Rod reccomendation

[Steve Taylor]

Greetings, newb here. I noticed that the rod suggested in Modica's In-fisherman article regarding his Swedish Pimple presentation was a Cabela's 7ft. 6in. med. light HML series which is no longer available. As such, what would be recommended? Also, I was thinking about using Doug Hannon's  micro guides. Any ideas/thoughts as to the best blank?

Thx, great site.

[Leo Nguyen]

Hi Steve. Sorry to have none chimed in yet. I'm surprised actually. Normally, master from all levels chime in by now. I'm no master by any mean, but here are my opinions:

Med-light rods, with roughly the same length, depending on the type of rods (telescopic vs multi-segmented-vs unsegmented length) and within a budget you want:

For me, learning to use the Modica's powerful methods, I have a few in my arsenal:

Carbon fiber telescopic 2.4M. It doesn't say anything when these rods are sold on eBay, but I contacted the makers, and they all have one thing: 0.5M (ultra fast action, ultralight weight of 1lbs to 4lbs), 1M to 3M (medium-fast action, ultralight to light of 3lbs to 7lbs), 3.2M to 7M (medium-slow action, medium to heavy weight handling 4lbs to 15lbs). Awesome for the spoons and ice jigging.

Shakespeare Ugly Stik Lite

Berkley Lightning Rod, IM6 graphite (I have this..very cool for trout and catfish)

Bionic Blade XPS Series (had this..and broke it)

Panfish UL (generic all over the place)

Daiwa Superlight (had this and broke it..awesome for jigging for panfishes)

Pricey now:

St Croix Premier Series (a few friends have this..awesome stuff)

St Croix Avid Ultra Light 

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

7' 6" med light rod.

Or maybe ask Bill - just message him here.

[Steve Taylor]

Thx for the heads up. Another ques. I've only been able to find the 210 siwash in the off set model. Does the off set style work? If not, what other hook alternatives are there? Or maybe I could just straighten/bend the off set hook so it's straight? Also, I've forgotten how to start a new thread. Actually, I've never been real sure and kinda posted  this rod thread by guess and by gosh. Perhaps a how to on posting new threads/topics as I'm still not really certain as to how it's done. Thx....

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

1. The Siwash originated as a pacific salmon hook. It's overly heavy for freshwater pan fishing, in my view.
You will find it hard to bend - so go slow. Or don't bother... I doubt it matters for spooning. Some even make a case IN FAVOR of the bend.
The Siwash does have a couple of advantages:
- It is short
- It has a wide gape.
This gives a better chance of hooking nipping fish.
But there is another hook that I've used with similar attributes: Eagle Claw 84 plain shank.
They are forged and plenty strong for anything we'll do with them. They are likewise short and have a wide gape.
Best of all, they are readily available; I find em at Walmart.

2. To open a new topic -
A. Open the BBG site
B. sign in
C. Click on the "Forum" tab at the top of the page to be directed to the user forum.
D. Once at the main forum, near the top will be a click-on that reads, "add" (just above the bluegills eye).
Click that and you will open "Add a discussion...." And you're off!

If you're using the mobile site:
- Follow A and B above.
- select the drop down menu in the upper right (three bars icon)
- select "Discussions."
- select the "+" symbol at the bottom to add a new discussion.

[Slip Sinker]

Yes this discussion did slip thru the cracks somehow...

i really like the Okuma Celilo series of fishing rods and there is a 7ft model that fits this presentation perfectly ... it is the 7'0 model... i own every one of these rods including (2) 5.5 footers. very sensitive...i use braid on every single one of them... i really like the cork grips on these models.i tend to hold the rod forward with my hand gripping the fore-grip and the rod blank when jig or spoon fishing for that extra feel... the fore grip is very comfortable in the hand... very nice price on these models.

http://bigbluegill.com/group/pattern-rigging-presentation-for-blueg...

[Steve Taylor]

Thanks much for hook, access, and rod advice. 

Yes, the siwash hooks are heavier. Kinda' like the idea of a heavier hook, providing hook- ups and lure action are unimpaired. A heavier hook would add a bit more mass to the total casting package. I don't see this as adding a whole lot more casting distance but I think it may make the presentation a bit more solid/firm in windy conditions.  However, hook-up percentages, and lure action are paramount.

 Must confess to having spent only a few hours total with the spooning system due to time constraints the last few seasons and the place I fished was a hard pressed community hole, (easily accessible public floating dock). Due to catch and kill, the pan pops are small sized. So a hard fished community hole with mostly dink 'gills and crappie would be a good place for an acid test and the Swedish Pimple came through with flying colors. It caught the dinks as well as the very occasional somewhat larger fish and did so on a consistent basis while the many live bait/float fishers were not doing particularly well.

  Maybe soon I'll be able to get the rig back in on some of the larger res's with more and bigger fish. I've been an avid walleye fisher yet pans ran a very tight second. I typically fished for pans slip-floating over deeper submerged wood/brush piles. Very effective. However, I caught few pans trolling walleye sized cranks and few walleyes slip-floating submerged timber, (as in not nearly the numbers caught while trolling).

 I've considered/tried various generic, catch any fish, any time, strictly artificial presentations but the presentations were a bit hefty for pans or not hefty enough for the larger pred fish. After reading the In-Fish panfish annual and discovering the spooning method I figured that could/would work as my generic, catch any fish, anytime bait pres tech. I've caught 'eyes on all sizes of Pimples,(mostly through the ice) as well as crappies and perch. So the pimples will catch most any fish including 'gills. With scanning sonar I could short line troll while keeping the spoon/spoons in the sonar field and thus in view all the time. Proper depth  control would be maintained via snapweights and this pres tech could be taken a step further using umbrella rigs dressed with spoons ( single hooks).

 As can be seen, I'm thinking more than just catching 'gills while casting spoons. Trolling covers water while keeping the bait in the water/strike zone all/most of the time and the light spoons are not subject to the vagaries of wind.

 As an aside, there are a couple of Stange, (In-Fish), vids. In one of the vids he used the Hus-Lur dressed with Gulp minnows. This was very effective in the 'gill, hybrid striped bass, walleye stock tank he was fishing as he caught all three species. In another vid he casted and vert jigged the spoons/tubes combo catching 'gills using both techniques.