Thread: What JDM Rods Can Handle.

Been some discussion about how big a fish the JDM UL rods can handle. The short answer to that is pretty large fish. The absolute heaviest fish I have landed on these rods is a 30 pound drum....and I've lost count of drum and buffalo in the 10 pound or better range. But very few of us fish for those fish...they are a bycatch. Back in 2016-2017 I fished Dale Hollow Lake hard in the spring of both years. I had a 5 day period in 2016 where I boated 300 smallmouth bass and numerous big bluegill and shellcracker. The rod I used the most was a Yamaga Blanks 610 TZ. I had other rods with me but the TZ gave me fun on big panfish and really shined when I hooked into the smallmouth...the smallest by the way was 18 inches and the largest 21 inches...quite a few 21 inch fish. At the time the line I used was SOS 2# test which actually breaks at 3.75 pounds. This was before I started my YouTube channel. I hit the lake just right for Smallies spawning on the flats...and the bluegill and shellcracker had a few beds around as well. So I wouldn't be worried about how big a fish these rods can handle. I had mentioned I had owned 2 of the TZ rods but I really had 3 of them. I completely forgot about the 83TZ Long Cast...because I rarely use it. I know I wish I had my TZ rods back that I sold.


Regards

Yolo, it’s a mixture of position and drag. Rod too high and he comes at you he gets slack line and says goodbye. Too low and the drag too tight and the spool can’t get moving fast enough and line breaks. When my rod gets high I try to recover line without giving slack. Rod about 10 o’clock and he surges, I fight him with the rod as much as possible, and might even palm the spool to keep him from getting out of hand. But when he takes off and starts pulling hard it’s hands off and let the drag do the work. And with all that said, we all still lose some.