.
Custom rods aren't for everyone, and I realize they are quite costly (I saved for these for QUITE a while), but when you can sit down with a builder like Fat Albert or John Miles and get EXACTLY what you want, then you better understand the value (he's still waaaay cheaper than a Loomis or even some St Croix). I must say that after leaving Mr. Miles house the other night, I was hooked. I left fully satisfied that I had gotten the exact tools for MY needs. Even things like hook keepers were left off (I never use those things) and exact handle lengths and measurements were made. If nothing else, I would encourage most to ask themselves what their favorite technique is, and then have a custom rod built solely for that purpose.
This is a good topic Skeeter. As it continues to grow, you'll probably get tons more answers ... and all be be 100% right for the author. Some will read my above specs and think, "there's no way I'd ever want that in my "X" rod," but rods are as individual as we are and everyone has a different interpretation of the way a rod should fish. The good news is, you've got a bazillion options out there, so just do your homework and ask YOURSELF what you want out of a particular rod.
RR
