Thread: Info on JDM UL rods.

Very good informative video.

Finally had time to watch your video. Why do rods available here in the States not have that much graphite content? I assume most rods we can buy here are made overseas in production facilities. Custom rod makers cannot get the blanks? Your informative video just gives me more questions, but that is a good thing!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Originally Posted by StantheMan2567

Finally had time to watch your video. Why do rods available here in the States not have that much graphite content? I assume most rods we can buy here are made overseas in production facilities. Custom rod makers cannot get the blanks? Your informative video just gives me more questions, but that is a good thing!


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Of course I’m only talking about UL rods. The Loomis NRX rods have an extremely high graphite content....bass rods.....that’s one of the reasons they average around 600 bucks a pop. Making a good blank is very expensive. It is easy.....and cheap....to make a rod with high graphite content that is extremely sensitive but if not made with the right amount of pressure...resin...and any other blends it will be brittle and break. I used to fish with a Shakespeare Agility UL rod several years back. It was advertised as IM 10 graphite......which told me it had a high graphite content although the HM ratings don’t mean a lot. But it was as light as a feather.....extremely sensitive.....only cost 29 bucks...but it broke very easily. I broke 3 of them before I quit using them....my son broke 2. They still make that rod but it does not have the high graphite content anymore. In my research I understand it is the heat and pressure...and the right amount of resin...or some composite blend...mixed in with the carbon and then it has to be pressed at the right pressure under extreme temperature to make it useable....meaning rigid and sensitive but not so stiff that it will break when you set the hook on a fish. Those high temp presses they use are extremely expensive. Custom rod builders here cannot get high end Japanese blanks......the Japanese are very secretive about their blanks. I’ve had several rod builders ask me if I knew where they could get them....they can’t. You can get some good blanks here. The Phenix blanks in their UL series.....Iron Feather blanks are around 200 bucks. Just a set of the Fuji Torzite titanium frame guides for a spinning rod cost a little over 100 bucks. Just not a big demand for high end UL rods in the states......which is surprising to me. Take a look at just about any other country and high end UL rods are the norm for fishing. There is a rod builder I use when I need a tip top replaced or for any other rod work. He is extremely talented. He was checking out some of my rods and was just blown away at the quality and the light weight. They just came out with an UL rod out of Japan that is 6’ 10” long and only weighs 1.9 ounces....and the diameter of the tip is .69 mm. That is unheard of. But I won’t be buying one....LOL. In the end I just like fishing with them and collecting them.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Thanks for the time you invest in answering our many, sometimes redundant questions Alpha. I haven’t watched the video yet but I will when I can do so uninterrupted and focused as I’m sure it will answer many of my q and give me what I need to decide if one is right for me. You know more of this and have done more research than any of us, and I know everyone says thanks for sharing it with us. Keep your videos coming, we all enjoy them

Thanks Great post


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120A using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Thank you for the additional information. I bought a 7ft. St. Croix Panfish Series rod this season, by far the most expensive rod I own, but most definitely the most sensitive. I can actually feel a Bluegill strike when using a floater. This may not seem much but I have set the hook many times this year while NOT looking at my floater, I just felt the bite through the braid/rod and set the hook. If these rods you speak of are even more sensitive than the St Croix then I would definitely be impressed. I have not felt a G. Loomis Trout or Panfish rod, but have used their bass rods ( not mine) and did like the action and sensitivity. I am beginning to understand this UL rod thing, and really enjoy the learning journey.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Originally Posted by skeetbum

Thanks for the time you invest in answering our many, sometimes redundant questions Alpha. I haven’t watched the video yet but I will when I can do so uninterrupted and focused as I’m sure it will answer many of my q and give me what I need to decide if one is right for me. You know more of this and have done more research than any of us, and I know everyone says thanks for sharing it with us. Keep your videos coming, we all enjoy them

Thanks much for the kind words......much appreciated. Hoping I have shed some light on those that may want to go down that road.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Originally Posted by StantheMan2567

Thank you for the additional information. I bought a 7ft. St. Croix Panfish Series rod this season, by far the most expensive rod I own, but most definitely the most sensitive. I can actually feel a Bluegill strike when using a floater. This may not seem much but I have set the hook many times this year while NOT looking at my floater, I just felt the bite through the braid/rod and set the hook. If these rods you speak of are even more sensitive than the St Croix then I would definitely be impressed. I have not felt a G. Loomis Trout or Panfish rod, but have used their bass rods ( not mine) and did like the action and sensitivity. I am beginning to understand this UL rod thing, and really enjoy the learning journey.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Thanks for the comment. You know it’s funny, years ago.....really several decades ago......UL fishing was much bigger than now. I’m sure many of us pushing 70 remember Lamiglass.....Falcon......St Croix was in there also. There were other....at the time.....big names in the UL line of making rods also. But I’m thinking that was a time when all those rod makers were still in the USA and were individual companies instead part of some huge conglomerate.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app