Fishing Victoria Forum

There doesn’t seem to be that many options for 8’ rods. I’ve looked at a lot of 8’3”-8’6”. They varied greatly in line class and casting weight. More often than not they lean into the heavy category.

From my handful of attempts at fishing from the surf I always felt that a 7’ rod was usable but not very comfortable. I always thought to myself “If I could just have 1 more foot of rod length this would be fine” For everything else a 7 foot was perfectly adequate.

As it turns out I have a NIB Shimano Ultegra 4000 XG sitting on a shelf. Since I already have one I started to look for a possible rod for it if I bring it with me to Australia. I’ve dialed it down to a fairly short list of specs to fit the intended purpose for what I’m thinking.

With an 8 foot rod wearing a 4000 size reel loaded with 15 lb braid I think I could make a versatile and quickly adaptable set up to fish whatever I might find on an impromptu walk by some water.

By carrying #8, #15, and #20 leader material with me I could go from throwing a 1/8 oz plastic, hard body or Inline Spinner (on #8) to some light surf (on #15) to straylining off jetty/ piers with bait (on #20). I’ve done this type of leader shuffling a lot over here so I know it’s a viable option for the sake of versatility.

I was looking specifically for something that:

Is 8’ long
is at least a 2 piece rod
Is rated around 3-8kg line class
Has a casting weight around 7-21g

Since non of those values are standardized across the rod industry they’re more like a firm guild line than an absolute. There seems to be a gap in many of the rod series out there from 7’6” to 9’. Am I just not looking in the right place? Am I being too specific?

Try this very versatile 10" rod, I use one surf rocks and pier. ~ There's also an 8' version of this also.~

https://www.bcf.com.au/p/silstar-powert ... 40423.html

https://www.anacondastores.com/fishing/ ... BP90139344

Do yourself a favour and buy fishing gear when you actually get here.
Transporting an 8ft rod when moving your life overseas is probably the last thing you need to worry about.
Tackle while not as cheap as the states is not very expensive here. Plenty of options to choose from and lots of advice from Your local shops which might help you pick the right outfit rather than take chances.

Ive packed and moved here from an overseas country. its not easy, so the less you have to move the easier it is for you.

purple5ive wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 19, 2021 9:07 pm

Do yourself a favour and buy fishing gear when you actually get here.
Transporting an 8ft rod when moving your life overseas is probably the last thing you need to worry about.
Tackle while not as cheap as the states is not very expensive here. Plenty of options to choose from and lots of advice from Your local shops which might help you pick the right outfit rather than take chances.

Ive packed and moved here from an overseas country. its not easy, so the less you have to move the easier it is for you.

I'm not buying. I'm looking what options are generally available. The rods available in Australia are very different than what they market in America. I've looked at entire rod lineups for other rod and reel combo ideas. But 8 footers seem to be far more uncommon than all the other rod lengths.

It's been a while since I was looking for a rod similar to this but the best thing I found for it was japanese seabass rods. In a lot of the ranges for landbase seabass fishing there is a lighter shorter model somewhere around the 8'6 length with a cast weight similar to what you are chasing designed for casting lures for seabass. I ended up with an older model shimano lunamis 809l which is 8'9 3-10lb and 3-21g cast weight, I went a bit on the longer side because I already had rods around the 7' mark in this weight rating. Back when I bought mine there was no seabass tackle being imported into aus but I have seen a few lines popping up here and there but haven't taken a closer look at which models they are bringing in.

Another alternative is an egi rod, there are definitely differences between a rod designed for squid and one designed for fish but for the most part egi rods do a pretty good job at being a landbased all rounder and are very common to find around the 8' mark

One final thing to consider from this is that a 4000 can feel a bit unnatural on graphite rods of these specs and I find a 2500 more suited to them

mazman wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:23 am

It's been a while since I was looking for a rod similar to this but the best thing I found for it was japanese seabass rods. In a lot of the ranges for landbase seabass fishing there is a lighter shorter model somewhere around the 8'6 length with a cast weight similar to what you are chasing designed for casting lures for seabass. I ended up with an older model shimano lunamis 809l which is 8'9 3-10lb and 3-21g cast weight, I went a bit on the longer side because I already had rods around the 7' mark in this weight rating. Back when I bought mine there was no seabass tackle being imported into aus but I have seen a few lines popping up here and there but haven't taken a closer look at which models they are bringing in.

Another alternative is an egi rod, there are definitely differences between a rod designed for squid and one designed for fish but for the most part egi rods do a pretty good job at being a landbased all rounder and are very common to find around the 8' mark

One final thing to consider from this is that a 4000 can feel a bit unnatural on graphite rods of these specs and I find a 2500 more suited to them

Well it's good to know I'm not missing something.I did see those Egi rods you mentioned. There are some rods marketed over there that would be really interesting to see over here. For the most part though the rod market here is dominated by Bass and Catfishing. Catfishing specific gear has come into its own especially in the last couple decades.

I use my EGI outfit for a similar use to this, have caught everything to garfish to 5kg snapper on it. Its basically a 8ft Shimano Sephia rod, with a 2500 stradic ci4+ Thing has copped a beating but just keeps going

https://www.bcf.com.au/p/shimano-sephia ... lsrc=aw.ds

https://www.bcf.com.au/p/shimano-stradi ... rt=5&sz=60

If your main focus is the surf over here just go with 9 foot. It’s the ideal length to be throwing the slugs etc needed to punch the distance and aswell as dealing with fish in the surge.

But yes an egi rod will do everything else. I used one flat out Landbased lure fishing for a couple of years. 7’8 and well within that cast rating. Great fun and handled good fish.

Buy a nitro sniper 10ft rod the new one is 3 peice

ducky wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 20, 2021 8:16 pm

If your main focus is the surf over here just go with 9 foot. It’s the ideal length to be throwing the slugs etc needed to punch the distance and aswell as dealing with fish in the surge.

But yes an egi rod will do everything else. I used one flat out Landbased lure fishing for a couple of years. 7’8 and well within that cast rating. Great fun and handled good fish.

It just depends what I find on my walks.

Could be a beach, a jetty, maybe a pier...rocks...possibly a creek or estuary



Mostly I was just wondering where all the 8 foot rod options went