And it’s not because I catch bigger bass than you! I might dream that I do, but you know what I think - there isn’t a bass which swims on our waters which cannot be successfully tamed on almost any of the lure rods we might use, conditions and ground and so on taken into account of course. But I do have this thing about not liking the tip on my lure rod flapping around in a bit of breeze a bit like a sail, and with some of the more powerful and shorter lure rods, I kinda like that increased feeling of “precision” a stiffer blank and tip can sometimes give……………..

ive got x to spend on a rod and reel

I love a lovely light lure rod as much as the next angler when it suits how I can fish, indeed I am really enjoying playing around with some shorter rod samples I have got here for example. It also interests me how when our type of lure rods get that bit more powerful, they also tend to get a bit longer. How many of you default to a 9’6’’ or even 10’ lure rod if you need to step up to that sort of 10-50g or even 20-70g range? It makes a lot of sense to me with how it’s easier to bend and time a rod like this when it’s a bit longer, and then I watch some of those YouTube videos of the lad who makes those fascinating Samson lures doing his amazing bass fishing in Portugal - and it makes even more sense how a longer lure rod works in conditions like that. A certain part of my work and indeed interest revolves around researching and trying to better understand how other anglers fish in different parts of the world. It’s impossible not to notice how rod lengths for bass fishing alone vary like you would not believe.

So can we call a “standard” sort of lure rod we might use for bass fishing from the shore in the UK and Ireland as being rated to cast somewhere between 5-35g, and anywhere from say 7’ up to 9’6’’? I have no way of knowing but I would guess that 9’ is probably the most popular length of “standard” lure rod here in the UK and Ireland. What about when you take that length of lure rod and jump up to a lure rating around that 10-50g range, but without jumping up to a 9’6’’ or longer lure rod at the same time? How does it all work and do we even need rods like this? As ever if you have got to here - thank you! - you need to bear in mind that my brain is in overdrive mode at the moment with a whole stack of lure rod samples I am playing around with and trying to evaluate/advise on changes and so on.

If there is one thing I have noticed it’s that these more powerful 9’ rods don’t tend to reward much dodgy casting if they are of the very fast and sharp variety. The two rods that helped nudge me into these types of rods are miles apart in terms of price, but the very expensive Shimano Exsence Genos “Wild Contact 90” S90MH/R 9' 8-48g especially is a rod which turned out to be more versatile than I could have hoped with what the casting rating might suggest. I still think that 8-48g is somewhat generous and I’d rate it at say 12-45g, but I really like the very “sharp” feeling that a rod like this gives me when my casting is going well. Drop down hundreds of pounds to the amazing and far too cheap DAM Effzett Intenze Spin 9' 14-42g (review here), and now you’ve got a rod which isn’t so critical as the Genos on your casting but it can actually deal with those 12-20g lures really quite well (and heavier as well of course) - plus that tip doesn’t flap around in the wind which I really like. Rods up to 9’ long tend to feel like wands to me when they are right, more than a 9’6’’ and longer rod can.

For sure I’m going to default to a lure rod within that 5-35g range whenever possible because of the lures I tend to fish with, and in truth I do prefer a 9’6’’ and longer rod for banging lures out in a proper bit of surf or fishing exposed headlands in bouncier conditions and so on, but give me a bit of regular open coast fishing in tasty conditions and I really like turning to the sort of rod I am talking about today. I like the more powerful tip to help combat the wind, plus I like how a stiffer tip helps me bump soft plastics along the bottom over rough ground or deeper water and strong currents etc. You might have noticed how much I talk about the Savage Gear SGS8 9’2’’ 8-42g lure rod, and damn right the Genos influenced my thinking with this rod. I wanted a lot of what the Genos could cover but I wanted to help make a rod that was somewhat easier to fish with - hence going to 9’2’’ and not going for a heavier rating than 42g.

By no means am I trying to say that we have got one over on Shimano because Shimano Japan make some truly amazing fishing tackle, but I do know that I like to think I can cast a lure okay but even then I struggle to get the timing right with the Genos and a Patchinko. It is not a remotely forgiving rod. I can time the SGS8 9’2’’ all day long though, plus I still get my feeling of “precision” which I so like. I have been fishing with a certain sample lure rod a lot since last summer and it’s blown me away how much more versatile it is than I thought it could be. We never intended to make this rod, but my brain started thinking about a specific SGS8 rod which I think we seriously nailed. I asked for a different length sample to be made up and I find myself fishing with it so much now.

If you go looking there are actually a lot of rods with that heavier rating at 8’ to 9’ long, indeed it seems to be a pretty popular rod spec in certain parts of Europe especially. I have recently stumbled upon a more powerful 9’ rod which is really growing on me, and whilst it’s a Savage Gear rod and you know I am working with Savage Gear, I am nothing to do with the SGS6 9’ 12-42g rod and I only know about it because one of the grownups must have thought that I could do with seeing it. A courier delivered a rod tube a fair while back but to be honest the rod sat there unused until I got to looking at it with a different mindset. I do happen to think that these more powerful 9’ lure rods sit really well with the awesome Penn Slammer IV 2500 spinning reel (thank you Penn!), and this SGS6 9’ 12-42g rod together with that reel really makes me smile. I’d prefer a bit of a longer grip on the butt of the rod if the world was perfect, but I am really liking this outfit. I get to play with a load more rods than most anglers put together so you must excuse the way my brain tends to bounce around, but I hope that some of my thoughts and ideas might find some traction with some of you out there. You all have a good weekend, this early spring weather is utterly magical at the moment, bring on the bass which I see are starting to show up for some anglers in various parts of the UK and Ireland………………..

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I find some of these slightly shorter and more powerful lure rods really interesting for certain situations

© Henry Gilbey 2023