Rod advice - fixed spool

[jellybait]

Just wondering on what rod choice you lads would recommend - looking for a beach caster - not really pushed on anything over 13ft approx - and suitable for a fixed spool for around 100 euro or under - Ive heard about the salt range but maybe id be better picking something up second hand from here
thanks

[roooster]

i bought one of the 15ft salt rods a few weeks back for a 100euro & i must say that im very happy with it,not sure can you get them in shorter rods or not...

[fearghal fishing]

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Stiffi-3-Piece-1 ... _748wt_754
I wonder if this rod is any good?

[lugworm]

if your interested i have a greys flex-s in great condition for 100, 13ft, 5oz and suitable for both fixed spool and multi....
its a great rod really and truly never had an issue with it....
http://www.adverts.ie/fishing/2-beach-r ... 1357397882

[paul skelly]

Has anyone tyred one of theses yet?
https://www.veals.co.uk/acatalog/penn-r ... -3779.html

[gerty86]

I had a 12'9 ft Salt XT Rod before and really liked it. Only problem was that two cracks appeared at the joints where the rod parts go together. Might have just been unlucky with that particular rod. It had a 12 month warranty so got my money back anyway which I was impressed with. The replacement was a 13ft Penn Powerstix Pro which is suitable for both fixed and multiplier reels. I ordered it on-line from http://landandseasports.ie/ in Bundoran for E105.

I preferred the Salt Rod to be honest. If you decide to go with one be sure you order the fixed spool version and not the mx model. mx is for multiplier reels.

[jellybait]

Thanks for the feedbac lads , ill like the salt on alright but will look at the others
Anyone try the new sonik sks ? I use sonik rods for coarse and pike and find them a top quality rod alright , thanks

[fishermannum1]

you wont go wrong with the salt range, i use the mx and a few of my friends use the fixed spool model, have not heard a bad word about them.

[sailnfish]

I've had a Salt XT as well as a Penn Powerstix pro 13ft. Both are lovely rods and in my opinion and you won't regret buying either. Both rods have their merits and it's down to personal choice as to which is the superior ! I think Shakespeare have a new range out which is replacing the Salt XT range, it might be worth checking those out too.

[jellybait]

I was looking at the new range from shakesphere - They look the buisness alright
I got some feedback on the sonik SKS rods - there ment to be like broom handles ,but i havent seen one yet ?

[RockHunter]

I have a Salt XT which I use for light surf fishing. Its OK, but its not great in a big surf. Tip is light and bounces about in a wind. Not great at hauling in large clumps of weed either. Its only suitable for fishing in relatively calm conditions. If you are looking for a rod to fish in a range of conditions I would look elsewhere.

[lugworm]

if your interested i have a greys flex-s in great condition for 100, 13ft, 5oz and suitable for both fixed spool and multi....
its a great rod really and truly never had an issue with it....
http://www.adverts.ie/fishing/2-beach-r ... 1357397882

have u any interest in this rod? its in great nick....at a good price.....and it is a gem of a rod

[jellybait]

if your interested i have a greys flex-s in great condition for 100, 13ft, 5oz and suitable for both fixed spool and multi....
its a great rod really and truly never had an issue with it....
http://www.adverts.ie/fishing/2-beach-r ... 1357397882

have u any interest in this rod? its in great nick....at a good price.....and it is a gem of a rod

Not really interested as its rung for multi (i know fixed spool has been used but the smaller eyes can cause me problems when using a fixed spool ive found before also only rated to 5oz seems a little light im afraid , but thanks for the offer and best of luck with the sale

[knightser]

what shop has the new shakespere rods ,

[lugworm]

if your interested i have a greys flex-s in great condition for 100, 13ft, 5oz and suitable for both fixed spool and multi....
its a great rod really and truly never had an issue with it....
http://www.adverts.ie/fishing/2-beach-r ... 1357397882

have u any interest in this rod? its in great nick....at a good price.....and it is a gem of a rod

Not really interested as its rung for multi (i know fixed spool has been used but the smaller eyes can cause me problems when using a fixed spool ive found before also only rated to 5oz seems a little light im afraid , but thanks for the offer and best of luck with the sale

hmmm............. smaller guides????? as for being "light" its a clean-mixed ground rod and its a much better quality rod than ANY of salts range of rods.....but no hassle lad, good luck with ur choice of rod......

