The choice of spinning and reels for fishing

Today, spinning is a very popular and versatile way of catching fish, providing anglers with great opportunities in terms of choosing different types of tackle. So, for example, sometimes when fishing with spinning, light rods with almost weightless flies are used, and sometimes powerful sea tackle.

Spinning is called fishing tackle, consisting of a rod on which access rings and a reel with fishing line passing through these rings are placed. The thin part of the rod is called the “tip”. And for the last access ring, a special name was also invented – “tulip”.

Spinning fishing has one main distinguishing feature: the need to guide the bait (and regardless of whether it is artificial or natural). At the same time, it is required to imitate the behavior of a live fish during the game with the bait in order to excite the hunting reflexes of predatory fish and encourage them to grab the prey. Spinning is a tackle often used for salmon and trout fishing.

Spinning rods can be divided into 3 classes:

• “lungs”,
• “medium”
• “heavy”.

At the same time, the division is based on the weight of the baits for which these gears are designed. Thus, we have the following class distinctions, indicated in the table below:

The most versatile and common are spinning rods belonging to the “middle” class. But experienced fishermen, going fishing, pick up gear depending on the situation.

What should be considered when choosing a spinning rod?

When buying the first spinning rod, it is better to choose a budget option in order to first understand the new way of fishing for yourself, determine in what places and what you will catch.

It is difficult for uninitiated fishermen to navigate among the huge variety of rod types offered by different manufacturers. Therefore, they need to determine exactly what criteria the tackle they are looking for should satisfy and what features it should have. Therefore, before you go to the store to buy a spinning rod, you must first study the information available on the Internet on the issue of interest to you, read reviews, watch and listen to videos.

When choosing a spinning rod, you need to strive to find one that would have a sufficiently high sensitivity so that you can feel with your hand everything that happens under water. But, of course, real knowledge can only be obtained with experience, holding more than one tackle in your hands.

You need to understand that universal spinning rods do not exist. When choosing different baits, it is necessary to select appropriate rods for them. Also, the choice of gear depends on what kind of fish is caught and in what conditions. The main tasks solved by the rod are as follows:

• Delivery of the bait to the place and to the distance that you need.
• Perform efficient wiring.
• Bite alarm.
• Ensuring effective hooking of fish and the reliability of its transportation (tackle must withstand the increased load that occurs when playing fish).

What materials are used today in the manufacture of rods?

Most often they are made of synthetic materials and metal. For example from:

1. fiberglass (comparatively heavy material, not very flexible and not very expensive).
2.  Composite fiber (which is a lighter and more flexible material).
3. Carbon fiber (the lightest, strongest, most flexible material, but also the most expensive).

When talking about carbon fiber used in the manufacture of rods, then we are actually talking about a fibrous composite material with a polymer binder reinforced with carbon fiber. At the same time, the minds of anglers are often manipulated by indicating the names of carbon fiber brands.

Once, during the manufacture of a series of rods, their names indicated some brands (IM6, IM7, IM8) of carbon fiber produced by the American corporation Hexcel and present in the material of these fishing tackle. Most of the models from this series have been highly appreciated by anglers, due to which such markings have become widely known.

In the future, many manufacturers began to indicate the value of the IM module on the gear they produce. Moreover, in addition to IM6 … IM8, large values ​​u12buXNUMXbof the modules began to appear, sometimes you can even see the inscription “IMXNUMX”.

It is believed that the higher the IM value, the stronger and better the rod. But today it is assigned mainly to distinguish between the types of materials from which fishing tackle is made, and has nothing to do with the module of graphite itself.

Thus, IM1, IM2 or IM3 and other similar designations are simply the names of the fiber from which the rod is made. And you should not pay special attention to these letters and numbers when choosing a spinning rod.

The main characteristics of the rod

These are:

• length,
• build,
• test.

Consider them in more detail.

Length

The length of the spinning rod can be different, but, as a rule, it is 1,4 … 4 m. It is chosen based on the tasks. Spinning with a rod length of 2,2 m is often used when fishing from swimming facilities, and having a length greater than 2,7 m – in cases where you need to make long casts. If the rod has a length exceeding 3 m, then this is already a two-handed spinning rod, which is used when there is a strong current in the river and catching large fish using ultra-long casts, when this cannot be done with one hand.

Just ten years ago, a telescopic rod was very popular, but today this compact spinning rod is taken with them only when they go on vacation. The real serious tackle is the plug rod.

But still, a telescopic rod has the huge advantage that it can be easily placed in any backpack or bag.

Test

One of the most important parameters characterizing spinning is the TEST of its rod. Quite recently, few people in our country knew what it was. The domestic industry produced spinning rods, in the manufacture of which aluminum and fiberglass tubes were used. And the manufacturers did not care about how far the baits thrown by these gear fly. They could cast a heavy bait far enough, but with a light bait, everything was much worse.

