Spinning on a standard rod?

[Harrison1986]

Hey all, looking for a bit of advice on trying a bit of spinning/lure fishing.

Only started out fishing last summer, mainly carp, tench, roach, etc. using float, ledger and method feeder fishing.

This year I've bought a new rod and reel (Korum All Rounder and Korum Axis reel) for this type of fishing, but keen to try a bit of trout fishing on the float and hopefully a spinner. Can I just chuck a swivel on the end of my mainline, and then attach a spinner, or do I need a dedicated spinning rod? If so, why?

I was thinking of trying fly fishing but I've already spent up on the rod and reel, she'll kill me if I come home with another rod! Cheers!

 

[spoonminnow]

I use 5 1/2' - 6' light action rods for fish as small as 2.5" - 4 lbs.and light lures as light as 1/32 oz. and 6 - 6.5' medium action rods for using heavier lures ranging in size from 1/4 oz - 3/4 oz. (sorry, not a metric person). The rod's 1/4 - 1/3 end should load backwards like a spring and whip that lure with little arm and shoulder input. In fact a circular wrist action at the waist level usually cast even light lures over 30' easily.

The only way I'll use flies is if they are attached to a light weight or jig with a light 2.5' leader of 2# test fluorocarbon.

 

[dorsetsteve]

As you will come to learn and appreciate whilst you can do different things with different rods certain tasks are made better by certain rods. If you took your All Rounder and went to fish the float in margin for carp or link ledgering for Chub you’d be fine, if you started trying to use it to trot a stick float for Roach or bounce a jig head along the bottom of a lake your going to find large short comings.
What you want from a spinning rod is something light, your going to be holding it constantly. Your also likely to be casting from cover or under arm flicks etc, 12ft of Carbon is going to be a pain.

The good news is that you can get going pretty cheaply, especially if you buy second hand. I’d go for something around 5-20g casting weight, I like the shorter rods, matched with a front drag reel of about a 2000/2500 size loaded with 20lb braid. A small selection of 5-9cm shads on 5g jig heads, maybe some crank baits of a similar size and a couple of spinners, you’ll be away. And probably addicted.

 

[Notts Michael.]

If it's any help, I have used my 11ft 'allrounder' rod with small spinners and soft lures and caught Perch and the odd Chub. though it's def not really a rod aimed at spinning.

 

[sylvanillo]

With your rod which is not a spinning one, use a lure that doesn't require a specialised rod. You won't be too exotic because there are as many spinning rods as there are lure families. A perfect example of an unspecific lure is a crankbait.

For the terminal section, you can use a 0.50 or 0.60 fluorocarbon on which any usual knot works. A good fluoro would be a carp one, which normally is as flexible as possible.

Have fun!

BTW: I started spinning for pike and perch 25 years ago. That was with a fiberglass rod that I had won in a pole fshing match. Any today's rod would surpass the one I had. It didn't prevent me from catching many, many fish.

 

[David Gane]

I've had a look at pictures of the Korum All Rounder rod and I think its name is a bit misleading. It's undoubtedly okay for a variety of jobs - ledgering, feeder fishing and float fishing spring to mind, but it's not designed for spinning or lure fishing.

As someone else has already said, it's too long and therefore doubtless too heavy. Personally I wouldn't use a spinning rod that was more than an absolute maximum of about 2.75 metres, and more often than not a good bit shorter. As someone else has also said, you are going to be holding it for hours on end and your wrists and hands will get tired of using anything bigger. Furthermore, you will want to match the rod to the lures you are using. If you look at the base of any spinning rod just above the handle it will show a recommended lure weight range. Use lighter rated rods for light lures and heavier weighted ones for chunkier ones. For average weighted spinners and lures I'd recommend something like a rating of 10 - 30 grams. Inevitably though, if you get into lure and spinner fishing you'll end up owning several rods of different ratings and lengths.

The other thing about the Korum rod that I noticed was the rings. Spinning rods tend to have larger rings than the Korum. Larger rings are important as they presents minimal resistance as the line balloons off the spool during the cast. Smaller rings present greater resistance and considerably reduce casting distance.

As to your reel, if you have spare spools for it I'd recommend loading a spool with braid, which is MUCH better for spinning and lure fishing than mono. I like Spectra Power Pro rated at 30 lbs b/s, but other brands are available. Why braid, you may ask? Well, first off it has no stretch and gives you much better sensitivity as you retrieve. You really can feel what is going on at the business end very effectively with braid and will definitely be able to tell the difference between contact with weed or the bottom from contact with a fish. I can honestly say that nine times out of ten I can even tell what kind of fish has made the contact. In addition however, when you are learning to lure fish you will get snagged or hung up pretty frequently. Because of its strength braid gives you a considerably better chance of getting your lure back when you get snagged - and for that reason it quickly pays for itself.

 

[Harrison1986]

Thanks everyone, some really helpful advice. Not been into fishing long and there's just so much info out there about floats and feeders, etc., before you even look at spinning your head's fried!

Thanks for that too David, gonna do exactly that and get a short, light rod for lures. Looking at a Daiwa D Shock combo, seems like a good starter setup. Cheers!