With all the talk about rods, what are you using??

I'm currently using several rods:
Schoolies:
6.5 foot tiny graphite - good for real light jigs
8 foot G-Loomis SU965 matched up with a 5500C3 - my favorite schoolie rod as well as perfect for Albies and Bonito (home built)
8 foot St Croix Tidemaster - purchased from brother-in-law (Note to self, pay him) I'm hoping this rod fares better than last 2 St Croixs which have broken, once my fault :'(
9 foot Saber 1088 new style (well, its about 8 foot 9" after I closed the window on the tip) Nice eeling rod hooked up with a 6500 or Calcutta 400 - a little whippy (home built)
9 foot Saber 1089 new style - also setup with the 6500 or Calcutta 400, nice rod, good feel, more backbone than the 1088, one of my favorite rods. Was a replacement for my cut down 1209 Saber I broke on the Sacramento River fighting a tree :P (MAN, I miss that rod!!)
10 foot Ron Arra 1205 "Blem" Lamiglass - 6500/7000/Calcutta - first rod I ever built - casts beatuifully, retired from eeling but used for plugging and occasional chunking ( I know, that's awfull)

Too be built this winter:
An original plum colored 1088 Saber,
An All-Star 1088 (same blank as 9' Breakaway) I'll need to sell some of my 9' rods - just can't have all of these darn rods...
Considering building a fly rod :P

hmmmmm Im worse than my wife did I hear sell ? hmmmm 9 ft rod . I wonder naw I cant yes I can oh no you cant . yes I can No you cant .

What I am using , let's see - mainly a 9' 1088 sabre with a 6500 baitrunner soon to be switched to a neptune. A 7' sabre boat spin rod with a 4500 baitrunner good for the power plant also. A 12' penn slammer with 8500ss reel loaded with 30lb magnathin for bait dunking, I only used it once last year. Then there are 2 tube and worm hollow sabres with 3/0 and 4/0 penn senators. Also I have a cheap south bend 8' rod with a 4500 baitrunner that I have caught a ton of fish on.
Soon I will add a 10' spin and a 10' conventional. And I guess I should build me a tackle room in the basement. When is it gonna get above freezing ?

Hmmm, John, I seem to use a lot of what you use. I got the 965 and Tidemaster, too. The 965 is my "schoolie" rod and my son now uses the Tidemaster. I have one "old" Sabre 1088 and two "new" Sabre 1088s, one of which I hope to sell in the near future. I also have one remaining "old" 1088 blank on ice. Thinking of swapping the "new" Sabres for an All-Star 1088.

I don't want to get into the rest of the 10' and up inventory, I'd use too much of your bandwidth
I also like the Loomis SW 108-20 as an eel stick for open water. But it isn't the greatest rod for current.

Well, as I prefer two piece rods for security I presently have two All-Star rods that cover most of my fishing. The 1265/2 with an ABU 6500 Ultra Cast for eeling and plugging and the 1266/2 with a nice new slightly used (Thanks John :) no more reel swapping) ABU 7000 that I use for jigging in strong currents. I also have a collection of old hand-me-downs in the spinning variety that I can use for schoolies and keep in the car as backups.

My mainstay last year was a 7 foot spinning built on a Lamiglass GW84ML, paired up with a Quantum E3-4 with 30/6 spiderwire. Light compaired to a lot of stuff you guys/gals throw, but I'm sometimes throwing smaller 4 inch plastics and I found this combo light, sensitive and capable of landing the bigger fish. If I'm throwing heavier plastic, then it's another 7 footer, Lami GLB841M and Shimano 3500 Baitrunner. Use that same rod on a casting blank and 6500-C3 Abu for ch#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g & dragging live eels.

Looking into the new Lamiglass Ti series blanks for a couple winter projects, just need to get some pricing to see if it's worth while. Going to use my BPS gift certificate to upgrade to a Calcutta CT200A and the Shimano ST400FG for my plastics. Hopefully everyone's got plenty to keep them busy over the coming months, tight lines.

OK here goes...

Lightest rod of all schoolie fishing...Lami GSH108-2H with a Suveran 400 and 10 or 12 lb mono. I made that rod.

lightest conventional....sabre 967 with an ABU 6500 C4. Mike T at www.capecodtackle.com made that rod.

All around plugging and eeling rod....Loomis 1266/2 with an ABU BG6500CL and 35 lb Cortland Spectron. George Hevey at Murats made that rod.

Canal jigging stick......Loomis 108-30 with an ABU BG7000CL with 50 LB Cortland Spectron. Mike T also made that rod.

Long casting heaver.....Breakaway 11 foot 9 inch with an ABU 6500CS Mag with 35 lb Cortland Spectron. Made by Wayne through Tres at www.hatterasoutfitters.com

Light beach casting rod..... Lami GSH 138-2MH with a Penn 850SS with 17 LB Berkley Xl. Made by Dave Hammock from Murats before he died.

Loaner rod....9 foot Ugly stick with a Penn 6500SS with 20 lb mono. You want to borrow one of my rods? Sure , use this one! :)

I am also currently building myself another Sabre 1089 which will have an ABU BG6500CL with 35 LB Cortland Spectron.

I am also building myself a 7 foot St Croix ultralight graphite conventional which will have a Morrum 6600 spooled with 20 lb Cortland Spectron. The hope is to be able to throw 1/2 OZ well with this set up.

I would also like a Breakaway 1265/2 like Fishpart has. Its the perfect rod for throwing bombers and tobimarus , etc. For some reason , its hard to get that blank anymore though.

And of course there's all the spares and backup stuff.... :)

Mike P, you must enjoy that 8 foot Loomis as much as I do. I have mine matched up to 5500C3s and I love it!! Great rod... Saltheart, after you try it, you'll want one too and the blank is pretty resonably priced to boot...

