Starting out series - Rod Selection - By Pumicestone Passage Pirates Writer, Mangrove Jack.

Starting Out Series – Selecting A Rod

by Mangrove Jack

When can we go fishing again!!!!!!! Is the cry which means you’ve done something right. It’s a great sign that the kids have enjoyed the last trip and want to go again but it’s not as easy as it seems is it? The same applies to newcomers to this piscatorial sport of ours. Hopefully this article and series of blogs will provide a few hints and tips for those either wanting to start a young person in the sport or you’re just starting  yourself and confused by all the gear available. I stood at the door of the new massive Kawana BCF the other day and realised that if you’re new to fishing just looking at aisle upon aisle of fishing gear would by extremely daunting. To a tackle rat like myself it’s a treasure trove of goodies and you’re looking for what’s new and hopefully you’ll only come out of there with a packet of swivels and not a $500 outfit…… but if you’re new you’re no doubt asking yourself where do I start and how much is this going to cost?

Where do you start!! It’s like finding a needle in a haystack these days. Okay in your mind for yourself or kids starting out head for a 2-4kg spin/threadline reel outfit with 6-8lb line. This will cover the bread and butter of the Pumicestone Passage our bream, whiting and flathead. Keep the length down to 7’ and below if it’s just for boating so it’s easier to learn control. You can go for 8’ and over if you know you’re just land based to increase casting distance. If you just want to fish mainly bait stick to a slower tapered rod, soft action (see below) or it you think luring is more the go for you or the kids choose a rod with a faster action. Keep the outfit light so it’s easy for you or the kids to use with a nice light tip action so it’s easy to cast a bait or lure and you’ll have more fun during the battle as well! Stick to your budget. There’s plenty of reasonably priced outfits that will do the job and realistically you don’t know how often you or the kids are going to use it. If the fishing bug bites you bad then you can maybe buy a fancier outfit, but it’s certainly not necessary. Photo courtesy of Tackle World.

Firstly you’re going to have to ask yourself the hardest question. How’s the budget? Fishing can either cost a fortune or very little depending on what you want to do. I don’t want to add up what I’ve spent over the years as I’d probably commit Hari-kari, however my only excuse is that it’s my number one passion and I’ve collected gear over a lot of years and a lot of that gear if looked after  will near last a lifetime. Yes I like some of my expensive reels and rods however there is that much good economical gear on the market these days that you certainly do not need to spend big bucks.

I am certainly not sponsored by anyone so if I mention brand names in this article it just means that I have personally found them good and can safely recommend it. Just like discussing lure colour in the first article my comments to follow will no doubt start an opinionated war with other anglers as only fisherman are very good at doing, but that’s fine and that’s part of the fun and how you learn in my opinion. Firstly please ask yourself the following questions and have the answers ready when you go into a reputable tackle shop dealer who knows their stuff and hopefully isn’t going to try and sell you far above what you need. Remember your budget and don’t be led into buying dearer stuff. Easier said than done speaking from personal experience!!

Where are you or the kids going to fish? ie reef, rock, surf, bank of a river or boat? I’ll try and stick to the general Pumicestone Passage here for the purpose of this article so if that’s the case let’s say boat or bank/jetty. Might I add here now that personally it’s probably safer to learn from the bank where you can have the kids or yourself spread out when learning to cast and a hook hopefully won’t end up in someone’s earhole or any other human orifice whilst practising. What fish would you like to catch? It’s unlikely that the kids or yourself are going to want to go from never fishing to becoming a mulloway or luderick specialist and that would also be a mistake because specialising generally takes time, practise and specialised skills that can be learnt down the track and would frustrate you or the kids initially. Let’s stick to the bread and butter fish of the Pumicestone Passage for now and that’s bream, whiting and flathead that can be caught the year round in the passage and are there in good numbers in most easily accessible spots. Yes you’ll get some surprising wanted and unwanted by catch as well but hey that’s all part of the fun!

