The Difference in Fishing Rods
What’s the Difference in Fishing Rods?
Spin Rods
Spinning fishing rods are most often used in freshwater locations, although you can buy heavier rods for saltwater or boat use. Spin rods are designed to suit an eggbeater style reel and are used for casting and retrieving lures and baits. Many general purpose rods are called spin rods. It is likely that if you want to do a little river fishing, some pier fishing, or maybe light boat fishing that a spin fishing rod may be your best choice. Spin rods generally have lengths of 1.6m to 2.4m.
Surf Rods
Surf rods tend to be the longest fishing rods, and they are usually quite heavy in construction and weight too. They are long to assist in casting bait and sinkers/tackle from the beach out into the surf. Also, you can catch quite large fish with surf rods (maybe even shark) so a rod with plenty of strength is required. Surf rods are designed for eggbeater reels, overhead/conventional reels and sidecast reels. They are typically 3m to 4.2 m in length.
Game Fishing Rods
Game rods are used for game fishing in deeper saltwater. They are designed to catch large pelagic fish, and typically designed to hold fishing line of 10/15kg up to 37kg in strength. Game rods are thick and do not bend very easily. They will often have a gimbal fitting on the butt section so they can be used in a game fishing harness or chair. They will often have one or more ‘roller’ guides instead of regular line guides.
Fly Rods
Fly fishing rods are designed to catch freshwater fish, most usually trout, halibut or salmon. They are between 1.8 and 3.6m in length, and have a thin ‘whippy’ blank. They are designed to hold fly fishing reels and are predominantly used for freshwater fishing (although some people now use larger heavier rods and flys for some saltwater fishing too).
Boat Rods
Boat rods are probably a sub class of spin rods, but are shorter and heavier in length, designed for the rigours of saltwater fishing. They may be short to medium length (1.6 to 2.1m in length) and be able to hold line weights of 10 to 20kg. In Australia for example, boat rods are used for snapper and shark fishing, and may be designed to hold overhead/conventional or eggbeater style reels.
Fly fishing is a hobby that has seen huge advancements with technology throughout the years. While the fish and flies are still the same, the advances in the fly rods, reels and fly lines have improved tremendously, especially in the last 30 years. As the popularity of fly fishing has increased exponentially, the competition to produce the best fly fishing rods has heated up with many manufactures competing to produce the next best fly fishing rods. It takes time on the water to develop a feel for what a person will like the most, so to speed up the process, below is a quick guide to ensure you start you fly fishing career the right way with the right gear, starting with a fly rod.