Rod Help

[sharkman]

Need some help on selecting a spinning rod.  I am confused about line weight listed on rods.  So if your reel is running 100lb braid and you set the drag to 1/4 of line breaking strength do you need a rod with line listed at 100lb?  Even if I max the drag the factory listing is 50lbs. Also I have a custom rod that I purchased second hand it does not have the line rating on it.  Is there a way to get an estimated poundage?  Thanks for all the help.

[Porthos]

Are you fishing 100lb braid straight or with a top shot? Rod makers are typically not in the practice of forcing you to do math while you are trying to select one of their rods. If you want to fish 100lb test then the ratings on the rods are there for QUICK reference, hence 40-100lb, 50-100lb, 60-100lb, etc., ratings give you immediate knowledge to evaluate.

IMHO, if fishing 100lb, I'd try to find a rod that is xx-120lb or xx-130lb given the typical rule-of-thumb is to fish somewhere in between the ratings.

The drag setting rule of thumb is typically to account for possible knot strength and the matching reel's drag rating which in real life, is less than the line rating.

On the custom rod, is there a maker's label and model on the ROD BLANK?

[sharkman]

Just a shock leader.  I didn't see anything on rod but I will double check.

[Porthos]

Just a shock leader.  I didn't see anything on rod but I will double check.

Shock leader of what rating?

[sharkman]

Probably 200lbs connected to 400lb wire.  Using it for shark fishing.  The reel is a penn torque spinning reel 9000 series. Trying to set it up like my spinfisher 10500.

[Porthos]

So 50lb max rating on the Torque...I assume you are fishing strapped to chair at that setting. Your 100lb main/braid line is the weak link with 200/400lb leader. Normally I'd say 31lb drag max on the reel with 2-3 more pounds coming from the line passing on the rod guides. If sticking with a Penn Rod, then these three would fit the bill:

CARBWII50100S70
CARJGII50130S64
CARJGII80200S60

Would definitely get a rod that's rated 100+ lbs. At 25lbs, you COULD get away with a 80lb max line rating rod (for 26.6lbs max drag), but then you are capped from taking advantage of what your line setup could be capable of.

For the custom rod, if there are no markings, one option is to take the rod to several rod builders for their opinions. If they are all around the same range, then run with that. If the responses are all over the place then I'd fish it slightly above what was the lowest given estimate to be on the safe side.

You could also rig up a weight bucket and apply incrementally increasing weights and see how much it takes to bend the tip 90 degrees down for the test curve:
http://www.go-saltwater-fishing.com/fishing-rod-action.html
http://www.barbel.co.uk/site/articles/testcurves/test_curves.htm

You can then take a rod (possibly one whose action you like) that is rated in the range of the weight applied on the unknown rod and compare. Then you can make a decision whether you like how the unknown rod feels at pulling that weight and adjust up or down accordingly. There is NO standardized system for rating rods.

Good luck!

[sharkman]

Thanks for the advice.

[Ron Jones]

Alan has a thread on here describing how he chooses rods. Best read on the subject ever. After reading it I don't care to much about line ratings.
Ronald