Saltwater Fishing Jigs
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Need suggestions for a new saltwater rod.?
I mostly catch fish that are less than 40lbs but would like a rod that can handle bigger fish if one bites. So far I fish for small YFT, BFT, Albacore & YT all summer and during the off season I do ground fishing. I use mostly live bait & sometimes jigs. Any specific suggestions on brand and length are appreciated. I'm 5'11" if that matters.
Brands: Calstar, Seeker. Both are high quality and don't break. If you're spending $100+ for a day of offshore fishing, don't skimp and buy a lower quality rod to save a few bucks. A good rod will last you ten years or more. And unlike Ugly Stiks, they're made in southern California for the kind of fishing you're doing.
Length: depends on what you're using it for. For live bait I like 7 to 8 footers, though as I go to heavier line (for bigger fish) the rods get shorter. A 50 pound tuna can really hurt you on an 8 foot rod; on the other hand, if your bait is 2-inch anchovies, you need the length to get the bait away from the boat. For bigger fish, I'm assuming you're talking about a 40 or 50 pound test outfit. I like my old CalStar 665 (6.5 feet long) for that size outfit.
You can use something like that for yoyo jigging for larger yellowtail or for heavy iron offshore for tuna, but for surface iron, you want more length for casting distance. Length is a preference you'll have to learn for yourself -- I don't like using anything longer than an 8 footer. I borrowed my brother's 10 footer once and nailed a jackpot yellowtail on it, but it wasn't comfortable fighting the fish and I never asked to use it again. But he loves it.
(Borrowing tackle and seeing how it feels for you is probably the best way to make your decisions, but you need friends who fish and have a lot of tackle to do it that way.)
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