Soft for Hard or Stiff for Soft?

[fishyman]

ok well after talking to people over msn i thought id post and see what you guys think.

For soft plastics fishing, do you prefer a stiff rod or a soft rod?

For me, i prefer a stiff rod for SP, better bait presentation i believe i can make those suttle twitches and tweaks easier with a stiffer rod. Also i think i increase my hookups using a stiffer rod because at the point where i feel that tell tale nudge at my plastic i want to be able to strike quick and set the hooks immediatly. i also think because you fish a SP slower than you would a HB in 99% of cases fish often eat the plastic resulting in hook ups further down the throat. this means a stiffer rod can be used to detect those suttle nudges at your SP

For HB fishing do you prefer a stiff or soft rod?

I prefer a softer rod for HB work as i believe most HB's result in a reaction bite which often means just lip hooked fish. i reckon a softer rod helps absorb headshakes better and results in less pulled hooks. i also think you can afford to run a tighter drag on a softer rod because of the shock absorbign ability.

What are you opinions on the subject?

[Dan23]

Complete opposite of everything you said lol:laugh:

[Shrimpo]

Im the other way round, I want a Reasonably stiff rod but still a little bit just at the tip for hb

And a softer rod for sp's. But still not overly soft.

I also want 7ft or 6ft6 minimum.

[pinkey]

Whatevers cheapest

[nabs]

I go through this problem all the time fishyman. Lately I have been using stiffer rods for SPs like you, mainly for the reason that I can set hooks quicker and generally work a plastic easier. I use a softer rod to fish my HBs as I feel it has more give as my retrieve is usually a constant retreive and because Im using braid, there is no stretch at all.

Of course sometimes I mite feel that I'm going to hard on fish with SPs and switch to a softer rod or switch to a stiffer rod with HBs to try and really set the hooks into a fish.

Sometimes I fish flurocarbon straight through on a soft rod to aid hooking up fish. My mate I fish with always does this when fishing HBs and his hook up rate is much better than mine.

I always get into this debate with myself on which rod I should use for which lure and so on. I think I should just get more rods Its a hard topic as a lot of people will have different opinions. I guess it comes down to the mood the fish are in and personal preference. I used to be strictly for soft rods when fishing SPs and stiff rods for HBs. So i guess your always going to find yourself changing to suit your style.

Cheers

[Leighton]

Both, I fish soft plastics slower during low light and nights and find a softer rod action is the way to go.

With good visability, clear water, plenty of moon I use a stiffer rod to give a plastics a good tweak.

H/B lures are similar, certain fish species respond to different lure actions

[Mack_attack]

I'm with you fishyman.

except most of my good Flathead sp catches have been on an old ugly stick which as you'd know is very soft :silly:

[pcsolutionman]

Im with Dan complete opposite to you fishyman

Lee

[Feral]

Eh?

I change rods for the fish I am targeting, not whats on the end of the line.

Also rod length 5'6" as I mainly boat fish, longer rods just get in the way, reduce the casting radius with multiple fisho's in the boat.

[pcsolutionman]

5'6" feral dam, I like 6'10" absolute minimum with my spinning gear and have several 7'6" rods

Lee

[Feral]

I've got some long rods to Lee, but in a boat, I find 5'6" I dont have to look where anyone else is to cast, clears everyone and everything easily.

[Keechie]

i use a soft rod all the time for like all fish. i even was using my 1-2kg rod for snapper and thready's at the mouth of the river. i like the soft rod so they can suck the plastic in and its a bit more absorbent.

[kevinchen19870316]

sp: stiff rod with a fast action( soft tip)

HB: softer rod with a stiff tip ( slow action).

[Mack_attack]

good explanation kev, same view as me and fishyman.

[Dan23]

Actually guys I think Kev just has a different understanding of fast and slow. Just the other day he was using his Megabass rod and saying it is great for small hard bodies but is way too stiff for soft plastics. He was saying he wants a rod like my 1lb (super soft) trout rod for throwing plastics. I'll let him clear it up when he gets online though.

[Dan23]

Also, I think most of you guys probably fish for bream in fairly dirty water around Brisbane. It seems the most effective way to catch bream around here is to super slowly crank bream lures imparting very little action. For some reason down south a bit further the fish won't strike a slow retrieve as much and respond much better to a twitch and pause. So for that type of presentation a light but stiffer rod is much better for controlling the lure and you get better hook sets because the fish tend to swipe at the lure. Too much give in your rod and you won't have enough resistance to break through bream's hard mouths.

I prefer a much softer rod for plastics because the fish feel less resistance on the bite and therefore are more willing to swallow the bait down. I also find a rod that is too stiff will give the plastic an unnatural acceleration curve. Only thing with soft rods is people don't realise you can/should strike pretty damn hard.

Just what I've found, each to their own.

[Cando]

I use the same rods for both (stiff rod with a fast action( soft tip) thanks kev

Noel

[STU]

Im with fishyman

[MichaelJ]

i use the same rod and its got a soft tip but strong middle and lower end of blank

[fishyman]

hmm seems there is a bit of diversity

at the moment i use a very slow actioned soft rod for everything and Dan and other people i have fished with know how floppy it truly is. but when my blank finally comes back from motackle ill have a new light 4lb stick to chase bream and bass on which has a nice mod fast action.

itll be a great rod i think i just want my bloody blank back

Thanks fellas

[Dec]

I like to use a soft rod for bream around 7ft.