what do you think of shorter rods

nova12 · Feb 21, 2016

I've recently bought a browning 8foot force wand feeder rod for short range work.
I've also seen they do smaller version browning commercial mini waggler 10foot.
And a bomb rod 9foot
What are your views on these shorter rods and can they handle commercial carp up to 10lb
Any help much appreciated.

trotter2 · Feb 21, 2016

I bought a 10ft float rod a couple of years back for Stillwater fishing were the depth is not excessive. Since I purchasing it for small pond fishing it has been a joy to use. Wish I had done it years ago TBH.

greenie62 · Feb 21, 2016

One of the snags with carp on commercials is trying to land them! - in that if you have platform-type pegs they will sometimes try and get under your peg or around the bank supports. A longer rod can help with keeping them away from the bank or platform and enable you to net them at the right distance.
Tight Lines :thumbs:

Chefster · Feb 21, 2016

Short rods are a lot more accurate to cast on smaller venues,such as snake lakes,fish are easier to land on short rods!you can get them in a lot closer and scoop them quickly,before they realise whats happened

john step · Feb 21, 2016

If they are rated to fish for commercial carp then they are fine. They will lighter to hold. Just watch out for bankside rushes and reeds. One can worry too much about the niceties of tackle. Just enjoy what you have.

You mention Shimano 4000 in your other thread. 2.5oz cast and retrieve no problems. Last year I mistakenly took this size Shimano to the Trent for barbel instead of my heavier job. Coped admirably with barbel on the day although I wouldn't make a habit of it.

nova12 · Feb 21, 2016

Thanks for the reply.
Yes I did have a thread about the bait runner reel I'm hoping it can cope with double figure carp yet to catch 1 with it though.
I enjoy using the smaller rod as it is accurate but if I need a big chuck for bigger fish what are good feeder rods for this? £50-£90 mark
I've also got a maver abyss x series 10foot feeder rod but this is also a light feeder and only good for lumping light loads out but handles carp well being soft all the way through.
My PB on the maver abyss so far is 12lb and did take a while to get in as it doesn't have a deal of back bone in it.

tigger · Feb 21, 2016

It's a case of horses for courses, if a shorter rod fits the bill then i'd use one, no point standing on the bank of a large river trotting with an 8ft rod or trying to fish a large gravel pit with one.

Regarding the reel, I used a shimano x-aero recently for legering on the river for chub. I used 70 gram feeders and a 1 3/4lb rod and the reel was sound, although not as good as the old 5010's I sold to get the money to fund the x aeros.
I wouldn't have any qualms about using the 2500 for large carp unless I had to cast long distance to get them.

seth49 · Feb 21, 2016

I have a Shimano beast master 9/11 ft feeder rod.
And a Shimano forcemaster 10 ft float rod, Both have handled carp to low doubles.

They are fine with silvers too, I like to sit back when I'm fishing the margins, and the float rod is perfect for this.

I've recently bought two 9 ft carp rods, A Nash dwarf and a esp one as well.
Only tried the Nash so far had seven carp to about ten pounds the first time I tried it. as mentioned I like the way they come close to the bank for netting.

They suit the waters I fish now, They are all under two acres in size, So no need for long casts, And they are light to handle as well.

binka · Feb 21, 2016

I don't mind shorter rods but Greenie has already mentioned the main drawback imo, that of the lack of ability to hold a fish out from the margins and bankside snags prior to netting.

Why do I have chub in mind when I write that?

You mention distance in relation to bigger fish and that may be true on some venues but don't make it a general association, I find the biggest fish can often be right under your toes

nova12 · Feb 21, 2016

Thanks for all your help I fish small venues and just started on some bigger lakes but it would be nice to have a rod I no I can chuck out at range I'm going to have a look at the shimano beastmaster thanks.

The 10 foot Nash rods sound good if fish the margins etc will look in to it.nice to have a choice

slaphead · Feb 21, 2016

Shorter rods can also be useful on over-grown pegs when casting.

Doesn't seem to make a lot of difference for me though, I snag up on everything.

mg:

robtherake · Feb 21, 2016

slaphead said:
Shorter rods can also be useful on over-grown pegs when casting.

Doesn't seem to make a lot of difference for me though, I snag up on everything. mg:

We must have been separated at birth.

steve2 · Feb 22, 2016

On the waters I fish any rod longer than 10ft is too long even these are too long sometimes, because of overhanging trees. Seen people struggling to cast with their long rods and convinced a few to change over to shorter rods rather than
have the trees cut back.
When I first started we used short rods, then changed to longer rods when when fibre glass and carbon came in. Now gone the full circle back to shorter carbon rods.
Spent most of the last few months fishing 6 and 7ft lure rods.

Jim Crosskey 2 · Feb 22, 2016

I would definitely agree that there is a set of circumstances in over-grown swim where a shorter rod (9 foot say) would be handy.

However, i also happen to believe that for about 90% of fishing for 90% of anglers, the actual rod length is completely immaterial. We fish from the margins to perhaps 50 yards out and really the actual length of the rod is neither here nor there.

HOWEVER, it is important for the tackle trade to continue selling fishing rods, and in order to do this they do exactly what the clothing industry does and introduce fashion.

