How to choose a fishing rod for sea fishing
Fishing in salt water is quite different from freshwater, all over the world there has long been a division of all fishing disciplines into two broad groups: saltwater and freshwater.
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Such a classification has not yet taken root in our country, and fishermen who first got into the conditions of the sea surf or fishing from a boat continue, out of habit, to use fishing methods suitable only for fresh water bodies, and often leave with nothing.
Meanwhile, catchability can be significantly increased if you use the right gear and equipment, such as surf casting or boat fishing, which will be discussed in this article.
What is surf casting?
Fishing in the surf is that rare case when a long cast is the most important thing. Large fish rarely come close to the shore, and prefer to feed at a decent distance.
If you don’t have a boat, the best way to reach the feeding grounds is to cast the bait further than 100 meters. Not all rods are capable of such a feat, which is why such a special class as surf blanks has appeared.
And they do an excellent job with this task, throwing at a distance of 100-150 meters. Sounds incredible? The world record for long distance casting with a surf rod belongs to Danny Moskop and is 286 meters!
How to choose a surf rod? Length For surf blanks, this is the most important characteristic, because the longer the rod is, the further the cast. Blanks up to 3 meters are called light, and average working lengths are from 3 to 5 meters. Short – up to 3 meters.
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Short rods have a number of advantages despite their shorter casting range. For example, they are more accurate, they are better used with spinners and artificial lures, and they provide more leverage when playing trophies. Long – more than 3 meters.
Such rods are, of course, heavier, but they cast excellently, and at rest they raise the line high above the surf line, and the ubiquitous resting people.
Material
Usually, for all other rods, carbon is the best choice available. But surfcasting is not so simple: the fragility of carbon is especially pronounced when factors such as high lure weight, big fish and the strength of the surf add up. Therefore, some of even expensive surf blanks are made from fiberglass, and from full-bodied fiberglass. Fiberglass – powerful flexible rods, suitable for pulling the largest fish.
Unfortunately, their weight, together with the bait and reel, can exceed one kilogram. Carbon – they are much lighter, more sensitive, and can throw a small load very far. The main disadvantage is their price and fragility. Composite – if you strengthen the carbon tube with fiberglass or Kevlar reinforcement, you can get a fairly strong blank that will be much lighter than fiberglass. Composites combine all the advantages of the materials included in them.
