which slow pitch jigging rod: UC Zeus, UC Challeger Xtreme or Blackhole CapeCod

[steelfish]

I like to use the analogy of the "clubs in a golf bag" because I use it to convince my wife that I need one more rod for another special techique I want to try, but Im running out of excuses using it, I havent seen a golf player with 45 clubs in his house (it could be possible but I havent seen that).

maybe is the same way all over the world, but talking in my own experience fishing from a panga boats 95% of the time and with 4 more guys with their rods in the same small boat, you cannot bring 5-8 rods for every single style you want to try or possible need, so, when you are a rocky old captains " recommend us"  to bring rods that could be use it for 1 or 2 or even 3 different styles/scenarios, so, you only bring 3 rods with you, live bait, casting and trolling and with luck you can bring your jigging rod, with the experience you learn to pick your rods for the day depending the zone you are going to fish, so you select your rods and reels "hoping" you dont need a stronger one or a ligther one, etc.

on my trevala rod for knife jigging lures I could cast 2oz spoons to the moon or even the same jigging lure if I see a boiling in the surface and of course use it for the intended use of buttlerfly jigs, not saying its better, just more a"multy task rod" and of course its a totally different animal than a true SPJ rod, I like this trevala rod and I was thinking to modify it adding a longer butt, make it acid,etc.. but naah I better sell it and build me something that suit my needs better.

[MarkT]

How many rods do you need?  One more!

[boon]

I like to use the analogy of the "clubs in a golf bag" because I use it to convince my wife that I need one more rod for another special techique I want to try, but Im running out of excuses using it, I havent seen a golf player with 45 clubs in his house (it could be possible but I havent seen that).

Ha! My brother in law (an avid golfer) probably has that many clubs. And is still refining his collection all the time. As Mark T said, the correct number is usually 1 more than whatever the current number is.

The context of how you fish is important. In our case, for example, we might look at the forecast, tides, water temperature etc. and say "let's go for a jigging trip" and nothing else comes on the boat except jigging rods. The lack of versatility means you commit to a technique; otherwise you go jig for half an hour and if you're not catching you go "oh well" and go anchor up in one of your favourite spots and bottom-fish with dead bait because you know it will catch a few fish. Restricting yourself to a small range of techniques forces you to improve. At the same time, I appreciate that this is a privileged viewpoint: I get to fish a lot, from a small boat with just 2 or 3 of us on it, and if we get skunked trying something it's not a big deal as fish for the table are a bonus rather than an objective on those trips.

[the rockfish ninja]

Not all Slow pitch rods are created equal.

[steelfish]

now you have my attention !!

WOW !!  not bad for $500 USD 

[MarkT]

Then you need the shirt too to look like a pro-staffer so people will know that you're fishing a $500 rod and that you think you know how to use it.

[jurelometer]

Then you need the shirt too to look like a pro-staffer so people will know that you're fishing a $500 rod and that you think you know how to use it.

"Hearty Rise" logo jig: check
"Hearty Rise" logo hat: check
"Hearty Rise" logo gloves: check
"Hearty Rise" logo pro shirt: check
"Hearty Rise" logo shorts: check

But I am drawing the line on the "Hearty Rise" logo knickers.

Actually, you know the first thing you are going to hear when you get on the long range boat with that logo shirt is "Look who's sporting the Hearty Rise".    Just sayin...

See the gaff being waved around?  I wonder if they gaffed that poor little thresher,  then tossed it back in the water, so they could drag it in by the tail for the camera once it was beat down enough.

Is it just me?  I  found the behavior of the "actors" throughout the video to be kind of repulsive.  

-J

[steelfish]

Then you need the shirt too to look like a pro-staffer so people will know that you're fishing a $500 rod and that you think you know how to use it.

"Hearty Rise" logo jig: check
"Hearty Rise" logo hat: check
"Hearty Rise" logo gloves: check
"Hearty Rise" logo pro shirt: check
"Hearty Rise" logo shorts: check

But I am drawing the line on the "Hearty Rise" logo knickers.

Actually, you know the first thing you are going to hear when you get on the long range boat with that logo shirt is "Look who's sporting the Hearty Rise".    Just sayin...
-J

c'mon compadre, they are making a promoting video on a small sporty boat, shimano, penn, okuma, daiwa videos are doing the the same in the  by the pro staff, maybe different cultures but same way of advertisement a new product, if a rod gets broken on a fish that day they just cut it from the final video, you only get the best 10 minutes  from 5 days of fishing on the same spot, nothing wrong with that.



anyway.. on side note.

after seeing some videos of Light jigging (with show extremely thin mechanical jigging rods and of course the use of SPJ rods), I remembered having a short 5ft blank pretty thin maybe for Freshwater rod that came along a bunch of broken rods I bought at a flea market 4years ago, 80% of that were trash, I didnt even saved the guides or anything, they went directly to the trash can, but rescued around 10 rods, 3 totally new with tags just 2-3 guides broken and the rest with 3" or so broken at the tip.

