Guide to buying a GT rod - updated as at February 2017

[Mark Harris]

Felix

There are probably 4 rods under discussion here?

Kaiser El Toro 150
Kaiser El Toro 180

NS Black Hole Cape Cod Super Popping Special (graphite) and the same rod in the nano version.

I own the Kaiser El Toro 150 and have used the 180, and used the Black Hole graphite version a fair bit, but the nano hardly at all as it is too soft for GTs.

If you want a heavy chugger rod then the El Toro 180 would be the one. It is genuine PE10-12 rod I think as as Chris states. The El Toro 150 is a good choice as a PE8 rod for chuggers up to about 160/170 grams.  Neither rod is especially forgiving and you would need to be sure you could physically handle them.

The NS Black Hole Cape Cod Super Popping Special  8.0 (graphite) is a nice all round popping rod, and I mentioned before that it is possibly the best sub-$500 rod of its type I have used. It would not be suitable for heavy chuggers though.  Here is a video showing that rod in field action on a very large GT.  Lure was a Cubera 150 I seem to remember.

[Felix Neuer]

thx for the input!

[Craig Dawson]

When you say heavy chiggers what do you think it's limit would be

[Christoffer Hansen]

My widowmaker worked 190g gt3 and I cups pretty well and judging from the pics it's similar in action.
Rods of that power level can work your large chuggers effectly and still throw a 150g chugger, to go heavier your really looking at premium priced rods like the ripple 78xh and heavy patriot designs. Awesome rods for your mega poppers but don't throw smaller lures very far. If it was me I'd be buyin the ultra heavy popper rod while you can still buy them cause they seem to be gettin phased out.

Chris

[christopherhanaghan]

thanks for a great series of posts brandon.

I'm looking at getting a GT outfit for the occassional trip to the south pacific every year or so. Unfortunately, being Sydney based I dont have any GT options on my door step so the best i could hope for is an outfit that i could use for kingies as well. with this in mind and also my preference to catch quantity over quality (i havent caught enough to want to dedicate myself to the big guys), what sort of rod do you think would be appropriate?

I'm thinking a pe6-8 capable of casting 80-150 gram poppers around 8' long. Going to be pairing it with a 2012 6500H Catalina and probably running 80lb braid. Open for suggestions!!  Ohh and not looking to spend more than $600 on the rod.

[Brandon Khoo]

Chris, I am really struggling to think of a suitable rod for both kings and GTs at the price range you are working on. The reality is that a rod like that is going to be a compromise one way or the other. For kings, the rods you need are usually stickbait rods designed to work lighter stickbaits than what are generally used for GTs.

One rod that could fit the bill and price range if you can find it anywhere is the old Daiwa GT86 although it isn't made any more. This would make an ok compromise rod but it won't work a 150g popper. It would probably manage a 120 to possibly 130g popper.

[Felix Neuer]

the Shimano Caranx Kaibutsu range could do the King-GT job.
my first rod was the Long Cast and I still keep it as a backup rod for the medium sized lures.
and their prizes are reasonable also.
of course they are not the kind of high end tackle most people here use, but they do their job.

[Adrian Moyle]

Cheers for all the information Brandon and crew. Looking at purchasing a rod in the near future and this thread is a massive help.

[Leigh Turner]

Felix






The NS Black Hole Cape Cod Super Popping Special  8.0 (graphite) is a nice all round popping rod, and I mentioned before that it is possibly the best sub-$500 rod of its type I have used. It would not be suitable for heavy chuggers though.  Here is a video showing that rod in field action on a very large GT.  Lure was a Cubera 150 I seem to remember.

Mark, what size stella is a good match to the black hole rod? Thanks Leigh

[Mark Harris]

Felix

The NS Black Hole Cape Cod Super Popping Special  8.0 (graphite) is a nice all round popping rod, and I mentioned before that it is possibly the best sub-$500 rod of its type I have used. It would not be suitable for heavy chuggers though.  Here is a video showing that rod in field action on a very large GT.  Lure was a Cubera 150 I seem to remember.

Mark, what size stella is a good match to the black hole rod? Thanks Leigh

18000.

[Rory McPherson]

As some one who likes to stickbait ,and am using a 83/21 Blc what would be the next rod up to fish big stickbaits ( and the odd popper ) ie 160-250gr stickaits , was thinking the MH80 ? The rod would be more for Gts than the kingfish I usually fish for.

[Rory McPherson]

Was hoping for some good advise .......  on a heavier weight stickbaiting Gt rod .Will try asking Tak under carpenter products as there is at least a 99% chance of it being a Carpenter.

[Jon Li]

Was hoping for some good advise .......  on a heavier weight stickbaiting Gt rod .Will try asking Tak under carpenter products as there is at least a 99% chance of it being a Carpenter.

Check TBL80/40 .

Jon .

[Rory McPherson]

Thank you Jon , I'm wondering if 8' is too short for a stickbait rod to be a good casting rod  ; the rods I have tried in the 8' range have been the blc 80/35 and the blc  80/40 neither of which I enjoyed casting as much an EP85/36 or the blc 83/21 which I use for Kingis.
Does any one have any experience  casting the TBL 80/40 , so another requirement for my heavy weight stickbait rod , needs to be a nice rod to cast also !

[Jon Li]

Hi Rory ,

TBL80/40 has different " load curve " when casting than BLC80/40 , imho I prefer TBL80/40 when using heavier lures . EP85/36 is just brilliant rod but do check the newer EP86/40R P-1 too , from initial dry casting it's a more powerfull version of EP85/36 which my goto rod anywhere .

Jon .