Modern spinning rods make it possible to use even very light baits (the weight of which does not exceed a few grams), allowing them to be cast over a fairly long distance. And you can determine when buying which baits this particular spinning is designed for, knowing such a parameter as a test.

On some imported rods, the test value is given in ounces. It should be borne in mind that one ounce (oz) is approximately equal to 28 g. For example, if “¼ – ¾ oz” is indicated, then this is equivalent to as if “7-21 g” were written.

No less common are rods on which the test value is shown in grams or using English letters.

Different manufacturers use different designations, but the most common classification is shown in the table below:

Story

Another marking that can be found on a rod is the designation of its stiffness type, called action. The system is selected depending on the bait used. The accuracy of throwing and the effectiveness of fighting depends on its value. The system determines the casting technique. To designate it, the lettering system shown in the table below is used.

A little about the manufacturers of spinning rods

Today on the Russian market you can buy spinning rods from such companies as Shimano, Daiwa, Maximus, Kosadaka and Silver Creek.

The Chinese also make good rods, and besides, their products, although they are often fakes of well-known foreign models, are usually much cheaper.

The video shows how to choose a rod:

Spinning “Crocodile” (“CROCODILE”)

It can be recommended to beginner spinners. “Crocodile”, of course, is a heavy rod, but for beginners, its strength is more important. It can be successfully used for catching even very large fish, such as taimen, salmon. His rod is able to withstand significant loads, it is hard as a stick and heavy. Therefore, some fishermen call “Crocodile” sometimes “club”. But on the other hand, this is perhaps one of the cheapest spinning rods.

“Crocodile” is often used when fishing on the donk. It has a powerful coil that allows you to use even a thick braid. Sometimes fishermen take this spinning rod as a spare, as the Crocodile is very reliable.

How to choose

When buying a spinning rod, you need to inspect it well, especially if you are not sure about the reliability of the manufacturer.

Wall thickness

If you buy an inexpensive rod, then you should definitely check if it has a normal wall thickness. Although such a check of the products of reputable firms is optional, a thorough inspection of the goods is always useful. To carry out a visual inspection, you need to disconnect the rod knee and examine the wall thickness: it must be uniform.

If the rod bends when squeezed with fingers, then this indicates its fragility, and it can quickly break. But spinning rods made by reputable companies and having a small wall thickness are quite reliable, but they need to be handled with care.

Examine the rings

After assembling the spinning, they need to be turned in one direction, and the rod should be rotated. If the design is good, then the rings will remain on the line all the time.

It’s good to figure out what material the rings are made of. Inexpensive spinning rods have metal or ceramic rings. But the best rings are graphite. The rings should not have cracks or notches that could break the line.

Coil selection

When choosing a reel, you need to know that its size directly depends on the weight of the bait used, the weight of which should not exceed the allowable for this type of reel, otherwise the reel will fail very quickly. And if you use a large reel with light bait, then the tackle as a whole will have poor sensitivity. How to find the golden mean – decide for yourself.

The main characteristics of the coils are listed below.

Coil Type

Coils are:

• “inertial” (while those called “multiplier” are just a kind of inertial coils);
• “inertialess” (having a fixed spool).

Inertial rods are mounted on spinning rods intended for catching very large fish, and, as a rule, are used in sea fishing. Inertialess reels are more popular with amateur anglers. This type of reel is a good choice when fishing with medium to light spinning rods and float rods.

Size

This coil parameter is measured in thousands. It shows the size of the spool, and depending on its size, only a specific type of fishing line with a certain thickness and length can be used on each reel. The minimum size value is 1000, and then it increases in increments of 500 units. Acceptable reel size for medium spinning is 2000, 2500.

On the video recommendations for choosing a coil:

The weight

Coils can have different weights, depending on both the size and the type of material used in their manufacture. Lighter coils are preferred. Usually the weight of inexpensive coils (with size 2000) is approximately 300 g.

Spool

The quality of the spool depends mainly on the material used to make it. Line is recommended for reels with plastic or carbon spools. For the cord, you need to choose a reel with a metal spool.

Brake

Friction brake is:

• “in front of him”,
• “rear”.

With the help of the brake, the smoothness of the fishing line is ensured when fishing and the load on the gear (on the blank and on the fishing line) is reduced.

Подшипники

In some coils, quite a lot of them are installed (up to 15 pieces), but 4 … 6 pieces are enough for normal operation. A large number of bearings, in itself, does not indicate a high quality reel.

Ratio

This number indicates how many times the reel rotor will turn if you make one turn of the handle. Coils with large gear ratios are faster. By speed, the coils are divided into slow coils, universal and high-speed ones. For catching different fish, reels with different gear ratios are used.