Purist SPJ guys will kill me for this but yesterday just for the kicks and using parts from the broken rods I have, I made a Franken SPJ rod LOL (not really but it can pass as UL/L jigging rod), I used the handle/reeseat part from an okuma citrix rod, then extended the butt to another 8" from another broken graphite rod to make it 20" from butt to the reelseat and the same blank pass it  through the handle-reelseat section for a tight fit and secured the 5ft blank, now the rod is around 5.8ft or so, well, put some guides with masking tape to test it on my lab room, the tip have some recoil but its has a smooth bounce with a 3oz weight even if I try a quick stop of the weight (similar to what the shimano guy was doing on the video on the pool), this rod might make a SPJ lure to dance under the water  .

well after having all the guides secured with masking tape I did my "regular" extreme lifting test to check how it will fight an angry triggerfish or 6# Sierra spanish mack, the Frankerod could lift 3# easily, then it lifted 5# with no sweat, tried 7# also with no problem but I stopped there, I dont want to have another blank break on my finder or smacking on my face because the extreme bend, but I think if I use the same way of fighting the fish with the rod/reel pointing to the water like the SPJ pro guys do it I can fight a 10# fish or bigger easy peasy. I know this kind of lifting test mean nothing for SPJ or regular fishing for the matter (but wondering why then, jigging brands always promote their rods with pictures lifting weight, anyway) considering you are not casting 3oz jigs with the rod only dropping it to the bottom I might finish this fraken rod JUST for the fun of it specially because I can finisi it with left over guides and some cheap eva grips on the extended reargrip for "free" with the only extra cost of printing the "Alextech Baja SupreJig" decal for it.

seems like solid glass tip blank maybe for a Heavy Duty ice rod because I could lift that 7# toolbox and bounced it with no problema, maybe its from the same "makers" of the ugly stick LOL or the Dock Demon mini rod.

PS: another cheapo rod freshwater rod "Renegade" Tuff max IM7 6ft 8-17lb did the same thing it lifted 5# weight and no sweat and still with a nice smooth curve on the blank pretty sure I could've lifted the 7# easy too but it was late, 2am so, I stopped my Lab tests for another day, I still wondering why the other swimbait blank broke on with me with 7# weight, pretty soon I will know if it came damaged from the factory/handling or if both have a mfng problem because Im building another rod with the same blank again (yep, I bought two at the same time) and I will  test it again for "learning purposes" but now with all the guide train installed not just the tip, again with 7# weight before wraping the guides but this time using my 3 step ladder to avoid a sharp angle from highsticking

[the rockfish ninja]

5 lbs eh.......... try over 4x that.

[steelfish]

5 lbs eh.......... try over 4x that.

20# hu!!  I might do it .. just for the science.




well, to tell the true I did tried with 10# but when I started to try to lift it all the taped guides got "broken free" from the blank and tape along with a guitar string sound "ping" "tiing" one after another, I just hear 7 sounds and my kid who was taking the pictures asked me, what was that sound?, then I saw the fishing line going from the reel to the tip of the blank and all the running guides trapped on the braid line resting at the tip, maybe because they were taped on a acid wrapped way and they were "pulling" down the blank instead of pushing it down also guides used were a microwave single foot set, pretty tiny so, no much meat to secure them with the tape, Lab test ended right there until trying with bigger guides with larger single foot (as fuji LN) or double foot or just having the rod built.


thanks Boon and rockfish ninja, Im learning a lot of what a true SPJ rod is, since I also fish as hobby and to have a fun day at the water not really to fill the ice cooler with everyfish I catch (I love fish but always fishing the limits or less) It doesnt hurt to have one of those dedicated SPJ rods (custom made by me of course) and try that style on a calm day here at the Californian Gulf.

[the rockfish ninja]

Are you going to spiral wrap it?

I know the benefits of it but oddly enough the most expensive SPJ rods out of Japan and Asia aren't spiral, not sure why.

[steelfish]

Are you going to spiral wrap it?

for this test purposes it was better that way because with the blank so bendy with just a small force the guides always escaped from the tape and twisted to sides, so I needed to double tape them but same result so, I taped them acid wrap and they kept steady, but in general I was with the idea to install the guides acid wrapped.

I know the benefits of them but oddly enough the most expensive SPJ rods out of Japan and Asia don't, not sure why.

I have seen that too, on regular jigging rods some Swear by the benefits of the acid wrapped rods and came wrapped like that from the factory while some guys still like the casting guides the regular way, wrapped at the top of the blank, but on the really thin aka spaguetti SPJ rods (the real ones) I have seen so far that non of them is acid wrapped, maybe because they are so bendy that 80% of the guides are pointing down most of the time so you dont feel that twist of the blank in your hands as with the stiffer blanks.
so, not really set on how to wrap it yet.

I dont know if Temple reef SPJ rods qualify as expensive or just the japanese ones, but this model Innovative is Acid wraped in the Aussie way, perdon me if its wrong to say it like that (aussie way) but is the only place I have seen they wrap the spiral with a Striper guide, a bumper guide off-setting contrary angle and the spiral down to the contrary side of the bumper, its do it that way to avoid the line to always try to push the reel to the same side of the spiral, I will try that style on my next swimbait rod to check if it feels different than the "regular" spiral wrap.

https://templereef.com/elevate/

[MarkT]

Wow, that's a weird acid wrap!  Starts at 90, next is to the right, then a slow transition to the left?  I'm right handed so I prefer a fast transition to the left.  Get to the bottom as quick as possible.  When vertical jigging with a conventional, you might as well treat it as a spinner and just get down!

[the rockfish ninja]

From what I've read, that newer style of spiral wrap was developed to prevent twisting of the blank under pressure. Don't have a link to the info but worth some research if you're undecided.

[steelfish]

From what I've read, that newer style of spiral wrap was developed to prevent twisting of the blank under pressure. Don't have a link to the info but worth some research if you're undecided.

maybe because those blanks are so thin and bendy that suffer more with the acid wrap than benefit from it.

as said before knife jigging rods spiral wrap is a common use, some even used clever names for their models as the Twisted Sista from Jigstar
https://www.jigstarrods.com/twisted-sista

This rod is actually what I have in mind to use it as model for my build, didnt knew SPJ rods where a totally different animal


@Mark, that rod has the same way to make the spiral downwards, the aussie way, looks crazy but its normal downunder, so, they cant be wrong just different way, I say it worth to try it.