Short or long

[Flatdog]

This may seem like a stupid question but I'm having allot of difficulty getting my head around this, Stand up rods are short trolling rods are long that's the given,
But why?!? A quote "give me a big enough lever I will move the world" I can understand that, so what is wrong with having lets say an 8 foot stand up rod nice soft tip relative, to the weight that stops those strong lunges at the side of the boat and during the fight, allowing more "Feel" during the fight, stopping that braid with no stretch from parting with a head shake. Can anyone give me the mechanics as to why we all fish short rods? Is it a fashion statement? ie I'm big and strong and can haul a fish in on this! or should we be using a 30lb short stick on a 80lb setup? To have the forgiveness on the braid, and get the feel we want,or is it a cost thing? or have I missed the boat completely on this.

[flatbottom]

one answer would be the load dynamics of the older shorter rods. The new composites are capable of greater dynamic loads in compression form over greater lengths in relation to the shorter rods of yesteryear. On boats with European transoms, the greater length would be an advantage. There are disadvantages to space in the cockpit on smaller beam boats...next

[Flatdog]

Thanks Flat
So if I have this right, a higher transom requires a longer rod, though with a modern rod that is really not necessary, as the loading of the carbon is better, therefore we should go to an even shorter rod if we fish in America or the Tropics with really low transoms, do you still need to use a "lighter" ie 30lb on a 50lb setup to give you the softness at the boat?

[gradyfish265]

Most trolling rods that are longer are used in chairs. They are designed longer to be able to reach the corners of the transom and the sides of the gunnels, or close to it from the chair, this keeps the line away from the boat as much as possible. This does not mean a longer rod is better, but for this use, it is a better designed rod. We troll 5'9" rods on my boat, but do all stand up, we can easily get close to the gunnels and keep lines away from the boat, I have outboards, but mounted on the transom, not a bracket, my 5'9" rods have no problems clearing the engines safely, if I had a bracket or large wells in my way, I would have bought longer rods. Typically, shorter rods have more back bone which will help stop a large fish quicker, a longer rod usually has more bend to it and requires more work to stop a fish, but the chair and your body weight does a bit of the work, making that method better when matched with the correct rod. I know many boats who troll and use chairs, and then switch their rods to shorter rods for overnight chunking, they use the type of rod that suits their style of fishing the best. Jig rods are usually longer as well, they are longer to provide more action and a better flutter in the jig itself on the drop down or downward jig motion, this is often the case with other longer rods.

I have had no issues trolling shorter rods and I use the same rods for trolling and chunking on my boat. My buddy who fishes with me fishes the same rods as I do, but his are 9" longer, and do not have the backbone that mine do, they do suit jigging better and some may say are better for hooking fish while trolling, but we've had better hook up ratios on the shorter rods on the night chunk, we use circles and the hook sets quick before the fish can spit the hook. We haven't had any adverse effects while trolling between a longer or shorter rod either.

Hope this helps a little bit, all my rods are custom built, if there is a good rod builder by you, I'd recommend going to him to explain what your planned usage will be and he will set you up with the best type of rod for your usage.

[flatbottom]

Originally Posted by Flatdog

Thanks Flat
So if I have this right, a higher transom requires a longer rod, though with a modern rod that is really not necessary, as the loading of the carbon is better, therefore we should go to an even shorter rod if we fish in America or the Tropics with really low transoms, do you still need to use a "lighter" ie 30lb on a 50lb setup to give you the softness at the boat?

I was referring to euro transom that extends out back of the boat...(hanging 1000 or more horses on it) More of a distance thing rather height delima

[paul708]

The importance of a long rod when fishing is forgiveness and casting distance. It's a lot easier to put massive amounts of pressure on the fish, hook and line with a short stiff rod than it is with a long stiff rod. The reason is because of the fulcrum in comparison to the rod tip. If you're thinking you can pull harder on fish with a long rod then you need to back up a little cause it just ain't so. In order to pick up a 10# weight with a 14 ft rod you'd have to put about 30 lbs pressure on the handle above the reel where if you were picking up a 10# weight with a 4 ft rod you'd only have to put about 14 lbs pressure on the handle above the reel. The reason is because the fulcrum, which is where your hand is above the reel, is not as far from the rod tip on the short rod. You can also break heavy line a lot easier with a short rod than you can with a long one. Try breaking 20 lb test with a long rod when it gets hung up using the rod and then try breaking 20 lb test with the short rod. It's about 3 times easier to break the line with the short rod so this means that if you put 30 lbs pressure on the rod with the short rod it'll translate into about 23 to 25 lbs pressure on the line where with the long rod you put 30 lbs pressure on the rod it'll translate into about 13 to 15 lbs pressure at the rod tip.

[Flatdog]

Thanks Paul now that makes sense, fulcrum points of coarse that was the part that I had forgotton "give be a big enough lever and move the world bit" falcrum, so a lightly built dude needs a short rod on standup to handle bigger fish less work, makes sense thanks guys