Help with saltwater Rod

[AtTheWall]

3-7 oz 12ft - my go to Pompano rods. They are so light, I hand hold one full time, chasing pompano. I feel them pickup the bait and I fish a moving leader setup, folks like Nick, like to use spider weights. I have fished with Nick a few times, with him showing up and stopping as he rolls PINS.

Here's my PINS blast and cast - run and gun the sand - setups.

Nick and I are probably the only pair, who take surf fishing PINS seriously anymore? And I mean, casting long distance surf rods, zero kayak, and running the sand chasing selective species only. Which require constant moving till a pattern is found

Nick has his stuff made by Chinese - I build mine with Japanese made components and a mix of rod blanks made here in the USA, China and England.

He's a cool chap and he and I go back when OZ, was just showing up on PINS and Billy Sandifer was the man. Always will be the man on PINS. Oz got to learn from a bunch of the older guys - which I have fished with OZ chasing snook at PM jetties when he was driving from Austin to fish - he hadn't yet moved to the coastal bend.

Yeah - I guess I'm an old timer



4 Blanks here are CCP, one Lamiglas and the other BATSON/RAINSHADOW. Smaller blanks in the 8ft class - I lean hard on United Composite blanks - which then transition into offshore setups on United Composite offshore lineup.

[Crabtrap]

This is the style id be going with.

https://www.tackledirect.com/nomad-design-nos2p835-8-offshore-spinning-rod.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwr56IBhAvEiwA1fuqGm50CFnvB84B5LCqXyv62b1-JEnYYOuqrkv9SYvQ9bPOXFNQ0rse3BoCFnIQAvD_BwE

Ive got one of these and have caught tarpon, ling, jacks and a few 40lb ajs without issue

https://www.roysbaitandtackle.com/shop/hella-bomb-spinning-series-cajun-custom-rods/

I also have a 11ft blackhole light, its a MONSTER and crazy light but its a lil pricey. I think you will find a 11ft doesn't cast a whole lot further than some in the 8-9ft range and you wont have to deal with a ton of extra weight casting poppers all day. Most long rods here are going to be a slower whippier action which will be sloppy throwing poppers.

[AtTheWall]

Some decent cost blanks, around maybe 80 bucks cheaper than CCP and Breakaway

Go with 12ft blanks if you can. We deal with many breaking sandbars, and the longer the blank, the taller you can hold it and keep the line up out of the water for feel. Shorter rod tips, have the line meeting the water right around the 2nd and 3rd sandbars and maybe even laying over the top of the 2nd bar, if you can crank a cast over the 3rd from the sand.

12ft is a good distance for timing and distance. Longer 14-15ft blanks, you need to cast a crap load to work up to those lengths because the timing, slows way down as you load up longer as you cast. That makes timing casts more critical IMO - wind drag also becomes a factor - casting into a stiff coastal breeze with a 14 or 15ft long blank is hard work.



Shimano Speedmaster 12ft spinning - 2-6 oz lure rating - softer with a more parabolic tune = castable thru a wide range.

Team Diawa Surfrods 12ft 2-9 oz lure rating - these are stiffer - less feel blanks

St Croix MOJO Surf Spin 3-8 oz at 11ft



All of them, when you compare CCP and Breakaway - within 150 bucks up and down of each other

[AtTheWall]

The key to 12ft blanks - you want to cast over the 3rd sandbar.

I'll let anyone try my 10ft custom, to see if they can do it with that.

I'll show you, what 12ft can do, in comparison.

That extra 24" of rod length, up on the tip = yards of carry over the 3rd bar where the 10ft blank, shuts down on top of the 3rd bar. The 3rd bar has about 20 yards of sand from front and back, that forms the bar.

An extra 18 - 20 yards on PINS, means you are dry versus wading out to the 2nd to make the same delivery.

Some of the other surf blanks on the market, are tuned for west coast (no sandbars) and or east coast (two sandbars). So many of their blanks are shorter, and or longer but more like a steelhead/salmon blank, than a solid blank that can hang with 100lb blacktips, redfish and then shifting gears to pan fish, all using the same blank with different leaders and reels to delivery

We have at least a dozen or more - 500 yards off the beach here in Texas. Closer to Louisiana you get, the farther out that surf to deep water gets.

Standing on the beach at Big Shell, and seeing that third sandbar only 75 yards away, and knowing past that, the water is hitting 10ft between sand bars - plenty of water for big fish feeding shallow.

