Thread: JDM rods relating to Panfish

Originally Posted by Alphahawk

I have a little story about just how good JDM rods are. My nephew went fishing on the Little Red River with a guide...a great guide. My nephew had gone out to learn how to fish the Zig Jig. If you are familiar with it you pop it up...let it fall. The trout 99 percent of the time hit it on the fall. They were catching Bows in the 3-4 pound range. My nephew was hooking up about every cast. The guide was hooking up mayube 2-3 fish to my nephews 10 fish. The guide was just blown away at my nephews success. The difference.....nephew was fishing an Major Craft MSX and a Blue Current TZ. He could feel the fish as they hit it on the fall and slack line...the guide could not. Very few really realize just how much an advantage these rods give to one. Another nephew was crappie fishing with me one day and it was the same type deal. I was catching plenty of crappie and my nephew..who was using same lure as me.....was not doing well at all. They were biting very light. He asked if he could just make a few cast with my Ice Cube. I let him and on 4 casts he caught 3 slab crappie. When we left that day he handed me $750 to order him an Ice Cube Rockin' Drift and a Certate 2004 reel....LOL.



Regards

Randy I had a similar experience fishing the Little Red River with my Supervisor (who also guides on the LRR) and another coworker. I was fishing with a couple of JDM rods and trout magnets and zig jigs, and I was hanging with my boss who was fly fishing. Normally he spanks me when he is fly fishing. My other coworker was using a pretty nice IM8 blank rod and he probably caught 10% the fish we did. After I while I let him use my MC Triple Cross and he almost immediately started catching more fish. They really do make a difference in certain situations. He was mulling over which rod should be his initial JDM rod purchase, when my broken rod was delivered to the office. I think it changed his mind. He says with his luck, it would happen to him too. After I get this all sorted out, I bet I can get him back on board after I start spamming him this spring fishing for bluegill and redear.


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Originally Posted by D10

Randy I had a similar experience fishing the Little Red River with my Supervisor (who also guides on the LRR) and another coworker. I was fishing with a couple of JDM rods and trout magnets and zig jigs, and I was hanging with my boss who was fly fishing. Normally he spanks me when he is fly fishing. My other coworker was using a pretty nice IM8 blank rod and he probably caught 10% the fish we did. After I while I let him use my MC Triple Cross and he almost immediately started catching more fish. They really do make a difference in certain situations. He was mulling over which rod should be his initial JDM rod purchase, when my broken rod was delivered to the office. I think it changed his mind. He says with his luck, it would happen to him too. After I get this all sorted out, I bet I can get him back on board after I start spamming him this spring fishing for bluegill and redear.


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You know Matt I know it is disheartening to receive a rod like that. Shoot it ain't even my rod and I feel your pain. It will somehow get worked out in the end though. I hope folks understand though this is an anomaly...of course that statement doesn't make you feel any better. I used to fear about something like that happening to me with either a rod or a reel. I confirmed what you said about them not letting one open a package until it is signed for with my postman. So it kind of makes the whole insurance point useless...I guess. It's too late for me to change my ways...LOL......I'm hooked. The next couple of years I hope to be trying out the super high end rods...and reels. Not as many but might as well see what it is like at the top. The Evergreens.....Olympic.....a Daiwa AGS trout rod, and probably a few that as of yet I don't even know about. As soon as these outputs for the dams slow down I will be out with the Banshees having a ball on some bluegill...crappie....and I think you will too. Exciting times ahead!

Regards

I hear ya Randy. I’m pretty much over it now and not really too upset. I was definitely disheartened on Thursday. I know it will be resolved one way or the other. I’ll be back on the horse sooner than later. Ha ha ha!


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Today I went up to the north Georgia with my MC trapara UL and hooked more trouts than most people. I know this is not a high end rod by any means and my fishing skills definitely NOT justified my higher hookup rates .... I ended up giving away a few jig heads and gold TM bodies to a few fellas but I was still fishing more. For the record I was using a sunline FC line in 2.5 lb with an owner JH 84 jig in 0.6 g. I was able to cast pretty far and reel the plastic a few inches of the bottom (ie now I understand why low ratio gear reel are important for finesse fishing). Got a few line twists when the wind picked up but nothing major. Just had to re-tie once.


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Originally Posted by FishSolidATL

Today I went up to the north Georgia with my MC trapara UL and hooked more trouts than most people. I know this is not a high end rod by any means and my fishing skills definitely NOT justified my higher hookup rates .... I ended up giving away a few jig heads and gold TM bodies to a few fellas but I was still fishing more. For the record I was using a sunline FC line in 2.5 lb with an owner JH 84 jig in 0.6 g. I was able to cast pretty far and reel the plastic a few inches of the bottom (ie now I understand why low ratio gear reel are important for finesse fishing). Got a few line twists when the wind picked up but nothing major. Just had to re-tie once.


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Pretty fish. I think your good hook up rate really has more to do with the line and jig heads than the rod. An ajing rod used under same conditions I think you would have missed fewer fish...but it wouldn't be as much fun as using an area trout rod. Now when I go trout fishing it is very hard to leave the area trout rods at home that I own...they are just a lot of fun. Low ratio reels are a game changer in my opinion.