Chris, Maybe I can but I shouldn't even if I have to but I won't at least not this week but maybe next month?? ???

Fishdismemberment, No Prob - like I said, have Salty, er -uh, modify that reel :P

I think a couple 9 footers will be making appearances in the classified board come springtime

Lets see I have
A 10ft penn slammer with a 6500 baitrunner 25lb test for bait .
A st croix sc106mh with a abu 7000c3 . Which will get a BG7000CL soon for the ditch and breachways .
A lami xs10mc 10ft with no reel yet . Will get the 7000c3 soon . It is lonely with out a reel companion for the beaches .
A 9ft conventional that right now is in my mind . Hopefully I can get a custom built for me . either a sabre 1087 a lamo 1081L or an all star 1087 for bombers and lighter plugs .
With an abu 6500 mag elite or a rocket with 6:3.1 gears added
A 8ft ugly stick with a mitchel orca 70 with 17 LB test .
a penn senator 4/0 with a penn 49L ( boat rod)

multiple trout rods
1 shakespere fly rod 5/6wt
multiple ice jigging rods and tip-ups
multiple older rods fly and salt
and for the collection
1 st croix fishing machine
2 pocket fisherman

John R (01-03-2001 09:38):
With all the talk about rods, what are you using??

I'm currently using several rods:
Schoolies:
6.5 foot tiny graphite - good for real light jigs
8 foot G-Loomis SU965 matched up with a 5500C3 - my favorite schoolie rod as well as perfect for Albies and Bonito (home built)
8 foot St Croix Tidemaster - purchased from brother-in-law (Note to self, pay him) I'm hoping this rod fares better than last 2 St Croixs which have broken, once my fault :'(
9 foot Saber 1088 new style (well, its about 8 foot 9" after I closed the window on the tip) Nice eeling rod hooked up with a 6500 or Calcutta 400 - a little whippy (home built)
9 foot Saber 1089 new style - also setup with the 6500 or Calcutta 400, nice rod, good feel, more backbone than the 1088, one of my favorite rods. Was a replacement for my cut down 1209 Saber I broke on the Sacramento River fighting a tree :P (MAN, I miss that rod!!)
10 foot Ron Arra 1205 "Blem" Lamiglass - 6500/7000/Calcutta - first rod I ever built - casts beatuifully, retired from eeling but used for plugging and occasional chunking ( I know, that's awfull)

Too be built this winter:
An original plum colored 1088 Saber,
An All-Star 1088 (same blank as 9' Breakaway) I'll need to sell some of my 9' rods - just can't have all of these darn rods...
Considering building a fly rod :P

Hi John, thanks for the E-Mail, I was able to log in and modify my profile. Currently for the Canal, I'm useing a 10' Graphite 2 pc. Pen Surf Casting Rod,it's matched up to a 235 Newl Casting reel, spooled with 30lb. Big Game. I would like to upgrade to another Rod, especially for jigging and Popping, but for the time, it suits me fine. I also use a 7' 1 pc. Pen Newport Spinning Rod, it's Graphite and I like it for School Bass, small blues. I use it primarily from my Kayak, it's matched to a Pen 4400 Spinning reel with 12lb. test. I also Have an OLD Honey yellow 1 pc. Lamiglass Spinning rod. It was given to me from an older friend and I had Mike at M@D's rebuild it for me with Fuji's eyes and cork taped handle. I like this for Eeling and Swimmers at night, it's matched to an old Pen 704Z that I modified without a bail, probablly the best thing I've done to this reel, fishing with just the stud is great!, and no bail slamming down, loosing another expensive plug! I Fly fish also and was able to pick up a discontinued Fisher Original fast action Natural fly rod. This is a great rod!, it's an 8 wt. and I throw a 9 wt. mono core line with no problems. I dread the day I break it because there is no longer a Lifetime Warranty!

Sabre 1209 cut 9" from the tip. Abu 7000 C. 25 lb Big game.

Sabre 1088. Penn 965. 35 lb Spectron.

Sabre 1208 cut 6" from tip. Penn 975. 25 lb Big Game.

Sabre 1209. Cut 6", broke 4" from tip. Penn 650 SS. 25 lb Big Game. Family members use this.

Lamiglas GLB 108-1M. Penn 5500 SS. 20 lb Big Game. Great eeling stick.

Orvis Silver Label 9 WT tip Flex. Battenkill 8/9 wt reel. 9 wt int. line.

All except for Orvis and 1209/ 7000 C were hand built. Have some other store boughts, boat rod, Lamiglas SB136-2M blank, random reels ( favorite is a Penn Surfmaster with cool plastic cast surfcaster sideplate, ect....

I have cleaned all my reels, changed hooks, and tied some eel and plug leaders. Am ready for April NOW!!!!!

Whaddaya mean April?? When was the last time you were out? I figured you'd at least be working over cod at the east end or schoolies at Scorton's...

Hopefully we'll have brighties in March down in Rhody land - give you a chance to break out the trout rod again... :P

Not counting any attempts at winter holdovers , my first trip the last three springs has been on March 27. Been skunked every march 27 too! :( . But this year I'm getting one in March. :) Two springs ago , I got fish every trip I made in april (about 7 or so trips). Last year , not so. I got skunked several times last april , in fact I think it was about 50/50 for fish/skunks.

John, I've caught sea run browns in Scorton's and now that I have the fly rod ( last August) I'm planning on a few trips but I really can't say I'm pumped about going until mid May. April is fun, early canal bass on herring are fun but mid May is when the ante is raised..... Big fish are more fun.