A very young crew assembled for a fish this time down the front at Golden Beach. These are my two niece’s children and between the excitement of pumping yabbies and landing a few fish, they had a ball. Keep the sessions short, busy and maybe cast for them and you’ll be surprised what they can do, learn and remember about their trip. And guess what? The best thing of all is that they’ll want to go again. I believe here the area is important to consider and the tackle used as well. Spread out on a nice snag free area, keep the rod and reel light and the hooks small. Use nice fresh bait to get plenty of bites and action!

Certainly a busy front casting deck on my centre console! Keep the kids safe, the rods short and soft and you may have to cast for them depending on their level of practise this close together in a boat. Watch for loose swinging hooks! They’ll want to bring their baits in to check all the time. This is where you either encourage patience or put a lure on! I will generally always have out a “sleeper” line from the bank or sitting in the rod holder. This outfit will hook a fish for me and I can then get the kids to “check it” or wind in the fish for me.

Okay which rod to buy and use. Is there a perfect all-around rod for the Pumicestone Passage? Wow I’ve started something here! No of course not. You’re not going to use the same golf club to play every shot. They are designed to do different things. The same applies for fishing rods okay? What I will say here though is please have a basic understanding of a fishing rod and what it’s designed to do. Cast the bait/lure, hook and play the fish. Remembering that we’ve narrowed it down and that we’re just talking bream, whiting and flathead now from the bank or boat.

Okay the rod, my goodness or words to that effect you say as you stare at rack after rack of rods of all different lengths, brands and prices. A bit of rod theory here to start with sorry but it helps to try and understand what you’re trying to achieve. If you hear people talk about the action or taper of a fishing rod they are referring to how a rod bends ie a slow action or taper will bend a long way along the rod length before it “locks up” ie stops bending. Okay keep this in mind and consider that in theory a slow tapered or ‘sloppy’ rod will allow a fish to take a bait and move off with it with hopefully minimal resistance. So if your’e bait fishing for touchy finicky feeding fish like bream and whiting which they can be at times this is an effective action to buy. Examples of such would be full fibreglass constructed blanks (blanks are just the term given to fishing rods before they have the runners/guides and winch put on them). The more fibreglass wraps/turns that are applied to the rod the stiffer the action becomes and the more power in a rod that can be exerted on the fish to “turn a fish” ie control a powerful fish that is trying to get back to cover and “bust you off” ie break your line sometimes referred to as ‘getting bricked’ and other terms that I’m not allowed to type here as the air turns blue in the boat!!

Hopefully explaining the actions and tapers of fishing rods. Action is the way they bend and the taper is the way they are made or constructed for different purposes. Photos courtesy of Bass Resources and Global Tackle.

For our purposes here a good example of straight fibreglass rods is the Gary Howard range of rods that are designed to cater for the boat, surf and rock fisherman. They are at the upper end of the price scale however and for starters you certainly don’t need that. A rod with 3 wraps of fibreglass for example termed a 3 wrap is certainly all you need for starters in my opinion. The Gary Howard Estuary 8’ foot rod is a very good allrounder and my son and mates love theirs. Eight foot however is starting to push the limits of controlling a fish into the net or onto the deck in the boat with untrained hands of kids and beginners however if you also want to fish from the beach if gives you that casting distance that you need unless reasonably deep water is right at your feet.

My son’s first lure caught fish in the Pumicestone Passage well over 10 years ago now. We kept it simple with a nice short 6’6 medium tapered rod for the boat and spinning reel, 6lb line with a 12lb leader for protection from the flathead’s “sandpaper” mouth. All Dan had to do was hold the rod and when he felt the strike fight and wind!! A proud day for him (and dad!) and trolling behind the boat or yak is relaxing fishing. When starting out always apply the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid). I still have to remind myself of that these days when I get carried away with my theories and tactics. Notice how he already knows how to shove the fish forwards for the photo to make it look bigger! I wonder who taught him that?!

