shakespear mirco lite rod

[etexbasser]

I may be on the wrong forum here, but here is my question or complaint. I bought a new ultra lite rod, a shakespear (spelling) micro lite to throw some of my small baits on. The rod handles the small baits very well, such as a H&H cutie spinner and small jig heads that I use for brim. The complaint that I have is that the rod is not very sensitive, it says it is an im6, but I can't really feel the fish, I pretty much have to wait on the rod to start loading up or feel the fish pulling on the rod. It handles the fish fine, even caught a 4 pound chopique on it, but I was expecting it to be more sensitive. I only paid $16 for it, and is a good rod. Am I just used to my bass rods and should not expect an ultra lite to be that sensitive or is there a rod that is ultra lite and sensitive?
I have a 10'B&M Sam's supersensitive for crappie, it is im6 and pretty sensitive, maybe I should try one of their spinning rods.
Any thoughts or ideas will be appreciated.
later...etex

[huntinslabs]

Question is how much IM6 is in it? But will say you have to watch your line reguardless of brand. Hard to feel many of the bites and others are very easy to detect. But no doubt will feel less than a medium action with heavier line. Watch Todd Huckabee and his dippin rods are pretty stout and he says it makes it easier to detect lite bites.

[CrappiePappy]

I'm with "huntinslabs" on this one. Not all IM6's are created equal. I'm also in his camp when it comes to "feeling" the bite ... I try NOT TO !! I want to "SEE" the bite (line movement), not necessarily feel it ... especially when swimming a jig. Now, I do feel the bite on my ESP rod (IM6/very high modulus graphite) when the fish "thump it" fairly good. But, most of that "feeling" is due to the line movement, not the fish pulling the rod tip down.

[drfish]

Been using two 7 ft lights and one 7 ft 6 in ultra light, I cast 1/64 & 1/32 oz with ultra and 1/32 with lights. I really like them, but line make a bid difference in how they handle the light jigs. I use 4.4 lb Tectan and can cast as far as I need to. Like the rods and love the price. I have used a lot of different rods and a lot with higher price tags and these work as well for me as any I have had.

[etexbasser]

Thank you gentlemen. It went a lot better today, maybe I am getting used to it. I caught 8 brim all about hand sized. I am using 6 lb. test Mr. Crappie high viz line, but I am going to change it tomorrow and put on some viscous panfish line in 4 lb. test. I do watch the line but probably not as much as I need to. I will try to upload some pictures tomorrow of my fish and where I am fishing, it is very pretty down here in south Louisiana where I work.

later...etex

[floaterguy]

Glad to hear things got better. I have an older 4'6" Ugly Stik and I was missing fish left and right with it. I like to vertical jig with 1/8oz jig heads so my line is usually tight except on the fall. I bought two new set ups, one for using on the docks and another for in my kayak. The one for the docks is a 8ft BnM Jigging pole with a Mitchelle 308 reel and 6lb Trilene and the sensitivity is awesome, the slightest little hit can be felt. The other is Field and Stream 5'6" TEC LITE ultra light with a Shimano Sienna 1,000 series reel with 4lb Trilene and that is my most sensitive set up. I love using that TEC-LITE, it's so light and sensitive. I scored that whole set up at F&S for right around 65 bucks with the reel being on close out sale and a few rewards points used. Since using the new set ups I've taken more fish for sure, I still use the Ugly Stik but only as a secondary pole now.

[etexbasser]

I tried the ugly sticks but they seem to heavy to me. Where did you get the TEC-LITE? I may get a B&M since I like my 10' jigging pole so much. The B&M that I have is the Sams super sensitive. Thanks for the replies.

[wicklundrh]

A couple of things to consider with commercial off the shelf rods (especially lower priced ones). Is the handle EVA foam or cork? That is one thing to consider. The other, and probably the culprit in this instance is what kind of arbor was used under the reel seat. Obviously, there would be no way for you to know without cutting the rod apart but... on lower end, or lower quality rods, the manufacturor doesn't utilize a carbon fiber or graphite arbor to take up the space between the blank and the reel seat. They utilize cheaper urethane or, more commonly utilized, they wrap masking tape around the rod until they take up the difference. This causes a "deadening" feeling between the blank and the reel seat. As a result, the feeling of the rod is not transfered into the reel seat. If you are holding the rod above the reel seat, EVA foam usually has less feel than cork. The feeling of the bite is not transfered very well from the blank through the foam to your hands.

Just a few things to consider. Obviously, verticle jigging would provide more feel and less need to watch the line however, like with most things, crappies tend to bite "up". As a result, line watching is sometimes key as you don't feel the hit. You might however feel the lack of weight.

[glasseyes]

I have several Bass Pro micro lite rods, for years been using them. One in particular is 9'6" long and I love it for crappie fishing and I have no problem with sensitivity feeling the hit. I paid $59 for that rod and have several others in the 7' to 8' range also and again have no problems with them, I think I paid $39 for those. Only paying $16 for the rod might be , you get what you pay for.

[Ketchn]

they are great entry level rods for crappie .....I have one I got 4 years ago ...it aint bad .....it aint like my Ticas
and it aint like some of them other brands that cost a bit , but it will lay the law down to them crappie for sure in the right hand
....my right hand that is ...