Regards

Originally Posted by Alphahawk

Pretty fish. I think your good hook up rate really has more to do with the line and jig heads than the rod. An ajing rod used under same conditions I think you would have missed fewer fish...but it wouldn't be as much fun as using an area trout rod. Now when I go trout fishing it is very hard to leave the area trout rods at home that I own...they are just a lot of fun. Low ratio reels are a game changer in my opinion.

Regards

The owner JH84 jig head are pretty nice. I prefer them over the Daiwa ones that I also purchased when using the TM bodies. It sits perfectly straight and flushed on the hook with the 0.6 and 1.0 gram. For larger plastic I prefer the daiwa jigs but oh boy the are sharp. For the record the JH 84 in the 0.6g took a beating after about 5 fish. Hook wire was bend and twisted but nothing that a pair of pliers could fix.


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I was finally able to go out and test the new Shimano Soare SS Ajing 610SUL rod. As I mentioned before, this is my first JDM ultralight, but is also definitely not the last one. The rod is incredibly light, fast, and beautiful. With 0.8 mm at the tip and 8 mm at the butt, I was expecting it to be quite stiff and it was in my hand. But it also behaved beautifully at the lake. Shimano claims this model to be a bit softer than the rest of the Soare SS Aging line-up, and it did load up very well with the fish on (though I certainly cannot compare it to the other models). I paired it with #0.3 polyester line (Shimano's own Sight Laser EX, 1.5 lbs test) and 2 lbs fluorocarbon shock leader (Seaguar Blue Label). The combination did a fantastic job with every jig head I used (Gekkabijin 1-2 g and Cultiva 0.7-1.3 g). The rod casted jigs very well, and I could get over 25 yards with a 1.5 g head (the only one I cared to estimate). The tip loaded up with 0.7 g JH-85 head with a pin worm on, and I could feel the rocks on the way to the bank. The rigid plastic reel seat is very slim at fits perfectly under my index finger, which makes twitching the lure even easier. I'm confident I could go with a lower weight jig. The line was a limitation here, and, as wind started blowing, I had an intermittent loss of contact during the gusts. I think I will try to go down to #0.2-0.25. This is my first time using polyester and I am not going back when it comes to jigging. I absolutely love the sensitivity and am not bothered by line management (which, to my surprise, did not seem to be a big issue). I think the line twist will be an issue with spoons and spinners and I plan to have a separate set up for those.
I got a few stocker rainbows during my outing, the biggest being about 2 lbs, maybe more, and my tackle handled it very well. There was also a lot of tail-biting going on (especially with trout power worms), which one could actually see at about 7-10 yards away from the bank. I felt (and could see at the tip) every single one of those approaches. I have no good reference and do not claim that this is the best rod for my purposes, but I am loving it and will continue to experiment. Thanks to everyone who has contributed and continues to contribute to this resource as it has steered me to the right path.

Originally Posted by s_v

I was finally able to go out and test the new Shimano Soare SS Ajing 610SUL rod. As I mentioned before, this is my first JDM ultralight, but is also definitely not the last one. The rod is incredibly light, fast, and beautiful. With 0.8 mm at the tip and 8 mm at the butt, I was expecting it to be quite stiff and it was in my hand. But it also behaved beautifully at the lake. Shimano claims this model to be a bit softer than the rest of the Soare SS Aging line-up, and it did load up very well with the fish on (though I certainly cannot compare it to the other models). I paired it with #0.3 polyester line (Shimano's own Sight Laser EX, 1.5 lbs test) and 2 lbs fluorocarbon shock leader (Seaguar Blue Label). The combination did a fantastic job with every jig head I used (Gekkabijin 1-2 g and Cultiva 0.7-1.3 g). The rod casted jigs very well, and I could get over 25 yards with a 1.5 g head (the only one I cared to estimate). The tip loaded up with 0.7 g JH-85 head with a pin worm on, and I could feel the rocks on the way to the bank. The rigid plastic reel seat is very slim at fits perfectly under my index finger, which makes twitching the lure even easier. I'm confident I could go with a lower weight jig. The line was a limitation here, and, as wind started blowing, I had an intermittent loss of contact during the gusts. I think I will try to go down to #0.2-0.25. This is my first time using polyester and I am not going back when it comes to jigging. I absolutely love the sensitivity and am not bothered by line management (which, to my surprise, did not seem to be a big issue). I think the line twist will be an issue with spoons and spinners and I plan to have a separate set up for those.
I got a few stocker rainbows during my outing, the biggest being about 2 lbs, maybe more, and my tackle handled it very well. There was also a lot of tail-biting going on (especially with trout power worms), which one could actually see at about 7-10 yards away from the bank. I felt (and could see at the tip) every single one of those approaches. I have no good reference and do not claim that this is the best rod for my purposes, but I am loving it and will continue to experiment. Thanks to everyone who has contributed and continues to contribute to this resource as it has steered me to the right path.

Great review of this rod. You must have young eyes or very good glasses to see 1.5lb line and 2lb flourocarbon leader, even if it is colored. The wind, while UL fishing, is not your friend while casting and retrieving. I sometimes just resort to putting a float on if I can when battling Mother Natures breath. You did not mention which reel you spooled the small diameter line on, I am sold on the JDM 1000 series reels with the low ratio for cast and retrieve. This is a fun path, but expensive. You mentioned it will not be your last JDM rod, true words spoken, I am receiving my 5th one this week