Help understanding rods

[durham-newbie]

So I've got two older rods and I'm trying to understand their purpose. The first is a match rod that quite obviously states the size of line to use (around 2lb). Nice and easy, and I'm guessing this is designed for lighter fish such as roach and the like using a float.

My confusion comes with the second porky pig rod. It doesn't give any figures so I'm not sure what purpose it serves and therefore what line to put on it. It's a feeder rod,i get that, but my searching doesn't bring much resolution. It only has a single tip with it, no writing but a small red band at the end. Can anyone help?

 

[sam vimes]

Just from the model code it's a Harrier Z (HR-Z) 12'2" (122) Porky Pig Quiver (PPQ). It's not a model I'm overly familiar with, but most (of the many different) rods that bore the Porky Pig name were fairly beefy. I'd guess that the tip will have a rating of 2oz+ and it should be man enough for feeder up to a maximum of 3oz. The line rating should be up to about 6lb.

 

[durham-newbie]

Thanks, if that's the case it sounds like it's just what I need to begin feeder fishing for the first time

 

[Gloucesteroldspot]

The Porky Pig rods have hollow carbon tips rather than the usual solid quivertip and are much stiffer than 2oz - more like 8oz. They were designed for the Trent, though they are ideal for any fairly swift-flowing river where the current pull is such that a conventional 2-3oz tip is bent right round. They are very versatile rods and having quite a pronounced tip action can be used for float fishing whenever your regular match rod is just not powerful enough.

Being able to determine what line strengths/hook sizes to use with a given rod is a skill in itself, and one which anyone can learn just by experiment and observation. However, it seems to be dying out now that rod makers have started to put line strength and casting weight guides on their rods. This also sells more rods, as people tend to be afraid to exercise their own judgement - so if their rod says 'suited to lines between 1.5lb and 3lb' but they want to use 1lb, or 4lb, they think they need to go out and buy another rod. Line strength is actually a misleading method of quantifying rods anyway, as the key criteria for selecting rod power are the proposed casting weight and the intended hook size, assuming you will be striking bites and not relying on a bolt rig to do it for you.

A thirteen foot match rod with a foot cut off the tip has essentially the same amount of power as a twelve foot carp rod, so in theory you can safely use 12lb line on that thirteen foot match rod without risk of breaking it; the rod will simply bend further down its length, with the fine tip pointing straight down the line. The problems start when you tie a hook on the end, as you cannot sensibly use a hook smaller than about a size 10 on a 12lb line, but that extra foot of soft springy carbon cushions the strike and prevents the rod driving the big hook home.

 

[sam vimes]

The Porky Pig rods have hollow carbon tips rather than the usual solid quivertip and are much stiffer than 2oz - more like 8oz. They were designed for the Trent, though they are ideal for any fairly swift-flowing river where the current pull is such that a conventional 2-3oz tip is bent right round.

Definitely the case for the original Daiwa Porky Pig rods, I have one, bought specifically for Trent match fishing in the early 90s. However, Daiwa started using the "Porky Pig" name quite liberally on later rods. Though it wasn't applied to really light tip rods, that I know of, it was applied to rods much lighter than the originals, hence my conservatism in suggesting 2oz+.

 

[108831]

A good rod for feedering on the Trent or Severn,that's the porky pig,it used to be in demand second hand.

 

[durham-newbie]

Is there anyway to test with a set of scales?

 

[peter crabtree]

What do you want to test?

 

[thecrow]

as you cannot sensibly use a hook smaller than about a size 10 on a 12lb line,

Sorry but I have to disagree with that, I have regularly used hooks down to 14s with 12lb line when fishing a particular rig some years ago, sadly Mustad decided to discontinue the model of hook that I used. It did look ridiculous I will grant you but it never bothered the Barbel at all, my Barbel PB was taken on this set up.

 

[fishing4luckies]

Personally I'd stop worrying about the numbers and the ratings.

Chuck a reel on it with some 4lb line and take it fishing. You'll soon find out what it can and can't do, or more precisely how well it does certain things and how badly it does others.

 

[durham-newbie]

What do you want to test?

The rating of the tip? 2oz must mean something like it takes 2oz to bend the tip so far, so can I not weight the tip up and see how many ounces it takes to bend it to the required point and then I know the rating? Does it not work like that?

 

[peter crabtree]

Personally I'd stop worrying about the numbers and the ratings.

Chuck a reel on it with some 4lb line and take it fishing. You'll soon find out what it can and can't do, or more precisely how well it does certain things and how badly it does others.

Exactly what I'd have said....^

 

[Gloucesteroldspot]

The rating of the tip? 2oz must mean something like it takes 2oz to bend the tip so far, so can I not weight the tip up and see how many ounces it takes to bend it to the required point and then I know the rating? Does it not work like that?

It does work something like that, and indeed you could test it, but why? If you discovered it had (say) a 2oz tip, what would that actually tell you? How would it influence your choice of line strength, casting range or the rods suitability for any given purpose? In the absence of any other point of reference it's a pretty arbitrary measurement.

Quivertip ratings really only serve to tell you which one is which, if you have a rod with two or more interchangeable tips. Yes, a 1oz tip is softer than a 2oz, which in turn is softer than a 3oz, so you'd pick the one that gave you the best bite detection for that particular situation. When you have a rod with just one tip, knowing its rating is pretty irrelevant. A 2oz tip is neither stiffer nor softer than nothing.

Go out and use the thing, and see how you get on. In time you'll work out for yourself when you need a softer or stiffer tip (if at all - it's all too easy nowadays to be kidded into thinking you need more choice than is really necessary). In the meantime, concentrate on developing your innate angling ability and build up some experience. Knowing where to cast, how long to leave it, how much bait to use and how to adjust the terminal set-up will put far more fish in your net than a collection of different test-curve quivertips.