The Essence of Fishing

High rated lines are designed for big fish. Really big fish. Usually for several hundreds pounds fish such as sharks, blue-fin tuna and swordfish. Most of the fishing rods used for this type of fishing are conventional rods paired with conventional/multipliers reels and are considered to be stronger and tougher then spinning rods. The main reason for that is when fighting big fish with a conventional rod, the line is pushing the guides against the rod and the stress in upon the rod itself. With spinning rods it is the other way around. The line is pulling the guides away from the rod and the stress is both upon the rod and the guides.

However, although spinning rods rated for 100lbs lines falls behind conventional rods when is come to fighting big fish, there is a demand for the first. The reason is that it is much easier and fun to handle spinning reel then a conventional reel. So, when choosing  spinning rods rated for 100lbs lines your attention should be focused on few critical parameters:

1. Guides Shape - the guides should be massive and big round circles, in order to contain the twist of the line when is comes out of the reel.
2. Guides Wrapping - In spinning rods rated for 100lbs lines the guides wrapping is most important. Take a close inspection on the wrapping and verify that there is an extra enforcement over the guides legs.  Try to apply some force on them with you hand and make sure they are fixed.
3. Rod Blank Pieces - if transportation is not an issue, always prefer on piece rod over two. One piece rod does not have, virtually, any breaking point. However, it will break if aggressively handled (I have just broke mine when tried to lift 12 pounds weight over the air).

Spinning rod rated for 100lbs line is only one side of the equation. For that kind of fighting you may need a tough spinning reel with stainless steel gear and shaft with massive drag surfaces and thick aluminum body. It goes without saying that the reel also should contain at least 300 yards of your 100lbs line.

If you catch anything big with spinning rod rated for 100lbs line I would love to hear all about it.

Deep sea fishing or, as many times refered as deep water fishing is one of the most popular fishing style especially in north America and Australia. What makes it so popular is the chance to really fight all kinds of big fish such as Amberjacks, Groupers, Tunas, Sailfish, Swordfish and even Sharks.

Deep sea fishing tackle is usually divided into three main categories; Trolling, Baits and Jigging. While these categories have different fishing charactericties thus different fishing tackle requirements, they have one thing in common when it comes to rod. It should be designed for long and tough big fish fighting. 

Most of deep sea rods are casting rods designed for multipliers reels which, in many opinions, are stronger and tougher compare to Spinning reels. However, Multipliers are not ideal reels for every deep sea category. When it comes to jigging for example, when high gear ratio and easy handling is needed, spinning reels and of course spinning rods are better choice.

Choosing your deep sea spinning rod should be quite an easy task. Consider the following parameters when buying you next deep sea spinning rod:

1. Rod Length - the length should be about 5′9″ (1.8m) but no longer then 6′9″ (2.1m).
2. Rod Guides - the guides should be wide and massive, especially the first two which hold most of the pressure. Go for Fuji if possible.
3. Rod Material - fiberglass. If the rod weight is a factor then go for carbon however, they breaks more often then fiberglass.
4. Line Weight - line weight should be at least 20lb.
5. Gimble - don’t buy without.

As for reels, the market is over-flooded with models. Go for Shimano Stella or Daiwa Saltiga if money is not an option. Average quality Okuma, Quantum or Tica will do the job quite fine.

Introduction 
Not long ago I have posted two parts article about surf casting techniques in which described the Pendulum surf casting technique. So, it felt like a good karma when a friend brought me one of the new Hookset Global surf rods series called Pendulum Surf for a brief testing.

The one I got to test was a telescopic rod, 4.5 meters length with 4 sub-parts with quite impressive casting weight, 100g - 250g. There are 6 high quality guides which two of them float on the last part and one, rather uniquely, on the third part. This rod, I have to admit, is beautiful, with very thin body and you can notice the quality carbon patterns all over.

Real world test 
I paired the rod with my Tica Spinfocus 4500 reel. Although functions to my satisfaction, it felt a bit small and under qualify for this rod. A perfect match would be a long casting reels such as Okuma Axeon or Shimano Ultegra. These kind of reels would definitely help you reach 200 meters casting distance. The rig included 120g weight with a single size 4 hook attached under it. The bait was strips of fresh calamari which leveled up my expectation for serious fish fights.

Casting
Casting with the this rod is easy and rather enjoyable. Actually, as far as my experience go, this is the best rod to practice surf casting techniques and especially the Pendulum surf casting. Although far from being expert, I was able to reach 100 meters casting distance quite easy. The length of the rod together with its low weight help significantly doing the job both for distance casting and accurate targeting. Expert surf anglers can, without much effort, cast beyond 200 meters distance.
One thing though, should you consider to hook the rod with heavy long distance reel and along with 150g weight, expect to have your arms and shoulders to work quite a bit. So practice your Pendulum surf casting technique to reduce unnecessary stress.

Sensitivity
This rod was not designed for small fish. During the 2 hours test the wind was strong with aggressive currents so I reeled my rig back often to check whether the bait is still on. However, while doing so, I have managed to land 3 nice size Sea-Bream and it felt like I am pooling back nothing but the weight with only slight vibration on the rod tip. The fish were released back to gain some weight until the next time, hopefully to put better fight to this rod.

Summary
Many people believe top surf rods should have 2 or 3 pieces however, the Pendulum Tele-Surf proves this theory wrong. This rod offers both the advantages of telescopic rods (easy transportation, low weight and sensitivity) and ”pieces” rods (powerful and high casting weights). Hookset Global has aimed quite high with this rod and I believe this series will deliver its promise.
So, if you are a surf fishing freak and fighting big fish is what makes your adrenaline rush, this rod is for you. You can find Hookset Global tackle products at www.thebesttackle.com .

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