[jellybait]

[quote="lugwormNot really interested as its rung for multi (i know fixed spool has been used but the smaller eyes can cause me problems when using a fixed spool ive found before also only rated to 5oz seems a little light im afraid , but thanks for the offer and best of luck with the sale[/quote]

hmmm............. smaller guides????? quality rod than ANY of salts range of rods.....but no hassle lad, good luck with ur choice of rod......[/quote]

Sorry I ment small eyes(line guides) on the rod and also more of them due to being rung for a muti ? this i find holds back your casting with a fixed spool due to the large coils coming from the spool trying to make it through the smaller eyes- unless its rung for multi ?
and the salt is rated fro 4oz to 8oz which will cover me draging half of corks seaweed in !!lol
But maybe im wrong , im always open to suggestions , thanks

[paul mason]

[quote="lugwormNot really interested as its rung for multi (i know fixed spool has been used but the smaller eyes can cause me problems when using a fixed spool ive found before also only rated to 5oz seems a little light im afraid , but thanks for the offer and best of luck with the sale

hmmm............. smaller guides????? quality rod than ANY of salts range of rods.....but no hassle lad, good luck with ur choice of rod......[/quote]

Sorry I ment small eyes(line guides) on the rod and also more of them due to being rung for a muti ? this i find holds back your casting with a fixed spool due to the large coils coming from the spool trying to make it through the smaller eyes- unless its rung for multi ?
and the salt is rated fro 4oz to 8oz which will cover me draging half of corks seaweed in !!lol
But maybe im wrong , im always open to suggestions , thanks[/quote]

Maybe not!!!!!
Have a read of this testing done by Neil Mackellow "interesting"
Neil Mackellow – April 2002

Easy rider

We all know you need a set of huge rings to contain the coils thrown off by fixed-spool reels. It’s the penalty we have to pay for using them, right? Well, Fuji think not…

After extensive testing including the use of cameras shooting 20,000 frames per second they have come up with a new set of guides - Low Riders. These unusual looking rings are said to increase casting distance, increase rod power, increase accuracy, improve sensitivity, improve rod balance and eliminate line twist and line tangles. Pretty impressive stuff you might well say, but it is not as simple as that, is it ever?

On the face of it you would think Fuji were taking the you know what by trying to sell us a set of fixed-spool rings with a maximum size 20. After all the tournament boys use 15ft back casters with just three rings, a 50, 40, 30 with a 20 tip. Well yes and no, when I started casting over 20 years ago three rings for a fixed-spool rod was the norm. But after a couple of years I was using a conventional long pendulum rod with six rings from 40 to 12 for fixed-spool work and was competitive.

Some modern fixed-spool rods have five or six high standoff lightweight guides and perform well. One area where the fixed-spool does fall down is unexplained crack offs. Mostly these are caused by lose line wrapping round a ring frame, and it’s not always the butt or stripper guide that causes the problem. Obviously the line is not flowing though the rings as smoothly as it could and this is confirmed by the shots taken with the high speed Fuji camera. And this is the area Fuji are addressing with their Low Rider guides.

However, while fixed-spool technology leapt forward a few years ago and the coned spool made a huge improvement to performance, spools are still in the main fairly large diameter and regardless of the cone you still have large coils flowing up to and beyond the first ring. Having given casting demonstrations in Japan and competed against them in the USA I have had the opportunity to study their equipment, notably reels that are predominantly fixed-spool.

Japanese reels have coned spools too but are longer and in the main smaller in diameter than ours. After considerable testing and comparisons with a number of different reels my conclusion is that a large diameter spool creates larger loops of line than a smaller diameter coned spool and that the smaller coils settle down a lot quicker as they pass through the rings resulting in increased distance.

Obviously a lot depends on line diameter and what sort of weight you are throwing, plus the positioning of the guides along the rod blank. I obtained a Zziplex 3500 fishing rod blank for testing purposes and from the Fuji literature selected the appropriate ring spacing guide. Seven guides were required, ranging from the 20mm stripper or butt ring plus another six intermediates comprising 16, 12, 2 x 10 and 2 x 8 plus a tip. The rings were provided by H & H, the UK Fuji people.

The spacing for the rings was very similar to a conventional multiplier with a slightly longer gap from reel to butt ring. They recommended the reel seat be 88cm - nearly 35in - up from the butt cap while even at 6ft 2in my comfortable reach was only 29in – just under 74cm. However, this all worked out quite well and the spaces between rings and from reel to butt ring worked out spot on with the Fuji recommendations which were:

Ring to ring in cm: 16 – 18 – 23 – 25 – 30 – 40 – 45
Reel seat to butt ring: 120cm

The sharp eyed amongst you will have noticed that contrary to normal practice the butt ring has been attached with the single leg facing the reel and all the others in what we would term the ‘right’ way with the single leg facing the tip guide. I would add that back in the early 80’s I was attaching BNHG rings to multiplier rods with the single leg facing down. My theory being that the line was less likely to rub on the single leg than the double leg and as I was deeply into distance casting and was looking for every extra foot I could find.