My son’s first bait caught fish where he put the bait on, cast the line, hooked and landed the fish. A proud moment for any parent and even better that his beloved Pop was on board that day as well before he passed away. It doesn’t get any better in my opinion. We kept the rod and reel outfit short and light for ease of use and fun. He turned to my Pop during the fight and exclaimed “Pop I think it’s a shark!!!”. Pure gold. Dan with his mate Sammy a few years later when they had become quite proficient fisherman. Still we kept the equipment easy to use, looked after it and was certainly not expensive. By this time they had learnt to use their Alvey reels and preferred to use them over their spinning reels for bait fishing. Hey guess what? You can do what you like…….remember that’s part of the joy of fishing.

Okay where and how do I want to fish? I’m suggesting here that you are maybe going to buy two outfits (rod and reel combinations). One to bait fish with and one to lure with. Yes of course you can do both with one outfit though. Don’t ever be conned into buying what you don’t need. If your child or yourself is just going to fish from the bank/beach then I would go for between 8’ to 10’6 in length just for the fact that it will cast a longer distance and can cope with surf fishing as well. In the boat certainly a shorter rod of 6’6 or 7’ is easier to control and casting is not really too much of an issue and will improve with practise. A skilled pair of fishing hands in a boat will be able to cast, fight and land a fish either by net or lifting aboard using a 10’6 rod and not manage to wedge the bream’s spines into the forehead of his mate sitting beside him! Always appreciated by your mates by the way. Remember I just used the word skilled that I’m afraid does not apply to a beginner. Be realistic when it comes to rod length particularly in boats when starting someone out okay for everyone’s sake aboard.

If you are more interested in fishing actively or think that you or your child may enjoy casting and retrieving more, then the next rod is going to be a little different in it’s make up and action due to a few reasons and the line you put on your reel will be different but that part is for another day. This next rod will be your second and will be your luring rod from the beach, your kayak or the boat. It will be approximately 6’6 or 7’and will be constructed of more modern composite components particularly graphite. It’s action is often referred to as ‘spinier’ or ‘fast’ (meaning the rod tip can be quite thin and sensitive however it “locks up” remember finishes bending along its length faster. This action will flick out a lure better and set the hooks into a fish quicker hopefully before the fish detects it has been tricked by an artificial lure and not bait. The fast action will also turn the head of a more powerful fish quicker as it tries to “bust you off” ie like a good bream trying to power its way back into a sunken snag after hook up.

Rods will be rated along their blanks generally in kilograms which means this is the recommended line weight range to use for that style/power of rod. This is only a guide by the manufacturer but worth sticking to when starting out so that you’re not “overfishing” the capability of your rod. For our sake here we’re luring for bream, whiting and flathead so that the outfit stays nice and light and you have fun with the battle so a 2-4kg rated rod is quite suitable for the passage. Our bread and butter threesome aren’t in general dirty fighters and the environment you will generally catch them in is fairly civil. However having said that I’ve had bream hit my lure around sunken snags and bridge pylons that I swore were Mangrove Jacks and was pleased I had every bit of my 4kg rod and strong enough leader to do battle.

Not a bad way to start your Mangrove Jack tally with a 48cm specimen!!!! My son looking very pleased with his first jack caught some years ago now and why wouldn’t you be!! By the way this fish was taken and a small fresh mullet flesh strip bait (in photo at bottom) bought from Woolworths and intended for grunter. It was caught on a 6kg monofilament line and a medium action rod at best. Goes to show you with some nice rod work, well tied knots and a bit of luck you can make some surprising captures. Small fresh mullet strips by the way are gold in the Pumicestone Passage overall. Most species like eating them, they are quite resistant to pickers and it will surprise you the size of the fish that grab them. Big and small………..

Last but not least are the more composite rods like the Shakespeare Ugly Sticks (still quite economical) which I loved and still love to have in my arsenal. They were marketed as being very flexible with a solid fibreglass tip and more a composite of glass and graphite in their butt section to add power. In more modern times are the Wilson Live Fibres (more upper end of the expense range). This range of rod can cater for a number of fishing methods and a lot of their range would be described as medium action but again there are so many to choose from.

