Advice needed: surface iron rod

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by Carlos Gonzalez

Hi guys,

I need your advice, I am about to get an accurate tern 400 which I am going to use it for surface iron, however still no idea about the rod to use, I know 9' long would be ideal, however I am fishing only from a kayak and having that length on the rod it makes the things complicated at the time put the fish in the kayak, so I would like to get something small 7'6" or 8' worst case, wondering if you can advice about what rod would be ok for this, I am thinking on getting a custom one due to not sure I'm going to find what I am looking for.

Thanks in advance

How big are the fish you are targetting? I find that with a long rod (over 8') the jig will sometimes hang in the water at the beginning/back stroke of the cast. I like the 7'9" to 8'2" swimbait rods quite a bit for throwing a jig from the kayak. Most of them are rated to throw big baits, alot of guys use them for yellowtail (think Phenix m1 inshore), dont think I would chance casting them into a boil of bluefin for fear of a bigger fish taking your jig, but for yt, and similar sized fish they are fine. I have a few and I think all of them are rated throw 1-5oz at the least and I think the heaviest is 4-10oz. A typical surface iron weighs about 3oz so they cast them well, they usually have a little faster taper than a traditional jig stick, but they get the job done. I also have a west coast style jig stick, its a seeker 6480h and I have a harder time casting it on the kayak than I do with the swimbait rods fwiw.

[Carlos Gonzalez]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

How big are the fish you are targetting? I find that with a long rod (over 8') the jig will sometimes hang in the water at the beginning/back stroke of the cast. I like the 7'9" to 8'2" swimbait rods quite a bit for throwing a jig from the kayak. Most of them are rated to throw big baits, alot of guys use them for yellowtail (think Phenix m1 inshore), dont think I would chance casting them into a boil of bluefin for fear of a bigger fish taking your jig, but for yt, and similar sized fish they are fine. I have a few and I think all of them are rated throw 1-5oz at the least and I think the heaviest is 4-10oz. A typical surface iron weighs about 3oz so they cast them well, they usually have a little faster taper than a traditional jig stick, but they get the job done. I also have a west coast style jig stick, its a seeker 6480h and I have a harder time casting it on the kayak than I do with the swimbait rods fwiw.

Main idea is for yellowtail, bigger one so far was 30lbs, I am planning a trip to Punta Eugenia, hopefully I can get bigger ones there. I have the idea of getting a compact but strong set up.