For the trials I used a Penn Surfmaster 70 fixed-spool reel with the spare graphite spool loaded to within 2mm of the lip with 0.33mm mono topped of with a Varivas tapered leader and a 150g beach bomb. The spool is just under 70mm diameter at the base, tapering to 60mm at the top and holds around 300 yards of 0.35mm line when loaded level with the spool lip.

So, having cast with a 3500 using a multiplier in the past I had an idea of the rods action. However, while it’s predecessor the 2500PTX was a pussy with a multiplier it tended to breathe fire when a fixed-spool was attached. So, time for the showdown.

It was sunny but windy, blowing a steady force four or so over the right shoulder from the northwest. Getting the rods to stand upright for these shots was not easy! However, standing on top of the wall with the wind veering about 30 degrees to the left was going to provide interesting conditions for testing a fixed-spool rod. Lose line from the spool would pull off to the side increasing the chances of ring wrap.

With no favours to the rod, rings or reel I made my first cast, an easy but fairly powerful fishing pendulum. No line slapping along the blank, no noise from the line throttling down through the small rings and thankfully, no ominous crack. I wound it all back and pressed on with another smooth, powerful cast that saw the lead flying straight and true and despite the side wind the line following the lead looked more like I was using a multiplier reel. So far I was impressed.

My digital camera will shoot a one second burst of five frames so with David taking care of the casting I knelt as he made his cast and popped up to shoot the line flow as soon as he had completed the power stroke. It took a few attempts to be in the right place at the right time and for David to hold the rod steady, not easy in the wind. But after a few more tries I had 30 or so frames to study for the right shots.

Back home I downloaded the pictures and while many were out of focus or missed the rod completely, there were two sets that confirmed the Low Riders were doing what they were supposed to do. Without doubt, the cross wind had given the line every chance to ring wrap but the arse about face butt ring had done its job admirably.

Right then, about those claims:
1 Increase casting distance, rod power and accuracy.

Well, two out of three ain’t bad, I would agree that distance was increased and by having rings spread out like a multiplier more of the blank was utilised. Accuracy? How can you tell?

2 Improve sensitivity and rod balance

Yes, I would agree that the rod felt better with the additional and smaller rings spread evenly along its length. Balance? I suppose if you normally had just three or four rings bunched up on the tip then yes the balance would be improved by spreading out a smaller set of rings along the blank.

3 Eliminate line twist and tangles.

Line twist, well another hard to quantify claim, especially when it’s the reel that usually generates the twist and no fixed-spool reel is immune from it. For sure, after at least 20 casts by two anglers in far from ideal conditions no ring wraps occurred, and a few were closer to tournament style than fishing style. I’ll go with fewer tangles, which can of course be attributed to excessive line twist so maybe…

Overall I was impressed with the performance of these rings. Initially a little concerned that the extremely small diameter would have an adverse affect on distance, but as you can see from the before and after pictures of the spool my fears were unfounded!
__________________

Neil Mackellow

[lugworm]

if your interested i have a greys flex-s in great condition for 100, 13ft, 5oz and suitable for both fixed spool and multi....
its a great rod really and truly never had an issue with it....
http://www.adverts.ie/fishing/2-beach-r ... 1357397882

have u any interest in this rod? its in great nick....at a good price.....and it is a gem of a rod

Not really interested as its rung for multi (i know fixed spool has been used but the smaller eyes can cause me problems when using a fixed spool ive found before also only rated to 5oz seems a little light im afraid , but thanks for the offer and best of luck with the sale

ya dats wat i mean when i say guides(eyes)......but anyway good luck

[ste c]

iv a century carbon metal rod for sale you could put an abu griplock on it and use your fixed spool great rod looking for €150 if its of any interest to you

[jellybait]

Thanks lads for the replys and the write up , much aprreciated

@ lugworm, I Agree with you a 100% about it being a much better rod , to be honest I rather pick up a good second hand rod , just taught it wouldn't suit but after been educated on it a bit more I cod be wrong, The purchase of a new rod Is on hold for a bit due to my gearbox going in my jeep but ill keep it in mind , thanks again

@ ste c , thanks for the offer but I'm
On hold for a bit and only looking to spend a bout a ton anyway but thanks for the offer