|
You have a couple things playing against you:
First, the stock 10 foot Ugly stick, although better than most off the shelf rods is a rod that doesn't specialize in any particular area. It's good at tossing bait and it's good for heavy plugs but it's not a champ at distance. It does what it's supposed to do well and that is to provide fair performance for reasonable money for a long time. The high end mass produced rods like the less expensive Penn Power Graph Rods and some Daiwa Sealines can be picked to be a little more specialized and have OK characteristics. The St Croix rods, the factory Breakaways and some Lami's are the high end of the non-custom rods that you can purchase for that but now your getting into big money (relatively speaking). The price of custom rods. Early in my surfcasting adventures, I assumed that longer casting required a 12 foot rod so I went out and bought a 12 foot Daiwa Eliminator and a Penn 8500SS. $225 later I had an outfit that if I used 6 ounces of weight plus bait I couldn't cast as far as someone with a nicely balanced 9 footer and a lighter reel. And I was killing myself while this fellow was catching the fish...
When you look at all of the dfferent options out there, off the shelf or custom, you still won't find a rod that is equal at tossing a 1.5OZ jig or plug AND a 4 ounce sinker draggin' a 4OZ slab of mushy meat. Each rod has a range that it's most happy in. Where the rod loads up on a range of wieght and efficiently sends that power back into sending that weight off into never never land. You're Ugly stick probably won't break on 6 ounces but it may not be efficient with six ounces either. It ain't efficient on 1 ounce as it's not loading up. Unfortunately (fortunately :P ), this is why many of us choose different rods (accumulated over seasons - not at once) that fit various applications. Someone that's been seriously playing the surf for a few years will have 2-4 rods.
First work with the rod you & reel setup you have. Try to improve the quality of your bait. Twice frozen mackeral chunks and mushy herring are going to be prone to seperate from your line, especially if you crank it out there. Like a golf swing, if you properly load the rod in a smooth arc, you can be just as efficient as really trying to crank it. It takes some practice but it will really help. Once you are familiar with loading up a rod and using good bait, fresh or recently thawing from it's first freeze, it will hold up better (in most cases) during the cast. Also try hooking through more meat and flesh so the force of the cast will be spread out more on the bait.
Tell us about what will be the majority of your fishing style. Bait / Plugs (what size) / Metals, Jigs, etc. If you are as sickly hooked as the rest of us ;D you'll accumulate more gear over the next few years too...
One other thing, as Jaiem stated, casting forever and then some is not really necessary in our waters. It's often said that more fish are cast over than cast too. That may not apply on the Gulf coast of Texas or at the Outer Banks but applies alot for New England. Sure, there are times when you'll need a 300 foot cast but there might not be anyone here that can toss 200 yards while FISHING. Think about it. That's as long as the Battleship Massachucetts. That 200 yards stuff WITH a Breakaway Rod AND a souped up Mag Elite AND a competitive DISTANCE caster is possible but you're not going to catch fish that way. Spend $500 and a couple years casting you'll maybe be able to send that rig out 600 feet but you really don't need to.
To give you an idea, this is what I use...
8' G-Loomis (custom home made) with a ABU 5500C3 for schoolies, albies, & small keepers. I use 1/2 ounce to 1.5OZ plugs, jigs, tins, and plastics. Sweet spot is 3/4 to 1.5
9' Sabre 1088 (custom home made [sold]) with a 6500 Mag Elite or Big Game for plugs 1-2.5 ounces, eels, metals and jigs
9' Sabre 1089 (custom from a shop) with a 6500/7000 Big Game or Calcutta 400 for eels, plugs, tins & jigs 2-4 ounces. Some bait tossing and live herring as well.
10 Lami XRA1205 (custom home made) with the 6500 7000 Abus and for big plugs, baits, and eels....
***** BTW - what kind of 9 foot rod do you have and what reels is on it? *****
|