Taking it to the next level. Above is my son getting a few pointers on the art of fly casting which by the way his old man (aka me) is still terrible at and certainly a beginner at the age of 56. The other photo shows him working a lure with his baitcasting outfit. Practise is definitely required to master the casting of these outfits but this is the overall joy of fishing. Guess what? You can take it to whatever level of casting you want. That is the essential fun of fishing for any age group. Firstly I would suggest learning how to cast a spinning/threadline outfit and then maybe an Alvey which we will discuss in the next post.

These days luckily the majority of the rods produced aren’t too bad and I’ve been really pleasantly surprised at some of the quality. Competition is high and I suppose now manufacturers can’t afford a reputation for producing “lemons” that fall apart. The fishing guides or runners that you put your line through are debatable on some cheaper end rods but let’s face it if you know a rod repairer in your area or head to a reputable tackle shop they can easily replace it for you. Fuji guides from Japan have ruled the roost for years and the rod will advertise that they have these on it for sales purposes. Wilson now provide their own guides and I haven’t had any trouble with them on my Live Fibres yet. The winch ie where you mount the reel on is another way that a cheaper rod will keep its costs down however you don’t see or hear of many nightmares these days.

Try and keep your shorter and longer rods stored neatly if you can as this will protect them from being damaged lying on the floor or shoved in a corner and make it easier to grab them next trip. My vertical racks are just cheap Berkley ones that you screw into the wall and I made the horizontal ones for the longer rods out of pine strips and dowel. Again very cheap to do.

Shimano and Daiwa are always in major competition with each other particularly in producing economical luring and bait outfits available in the major retail chain stores. I’m amazed generally at the quality and the buying power of these stores to offer outfits that even come with cork grips instead of Hypalon (grips meaning where you hold the rod above and below the reel) to make things pretty. The rod butt at the end of your rod is neither here nor there these days and is easily replaced. I built my first rod when I was 15 and my last about 10 years ago now and have had rods built for me by custom rod builders but that’s because I have the fishing addiction and want a challenge or something specific but It’s far cheaper now to buy an economical “outfit” (rod and reel combination) and look after it. It will last for years.

Wash your rod after use in warm soapy water and rag and rods will last you for a long time. I keep a nail brush in the shed as well for removing scales and bait etc on the rod if I need to but some of my mates are far neater and old toothbrushes can be handy as well. Run your fingers inside your guides now and again to check they haven’t become cracked as this will fray and damage your line when you cast and retrieve your line through them or a fast-running fish tests out your gear. A neat trick is to use a cotton bud and run it inside your runners/guides and if there is a crack the hairs of the bud will grab the crack and it will show up. Replace that guide straight away unless of course you want to wave bye bye to maybe that fish of a lifetime that may very well be that next cast with that rod. Oh the joys of not knowing!!!

Okay well there you have it! I hope this has given you some idea of what rods do and the different types available to you. Keep it simple as there are many value for money rod and reel outfits (meaning you buy the rod and the reel together and it is generally speaking the overall cheaper way to do it). Keep it light in the 2-4kg bracket and make sure it has a nice thin supple tip that bends quite easily so you can flick that bait or lure out, help hook a fish by itself if it’s in a holder or grabs your bait and provides some fun during the battle by bending it right over. You don’t want what we call a “broomstick” that doesn’t bend much and is heavy to use to start with. I would suggest starting in a nice sandy “flats” area without too many rocks or timber snags particularly for younger learners. I know you should fish around structure and that’s where the fish will be but try near a weed bed or over the top of a yabby bait bank for starters. You don’t want to be forever snagging up and retying rigs (sinkers, hooks and traces) on rocks and timber. Please drop me a line (no fishing pun intended….) on the website and I’m sure myself or one of the many experienced fisherman that we have here on Pumicestone Passage Pirates will do their best to answer it. Until next time when we look at reels, line and knots.

Tight Lines!

Mangrove Jack.

Pumicestone Passage Pirates Writer