4liters wrote:smile0784 wrote:Im a bit confused due to i cant work out a conclusion which type of rod is better.
Is a softer rod that bends from near the stripper roller better due to the fact you can apply more pressure when pumping up from the deep?
Or a stiffer rod so you apply more leverage when in a harness?
I took from it that there was no 'best' style of rod and it was up to the angler to decide which features suited the target species, type of fishing and personal preferences best
I think your summary sums it up 4litres - there is no perfect rod design (as many rod manufacturers might suggest). You have to compromise somewhere. But the aspects of the rod design that you're willing to compromise upon is up to you. If being able to pull against the heaviest drag possible is important to the style of fishing you will be doing (and I've encouraged this style of heavy-drag fishing with Portland barrels), then look to shorter, softer rods that have greater leverage efficiency. Alternatively, if you are just happy keeping the drag at 1/3 the breaking strain of the line, then you might seek to increase your line retrieval efficiency with a longer, stiffer rod.
Marlin fishing, where the boat is often backed down to a fish jumping on the surface, doesn't often demand super-heavy drags, so you can get away with using stiffer rods. In addition, when fishing lighter line classes where the absolute maximum drag that you will ever be likely to use will still be well within your physical capabilities, then longer and stiffer rod designs are generally more suited.
However, when fishing with heavier line classes for big tuna (and perhaps swordfish or big blue marlin) that are stubbornly holding below the boat and are hard to budge, then a softer design will allow you to increase the total amount of drag (and hurt) that you apply to the fish, without compromising your posture and hurting yourself. Unfortunately, the game rod market place in Australia is currently dominated by stiffer, Tcurve-style designs and as a result, I believe that many gamefishos in this country completely underestimate how much extra drag can be exerted on big fish with more leverage-efficient rod designs and fighting techniques.
I believe game rods are one of the most misunderstood and underappreciated pieces of gamefishing equipment, and the information I've offered is to provide a different perspective (beyond mainstream advice) to what factors I consider to be the most important in game rod design. Think about it: if a particular rod design were able to reduce the load on the angler by 10-20kg, but still lift the same amount of weight as the other rod, wouldn't you want to know about that!? Yet why don't 'leverage efficiency' ratings ever exist within the marketing descriptions of game rods? Why don't people ask what the relative 'leverage efficiency' of a particular game rod is when they walk into a tackle shop? Isn't this similar to buying a car without knowing what the engine size is?