[yellowfin]

Just a quick observation after reading a few posts & looking on trademe, but it seems that rods capable of hurling 7-8oz+ sinkers are fairly commonplace these days. I remember avidly following the write ups of

[yellowfin]

I use that rod all the time. It sure is a beast alright. Some surfcasters go through a phase of wanting the biggest, longest, and meanest surf rod you can get. The blank itself is a Kilwell 9oz heavy graphite measuring 13’6”. I extended the butt section another metre with alloy tube to give an overall length of 16 feet (4.9m). The butt is almost 10’ on its own which makes carrying it in the car a bit of a challenge. The only way to fit it in is to wind the back window down so a bit sticks out!
It can cast up to 9oz or 255g (over half a pound) of lead no problem.
At the time I built it back in 1997 Kilwell in Rotorua weren’t selling these blanks in New Zealand. They were only made for export notably to Hawaii where they were ideally suited to fishing their big swells rolling in from the deep ocean. So if you wanted one in New Zealand you had to place a special order and build the rod up yourself.

My objective was to build a powerful rod to handle marginal surf conditions. This is does very well. It takes a bit of muscle to operate though. Casting is more of a lob than anything else but I can get plenty of distance with it. For out and out distance you can’t beat a three and a half pound graphite blank teamed up with a free-spool reel. However such a rod can only cast 80g tops so isn’t much use in rough conditions.
Pictured: the author and 4.9m Kilwell beast.

[yellowfin]

Excuse me if I have double posted.

An 8ounce weight is my standard cast, normally with a 30lb line, no trace (ie straight to the swivel on the weight). I dont like whippy rods, so what I do is hang a weight from the tip and the rod should show an even curve. If the end bows over too much (to me) it means the rod will whip too much. The reason I dont like whippy rods is that I have a strong cast and when I am going for distance over accuracy can easily snap the line at start of the cast.

I also like a rod that has a good length from the reel to the bottom as I like the extra leverage and let the rod do all the work on the cast.

[yellowfin]

In the picture above the rod has a 6oz sinker hanging from the tip but it is still straight. So I guess you could say it is quite a stiff rod! Yellowfin

[Rodman]

ANOTHER 9oz ROD.

This is a Killwell blank the same as Alan has.

First tryout had 4 rings held on with tape and reelseat at the bottom for an Alvey reel. Casting with 8oz gave better distance than the other rods I had at the time.

Next I fell for the “ya gotta make it bigger” advice and it grew to 15ft by extending the butt. This made it harder to use – too stiff and badly out of balance as the fulcrum was now way above the top hand and casting distance was shortened.

Was not long before it was brought down to 14ft which improved allround performance tho it still was not ideal.

Went back to the std. blank length – added a wooden butt of 8 inches – a reelseat to suit Alvey and another reelseat above but touching the first one. The Alvey seat is screw down and the other is screw up for eggbeaters. It cast pretty good with 6 or 7 or 8oz but was not able to handle the heavy weights needed for a real stormy sea.

Over a couple of years came more modifications by adding several more tips and several more butts that all fit each other giving a vast array of options to suit the sea conditions at the time. If there is any interest I can describe some of the others.

The strongest new tip was made from a CD 50lb game rod blank which had been rejected from the factory because it was too stiff.
The game rod tip makes the butt feel soft but is just right for fishing an Alvey with 50lb line and 12oz sinkers into a howling southerly when you have to use waders and a rainhat.

Casting distance with the heavy stuff is around 60 yards and depending on which other combination is used around 80 yards to 100+. These are dryland yards not water yards as used by most people.

If you dont want to eat it put it back.

[yellowfin]

bloodyhell 12oz somker for casting??????

[yellowfin]

I don’t quite know how to answer that one! When the sea is that rough any sane person would probably go home and mow the lawns instead. The combined Working Men’s Clubs occasionally hold their competitions in marginal conditions. At such times a long stiff rod capable of hurling 9 ounces is a definite plus. When the rip is running along the beach sending your gear back up on the shingle after just a few minutes every extra ounce counts when it comes to holding on the seabed. On days like that few fish will be caught by anyone. Just being able to get bait into the strike zone is a bonus. In very rough conditions it also helps to fish just one small bait.

For all around surfcasting by favourite rod is an Australian made Snyder Glas Titan Series that can cast up to between 120 – 180 gms comfortably. It is 4.1m in length. I have about a dozen surf rods altogether but this particular one just “feels” better than all the others. Interestingly I can cast with it very accurately. I can stand up the beach on a calm day and drop the sinker just in behind the breaker were the cod will be feeding on whatever is being stirred up. I have other rods with which I can get greater distance but nothing like the same accuracy. I would be the first to admit that Kilwell and Composite Developments have built some excellent surfcasting rods in recent years but it is hard to justify buying another surf rod when you already have a dozen!

[b:1arkhl2q]Picture: Snyder Glas Titan Series 4.1m is a bit easier to handle than the Kilwell 9oz.[/b:1arkhl2q]

[Rodman]

Here is a pic of the 9oz in action.

If you dont want to eat it put it back.

[yellowfin]

what weight that casting

[Rodman]

7 oz

[yellowfin]

I’ve noticed recently from mainly American based sites that a lot of their rods are very heavy duty, and I haven’t seen anything near their specs in NZ. For example the Daiwa Saltiga Ulua Slide-baiting Rods are 13ft and rated to 80lb and 12oz cast weight. A lot of other Daiwa Surf rods are rated up to 50 or 60lb and some even have cast weights of up to 14oz. Their equivalent models sold in NZ seem to be the lower spec versions. I suppose no one here has had any experience casting with such heavy duty rods, but I’d be interested as to what they cast like. Even rods like the Penn Pursuit and other rods rated up to 50lb with heavy cast weights, and they are only $39 USD. I can imagine an 80lb Surf rod suited to 14oz leads would be WAY to heavy for NZ conditions, and probably wouldn’t cast all that well.

[Author]

Posts