8 - 9 foot jig rods for casting

[snakeeater]

Surely someone on this forum has tried using an 8 or 9 foot ultralight jig rod for casting to bream, bass, crappie, etc, from the bank with ultralight jigs ,etc...what were your results? I'm interested in trying an 8 footer with 4 lb line and small beetle spins...

[Ketchn]

my bud uses 9 and 10 foot rods with fixed floats from the bank all summer long with 4 lb mono and jigs ....
he is flat out DEADLY on all the species with this set up
not just the crappie !

[DaveB40]

Up here in northern Illinois, we use 8, 9 & 10 ft rods for pan fish along the shoreline
of the cooling lakes. We also use 12 and 13ft "noodle rods" for creek fishing for
hefty steelhead and Chinook salmon with pretty good success. Get one just to
play around with and learn all of the nuances of long pole fishing! Dave

[deathb4disco]

I'm interested in trying an 8 footer with 4 lb line and small beetle spins...

I used almost this exact set up, and it worked great. My rod was an 8.5' Bass Pro Microlite.

[Ketchn]

I use an 8 footer myself with 6 lb mono and do quite well off the bank like my bud in some spots . its a really fun way to ketch some crappie and a bit more of a challenge at times as well .

["D"]

Recently aquired a BnM Bucks Ultimate in a 2piece 8 ft. Eyed like a spinning rod, flex like a jig pole. I intend to cast baits with it. I tried a couple reels on it and decided the smallest were to light. I settled on a Pfluger Supreme in the 30 size. I'm hoping for good balance, as the rod is tip heavy. May have to counter weight it. Looking forward to using this set up as soon as the reel arrives.

[timmah]

I'm interested in trying an 8 footer with 4 lb line and small beetle spins...

I snagged a Berkley 8 footer not long ago to use my underslung Shakesphere with. Its a hoot with a beetlespin or other similar weight jigs. I catch mostly bream on it, but also a few pounder sized bass,

[CrappiePappy]

I have a 8' BnM Duckworth FnF rod that's good for float & jig style casting/fishing, and a 9' ESP PowerJig rod that's good for straight jig casting (micro guides make it difficult for slip float use, though). Both rods are very light in weight. The ESP rod has a very fast action tip, while the 8' FnF rod has a soft action (parabolic bend). Back when I used them often, they had Mitchell 308X reels on them and spooled with 4# test mono. I used the ESP rod from the bank, with a fixed float, but the FnF rod has mostly been used for casting slipfloat/jig from a boat.

If I were looking for a rod to cast small lures from the bank with ... I'd probably consider the newer model BnM Float & Fly rod with the Tenn Handle, in either the 9' or 10' length. I'd consider it over the ESP line of rods, for the simple fact that the guides on the BnM rod would allow me to also cast with a slipfloat (if I wanted or needed to) ... since the guides on it are large enough to accommodate most any style of bobber stop. And even with a fixed float, I could still cover water depths up to ~10ft. Any deeper than that and I'd use a slipfloat.

[Crestliner08]

I'm currently using two 9' rods for both casting and drift fishing when I'm in the boat. I fish these from shore as well, whenever I have a couple of hours to kill, walking the banks. Both these rods cast beautifully and even though I have several shorter rods, I do like these for casting distance.

Here's what I'm using: one is a B n' M's Sam Heaton's Super Sensitive and the other is B n' M's "The Difference" - both 9 footers. On both of these rigs I've mounted each with #6920 Pflueger Supreme reels, filled with 2# test Fireline Crystal for the main line. To that I've attached a 4# test fluorocarbon leader, between 4' & 6' long; mainly as a shock absorber and abrasion resistance. I connect the two with the Alberto knot.

I can cast both these rigs very effectively from shore or from the boat. Both are very responsive and I've taken some large trout, bass and pike with either of them with no problems what-so-ever. Full disclosure, I am NOT fishing brush piles, or other cover, related to structures; rather, mainly open water with few snagging hazards. That's not to say that I wouldn't use either under those conditions as well. In my opinion, their potential is high for most applications.

I find these rigs very easy on the arms for casting as well and the distances I can achieve are much greater than any of my shorter rigs (which I have filled with similar line set-ups). I mainly cast with 1/16 oz. jigs/plastic trailers, although I have used 1/32 oz. and 1/8 oz. jig heads as well.

Works well for me.

[wicklundrh]

There are good ones and bad ones. I grew up steelhead fishing and most of that was done with noodle rods or 4 to 6 weight fly rods tied into spinning rods coupled with 6lb mono. The rod does all the work. I build all of my own rods these days and can purchase blanks for just about anything. You can tie a 10 or 12 footer to do just about anything but, the same holds true with a 6 or 8 footer. For me, I prefer a 5 weight fly rod tied into a spinning rod for throwing a float and dipping trees... for throwing lightweight jigs, I prefer a 7ft light weight fast action SJ (Spin and jig) blank from MHX.

You can get good rods off the shelf that can do what you want, but... you can also get rods that don't do what you want. It really depends on the action, the composite materials it is made out of and so on. If buying an off the shelf rod, you are doing the right thing by asking others what their experiences with certain rods are. I'm no help when it comes to off the shelf stuff anymore.