Are you making these common mistakes when selecting a fishing rod to use for fishing soft plastic lures?
Does the most expensive fishing rod always mean you will catch the most fish?
Learn how to best match a fishing rod to your soft plastic lures down below!!
You don’t want to miss this!
Best Rod For Using Weedless Soft Plastic Lures [VIDEO]
Featured Equipment:
- Rod 1: St. Croix Avid 7’6″ Medium Power Fast Action
- Rod 2: G. Loomis E6X 7’6″ Heavy Power Fast Action
- Rod 3: TFO Professional 7’6″ Medium Power Fast Action
- Rod 4: Bull Bay Stealth Sniper 7’6″ MH Power Fast Action
If you choose the wrong fishing rod, it can affect your hook sets and decrease the amount of fish you land.
You can end up losing a lot of fish that you would otherwise be able to hook into.
The price you pay for a fishing rod doesn’t necessarily correlate to landing more fish.
The problem with some fishing rods is that they have a softer tip with more bend and flexibility.
If you are using a soft plastic jerk bait where the hook is embedded in the lure, you need to have a quick and strong hook set.
For example, as soon as you hook into a seatrout, they will open their mouths and shake their heads.
And if you do not dig the hook point into the trout immediately, you will be unsuccessful.
Rod Power & Action
There are no standard denominations for fishing rod power and action.
Power is how much force it takes to bend the rod.
Action is where on the rod does the bending takes place.
In general, fast action rod tips are best for weedless soft plastic lures.
Rod power and strength vary by brand and manufacturer.
In this example, the G-Loomis 7’6 Heavy Fast rod has the same exact feel as the TFO PS Medium power rod.
In most cases, the Medium-Heavy rods are the ticket for fishing weedless soft plastics.
If you see these rods in stores, you can conduct your own mini-test and bend them to see how much pressure they can take.
Fishing rods with softer tips will decrease the effectiveness of your soft plastic lure hook sets out on the water.
The Bull Bay Stealth Sniper Medium-Heavy Fast Action 7’6 fishing rod is an excellent choice for fishing weedless soft plastics.
To help further demonstrate the differences between fishing rod power, we are setting up a Rod Deflection Graph.
This will allow us to put rods on a wall and put weights on it to show the actual deflection of the rod.
You will be able to visually see the power and the action of fishing rods.
More to come with the Rod Deflection Graph soon!
Softer tip fishing rods are great for jigs with open hooks but can hurt you when you go weedless.
Conclusion
Fishing rod choice has a major impact on what lures you throw as well as your success out on the water.
Just because a rod may be expensive, that does not mean it is necessarily going to yield you more strikes.
Be sure to match the power of the fishing rod you are using with your lure setup, especially when choosing to fish weedless soft plastics!!
Do you have any further questions on choosing fishing rods based on lure options?
Let me know down in the comments!
And if you know someone who wants to learn more about rod selection for weedless soft plastic lures, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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- EXPLORATION TRIP TO PALMETTO: REDFISH, SEATROUT, SNOOK, AND CRAZY DOG
- CATCHING SLAMS WHILE FISHING NEW AREAS [DOUBLE SLAM ON LURES]
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