What is more challenging than big fish, pompano and super small light biters, fishing with literally nearly 200 yards of line out = you don't have a lot of feel - these lighter and more tuned surf blanks, bring feel to the blank and they are light.

And the game of long casting the jetty ends, with poppers and king/tarpon/snook baits - Port Aransas down to Port Isabel - that alone is a blast with long distance casting gear. Hooking them is the easy part, leader and or landing them out there, that takes a minimum of two up to three people to make that work on the bigger fish.

My CCP blanks, can cast 1 ounce up to as big a lure as I could stand, and still do all, with some control and feel, and they don't break the bank. Tuned and sold by a man who makes a living, casting long.

[rvd]

3-7 oz 12ft - my go to Pompano rods. They are so light, I hand hold one full time, chasing pompano. I feel them pickup the bait and I fish a moving leader setup, folks like Nick, like to use spider weights. I have fished with Nick a few times, with him showing up and stopping as he rolls PINS.

Here's my PINS blast and cast - run and gun the sand - setups.

Nick and I are probably the only pair, who take surf fishing PINS seriously anymore? And I mean, casting long distance surf rods, zero kayak, and running the sand chasing selective species only. Which require constant moving till a pattern is found

Nick has his stuff made by Chinese - I build mine with Japanese made components and a mix of rod blanks made here in the USA, China and England.

He's a cool chap and he and I go back when OZ, was just showing up on PINS and Billy Sandifer was the man. Always will be the man on PINS. Oz got to learn from a bunch of the older guys - which I have fished with OZ chasing snook at PM jetties when he was driving from Austin to fish - he hadn't yet moved to the coastal bend.

Yeah - I guess I'm an old timer



4 Blanks here are CCP, one Lamiglas and the other BATSON/RAINSHADOW. Smaller blanks in the 8ft class - I lean hard on United Composite blanks - which then transition into offshore setups on United Composite offshore lineup.

I was hoping you'd jump in, thanks as always for sharing your knowledge and experience.

[ArcheryNerd]

I have used and liked the Okuma Longitude CX , it’s a 12’ two piece line wt. 20-40 and lure wt 3-8 oz. I have had this for about 5 years I guess and it’s held up very well.

This

[Crabtrap]

I feel like this guy was looking to throw lures not soak stuff over the bars..

[AtTheWall]

I feel like this guy was looking to throw lures not soak stuff over the bars..

12ft CCP 3-7 oz on SALE, can do both.

I use a 10ft Lamiglas 2 piece on an AKIOS 666 reel, to fling lighter lures in the 1/2 - 3 oz zone. That blank is rated 1 oz - 4 oz.

The 12ft CCP 3-7 2 piece, can fling 3/4 oz up to 7 oz - with another 24" of blank length - to gain another 20 to 30 yards of distance over that same 10ft Lamiglas using the same highly tuned - casting reel - all using a shock wind on leader of 60 to 80 lb clear flourcarbon.

And that leader has 5 turns on any reel I own - to take the shock load up of these casts that clear well over 130 yards every time. 1 ounce of lead will go over 100 yards on the 12ft CCP

The key - My smaller casting reels with brake blocks and magnets and ceramic bearings and rocket fuel number #1 casting oil for these bearings - to squeeze every foot out of these casting machines. All of them use 15lb test SAKUMA CRYSTAL MONO Line.

15lb test is it - and it carries a long arse way when you load up a tuned 12ft ccp blank with an AKIOS distance casting reel setup.

I'll make a video - different weights on the blanks I have - same reel - for compare. The factory rods, all of them, will not perform like these customs because the reels and lines used on them, are all balanced for that exact setup.

Nick Meyers Breakaway casts the same line as well as Tommy Farmer of CCP blanks. 15lb mono and 15 lb mono is the distance casting professional tournament record line size in use only.

Braid - one backlash - you replace that reel and cut that mess out later at home.

Mono has stretch - and when you fish super light lines at long distances, you want some stretch to take the shock out of bigger fish, that can snap 15lb test line with just a quick head shake. So mono gives you a buffer - that buffer during the land - rocks or sand - this is where mono shines. As well as it spins at 15000 plus rpm on these reels, when you launch them, with a slight feathering overrun = optimum no drag casting condition. Watch any distance caster with a multiplier reel (bait caster), and the line flying off the spool, as the cast is made. That line hovers and floats, about 5 or 8 turns in front of where the reel spool is actually spinning. In other words, a well tuned distance casting reel floats mono line above the spool, in a controlled overrun fashion, eliminating drag. BRAID DOES NOT FLOAT WELL and when it encounters overrun, the knots are buried and this becomes expensive when casts can rip thru 120 to 150 yards of line with a knot, buried somewhere in that spool - if it can even get out of the spool.