So whereas five years ago x-named sponsered angler was catching all of his 100lb bags of matchwinning carp on a stiff 13-foot "super-animal-feeder" rod, this year he's topping his match weights with a 9 foot "stealth-midget-uber-carp-mugga" feeder rod.

(incidentally - in both scenarios above he's fishing commercials with method feeders at 30 yards, and both of the rods mentioned make a perfectly good job of it)

All alternatively - x-named carp angler, so beloved of his sponsor for shifting thousands of 13 foot 3.5lb tc rods in the early 2000s has recently started to take his local syndicate apart with the all new "steal-midget-stalka-stick". 9 foot long. and perfect for getting to the parts that other anglers can't reach. And built on a 9 foot spinning rod blank that the tackle company has sold for years.

Ok.... i'm being a bit overly cynical/ humorous/ sarcastic. But you get the point... we don't know we need it till they tell us we do!

tigger · Feb 22, 2016

For most my fishing a short rod would be a disadvantage, most of it is trotting and a short rod means I have to mend the line more often and even then it's difficult to lay the line in the desired positon, "behind the float", especially when trotting across and down stream. As Binka pointed out in a earlier post, chub nearly always bold for the bankside cover and a short rod (even on a small river) makes stopping them nigh on impossible as they just kite across the flow. Same applies to tench fishing in still waters where the reeds or other plant life grow out from the bank.
Short rods are ok for waters where you haven't got this hazard but usually waters like this are commercials and not my choice of venue...as I said it's horses for courses.

steve2 · Feb 22, 2016

Totally agree, it’s horses for courses, that why I use short rods on my lakes and my 12ft rods stay at home.
If I were trotting on a river I wouldn’t use any thing less than 12ft. Saying that I do use a 10ft pellet waggler rod when trotting on small streams.This is the reason why us all rounder’s have so much just in case tackle.

robtherake · Feb 22, 2016

Love 'em - notwithstanding the stated caveats about fish control. They're much easier to be accurate with than a longer rod; usually lighter and better-balanced, too. The fight is generally shorter and the fish pop up closer for netting when they're ready. Plus they take me back to those magical first few years as a young apprentice. What's not to like?

Edit - With 6 and 10ft carp rods, 10ft float rods and quiver rods of 8 and 9 feet, I reckon it's obvious that I rate them, but there are obvious circumstances where a longer rod is king - distance float-fishing and trotting are obvious examples. Nevertheless, I'll use the shortest rod I can get away with in any given situation. A cheap 10ft float rod from WMAC - costing a fraction of the price of more exalted tools - is my absolute favourite rod.

Keith M · Feb 22, 2016

I much prefer to use float rods of 12ft and longer even when I am fishing smaller Stillwater venues, especially if there are near bank snags or weed beds that I need to keep them away from until they are spent.

I also find using rods of 12ft and longer allow me to trot better and mend my line better on streams and rivers.

I may use a shorter float float rod if I am fishing a very tight swim with over-hanging branches etc. but that is fairly rare for me.
I may also use a shorter float rod if I were fishing pellets near the surface and at relatively close quarters. however because I only fish a commercial once in a blue moon; that too would be very rare for me LOL.

If I am casting a 'canal grey' or an 'onion' waggler on a Canal I would be restricting my casting ability and my line pickup (on the strike) with a float rod of less than 11 or 12 foot; and the average canal isn't that wide.

I do use shorter leger rods but when I'm ledgering I have my line running directly to the hooklength (and not at right angles via a float) so my strike is more direct to the hook, unlike when Im using a float.

It's just my own personal preference.

Keith

derwentbob · Feb 22, 2016

Since my angling changed from mainly small natural stillwaters to mainly commercial fisheries I have been thinking of getting a pair of rods for commercial carp bagging. My delicate 13' match rod has given me quite a scare when handling an 8lb lump and my 12' light ledger rod snapped in two last year when something big decided to make a fight of it halfway back to the bank. Both are (were) mid range Daiwa models and I don't really fancy shelling out £100-ish a piece to replace them. I don't need to cast more than a few dozen feet and there are no reed banks to speak of so I guess I might as well save a bit of cash and go for a cheap-ish feeder rod about 9'-10' and a pellet waggler rod about 10'-11'. I don't really care about the length, more about the action and the ability to handle bigger fish but I think there is a cutoff point where short is too short. I wouldn't feel confident with a rod shorter than 9' for anything other than light lure fishing, even though my first ten years of angling was with my trusty Shakespeare spinning rod - six feet of solid glass that was used for everything from float fishing to jigging for mackerel on holiday.

I just wish smaller rods came in three sections though, an 11' two piece is significantly less bus friendly than a 13' three piece.

nova12 · Feb 22, 2016

Just bought the browning 9 foot bomb rod
And a browning 10 foot commercial waggler
To go with my 8 foot force feeder wand I do like using the smaller rods all my commercial rods are no bigger that 10 foot Only my carp rods are 12foot but looking at 10 foot Nash ones.
Plus you get a great fight on light lines especially for carp.

But I have a maver abyss x series 10 foot feeder but it does feel a cheaper rod comparison to the browning and they are similar price unless it's just me?

what do you think of shorter rods

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