Rod Alternatives

[TheGrovBone]

I had the opportunity last year during the steelhead and salmon seasons to try fish with 6 different rods with the same reel to help me decide which rod was best. I have to agree with ChromeJunky and sloppyjoe on this one - the better rods will help you catch more fish. Granted you can catch fish on ANY rod provided you know what you're doing (from time to time I really wonder if I do). The increased sensitivity helps exponentially. I did find a great bang for the buck rod though! First of all, Lamiglas and Loomis are top of the game in my opinion. BUT...we all can't afford such things (I group myself in there too). I got the chance to fish with a Fenwick HMX IM7 rod that was both moderately priced and surprisingly sensitve. I believe I paid $80for the rod. While searching for a great valued rod I found a real turd as well. If anyone has this rod, I apologize in advance for my scathing review. I bought the Berkely Air IM8 rod because it was highly recommended by several people (who will rename nameless). For most steelhead fishing applications I'm sure it works great. However, one on hole (or run rather) the flaws of the rod came to light in a painful way. A friend next to me was fishing with a Loomis G2 and we both had mono line - I had CXX he had Maxima, both low stretch mono lines. The river was exceptionally broad in this run and about 3 feet deep where we were casting, but it was about as far as you could possibly cast to get to where the fish were. That day I lost 11 consecutive steelhead and I ended the day having landed only 2 while hooking 15 (I lost a couple between the 2 landed). I swapped out hooks, added weight, cut off weight, everything I could do to help - but NOTHING could compensate for the slow action in that rod. I simply couldn't set the hook fast enough or hard enough to get it to stick. That being said, braid would have helped in that situation but my mind was made up. My friend went home that day having landed 13 fish. The only 2 I landed that day were on his rod. I promptly traded that rod in, and found the HMX to be an awesome inexpensive alternative. But as for me, I'm a Lamiglas and Loomis believer []
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