Mono = cheap and it's suitable for long distance surf cast fishing - not kayak deployments - strict casting

The amount of friction and rpm speeds with casts that fly nearly 200 yards is unreal

[AtTheWall]

I was hoping you'd jump in, thanks as always for sharing your knowledge and experience.

Very welcome!

[AtTheWall]

Nick at Breakaway is selling wind on shock leaders on his web site. This is what I was referencing about shock leader for a tuned surf rod.

https://www.breakawaytackleusa.com/products/lines/shock-leaders/

I use these wind-ons for my offshore gear and started using them for my surf sticks.

http://www.jaknkona.com/WINDONLEADERS.html

And bulk spools of Sakuma Nite Crystal Mono clear line - various sizes - at Tommy's place here

https://www.carolinacastpro.com/products/sakuma-14-kilo-spools

[jnd1959]

Man, I haven't been down PINS in a long time. This has my blood cooking. October about 5 or six years ago I hooked and fought three tarpon off the jetties. Caught some good reds freelining mullet. The mullet were running and all you had to do was drop the cast net off the jetties.

My avatar is from that trip. 50 mile marker and no other tracks but mine. Got down to the jetties and it was a shark fisherman and me. Perfect surf.

Good luck on your rod choice. I need to bust mine out and get them ready. I have a couple of old Penn reels I have rebuilt and magnetized for casting. Not the best and heavy, but fun to use nevertheless.

[Capt Glenn]

The funniest thing about the surf is the guys standing on the beach are trying to throw 200 yards out past the bars and the guys fishing the surf from boats are trying to throw up as close to the dry sand as they can.

[AtTheWall]

[QUOTE]And that leader has 5 turns on any reel I own - to take the shock load up of these casts that clear well over 130 yards every time. 1 ounce of lead will go over 100 yards on the 12ft CCP/QUOTE]

This thread pumped me up so.....I grabbed the CCP 12ft 3-7 oz two piece and my dirty and dusty AKIOS 666 reel, JAKnKona wind-on leader 50lb - Sakuma Nite Crystal 15lb mono tied to a standard anything in the surf kind of bait, and made ONE cast.

It flew 128 yards and buried the lure, about 3 inches into soft dirt.


So today - I am gathering all of my reels and it's sonic wash, de lube, relube and restring my junk!

It is time to start hitting those jetty rocks and working the cuts thru the surf, reading sign, running and gunning is my most favorite way to spend an afternoon CHEAPLY, on a 60,000 acre private surf fishing beach - we call PINS.

Nick from Breakaway moved here because - paraphrasing one of our discussions - "PINS is the best surf fishing stretch of sand anywhere in the world."

About 1.25 oz bait - rig flouro or steel / depends on kings or poons. A standard setup I like to toss, fan cast and feel, as I work down the strand on PINS. Perfect to test a cast with the CCP and AKIOS

The AKIOS 666 is basically a souped up ABU 6500 size/class reel. Hatteras Jack in NC used to build custom reels like this, with a lot of mods.

AKIOS was developed, to build ABU style reels, with all customizations built into each reel. And they tune like butter - when you start tweaking them. It gets as dialed in as the lube oil I use on the bearings - on how far I can spank it.




The setup, in two equal 6ft pieces. It breaks down into a manageable length and each rod comes with a protective nylon rod sleeve.

The CCP 12 build is using FUJI Titanium SIC guides and tip, Fuji lightweight graphite reel seat and foam grips. Overall blank weight is super light and the light Fuji TI Guides help increase blank speed with weight reduction. TI guides flex and snap back into place as well - with a 12ft blank bowed up, it helps the blank maintain flex with a load without zones of resistance, using guides with no flex.





128 yards carry - the red car was my launching zone - One cast and done

[AtTheWall]

The funniest thing about the surf is the guys standing on the beach are trying to throw 200 yards out past the bars and the guys fishing the surf from boats are trying to throw up as close to the dry sand as they can.

And somewhere in that 1ft to 12ft zone is MONEY!

[AtTheWall]

When the wind is up on PINS, you can side arm cast and cover the 3rd bar down into the wade gut, cutting wind, and still rip 75 yard - barely over the water rips.

Run the sand, jump out and cast like mad, hook up.....repeat kinda action. The truck becomes the tackle box with lunch = so cool in Texas.