What are the requirements for a rod blank to toss yoyo iron? I do not want a rod longer than 8' and I'm not sure if 40# will be enough. I might do both.
I yoyo with 40#, 50#, and 60#. I use a g6470, rus76hp or psw700xh for 40#, a 6465h, g6470h, phd760xh or Tilefish 80 for 50# and a phd700x2h for 60#. 50# is my go to for yoyo.
I usually yoyo with my D8 and 40# or 50#. You don't really need a long rod for yoyo, because it's usually more of a vertical game. Long enough that you can lay it on the rail (if you like) and not have to worry about the side of the boat.
I think the handle is important too. The butt end should go under your armpit with enough fore grip to lay on the rail. Grinding that heavy jig up and down will wear you out after awhile.
I've never done yoyo. But watching people do it enough to understand it a bit I was going to recommend the rod Mark brought up if your going to use 50 line. That being the 8' Tilefish from UC. Keep in mind the shorter version of this rod is built completely for a lighter line class... the 8' will 40-50 & does 60 well enough in a pinch if you are afraid to put a bend in a rod... Jeff
I guess I'm confused, what I want to do is cast iron let it sink and bring it back in. I have a 6' rod that I use for vertical jigging.
Keta,
Yes you can cast out, let the jig sink to the bottom, and then quickly, wind as fast as possible.
Or yes, just drop over the side, let it sink out, then wind like heck... you cannot wind too fast ! ;D
So, any 40#-50# rod will work in theory. Butt, we all have our favorites.
I too use a Seeker D8, a Seeker 6460h, and for the deeper fish a Cal Star 660h with 60#
If there are rocks or reefs you need 50 # minimum, and a very strong drag on a HIGH Speed reel or you will be rocked very quickly >:(
And Sheridan is right on the money about the rod. If it is not comfortable to you for this style of fishing, then try another rod. I know it took me awhile to find the best set up's that would work for me
Yo-yo jig fishing is not for everyone, you will work very hard doing it, Butt the effort is worth it when you are winding with everything you got, and that jig simply just Stops, and you begin the tug of war to keep her out of the rocks... there is nothing better! It still is my favorite style of fishing, having done it now for 50+ years.
I want to go tomorrow!!! :D
Dan
I hear you but I no longer use shorter rods like 6'ers except maybe for trolling. My favorite length is 7'6" for bait and they work great for yoyo too. For yoyo I just point the rod at the jig while cranking and lay the rod on the rail if I need to while fighting the fish. My best YT of 45# was on my 6465h from a panga at Cedros. The 6465h makes a great yoyo rod!
Okay guys I think we're talking a couple different ways to fish the iron. First yoyo method is a vertical method straight down and straight back to the boat. II is called surface iron even though you may let your jig fall to depths of 50 to 100 feet usually two different types of jigs are used for these for the yo-yo iron are the heavy more compact Jigs and for the surface iron or the lighter ironn. 8 foot rods I would look at are a calstar 270-8h for 30 lb test and a 6480 for 50 to 60 pound test. Unless you're hunting some really big tuna 40 lb is about as high as you need to go for a surface iron rod.
Although I am the cheer leader for the long blank crowd, I did learn of an advantage to shorter rods this last week that may play into this discussion.
To put it bluntly, long rods wear you out. If you re in a wide open bite, and burning yourself up yo-yoing (I did,) a long rod takes that much more out of you before attempting to hook up on the next fish. Maybe I'm just admitting that I'm a wimp, but energy conservation does come into play.
One thing that is nice, is that when the bite is wide open for yellowtail or YFT, your technique and presentation are pretty much moot. If you can get something shiny in the water it is going to get smashed. When I was totally smoked, I was tossing surface iron into the current, letting it drift out a bit and getting hooked up on the drop. This with a 6 foot 6, 50 pound rig.
Ron
The 6' Phoenix Megalodon rod I was using was too short to get any distance casting but it works well for vertical (yoyo?) jigging. What I'm looking for is a rod to cast iron, let it drop and then real it in.
The bite was so hot on a few stops I hooked a fish on a bare hook after another fish took my bait, didn't you too Ron?
I hooked fish on bare hooks, and once a YFT jumped out of the water to grab the sardine I was pulling up when the skipped said its time to go. I just kept lifting, fastest tuna retrieve on record.
Ron
Edit. On my first post it should have read the 6480 for 40 to 50 lb. Too bad I didn't know you were looking for one when you were headed back home. I have a brand new never used 6480 that I would have made you a great deal on.
Quote from: SoCalAngler on October 21, 2018, 04:26:04 AM
Edit. On my first post it should have read the 6480 for 40 to 50 lb. Too bad I didn't know you were looking for one when you were headed back home. I have a brand new never used 6480 that I would have made you a great deal on.
Damn! I had a bit of wahoo I could have given you too.... ;D
My wallet was running on fumes when I got home so it would not have worked and this rod will be for my next trip, most likely 2020 or 2021.
Well, I have had this rod for several years without using it so maybe when you head to So Cal again I still may have it, who knows? It's a deck hand model with the cork wrapped butt section and I installed X-tube heat shrink the full length covering the cork. Oh yeah it's a BWC, Black West Coast model and not the honey colored ones.
From all the comments and descriptions here it is easy for me to recognise that this is one of the ways we fish here for Yellowtail. Drop the iron to the bottom and crank it up usually works best mostly in winter after seeing them on the echo sounder and in Summer the fish are usually on the surface where we can see them, cast over the shoal and work a lure on the surface.
But I can't answer your question because we fish under such different conditions and I am not familiar with your blanks.
Casting is very important here, so I will seldom use a primary rod of much less then 10 to 11 ft medium to fast action and usually no less then 45lb line, despite the fact that our Yellowtail are considerably smaller then yours. We usually use lures of between 2 & 4 oz when fishing from boats.
As a secondary rod I often also take a 50lb tuna rod of about 8 ft loaded with 60 lb line and 80 lb leader. This casts hardly further then 65 yards, but is a lot easier to handle if there are a lot of fish, big fish or seals or sharks around. It can pull fish much faster and lift fish under 15 lb out the water on to the deck.