Hey guys,
I am considering getting a heavier jigging rod (spin) for those special locations and big brutes out there.
I currently use a Hots Wei World 52XH as my heavier jig rod (I have a PE4-6 Smith as well) and it performs very well and is a joy to use generally.
However, I have found that whilst it is great to jig with, and will fish the level of drag necessary to land big fish, once you get into seriously big territory it is somewhat lacking in dead lift capacity, to get line back on stubborn fish sitting 20 or 30m under the boat at the end of a fight, when the fish has either given up and is dead weight, or is sitting on its side in the current.
I have particularly noticed this with a 63kg Dogtooth in Fiji and a 120kg+ black marlin out of Port Stephens....the rod is great to fight these fish with until this part of the fight, and then it just causes pain and lengthens the fight a lot
I appreciate that a heavier rod will probably come with less general comfort because it will be stiffer, but I would like to have a big gun to go to when the big fish are on. I think the Hots will still be my go to rod for 90% of my medium to heavy jigging. I am basically after something that will comfortably fish 300-500gm jigs (mainly 300 and 400) and PE8 line, with appropriate drag ratings and better deadlifting capacity than the Wei World. A big ask I know.
The difficulty I have is working out how stiff some of these rods are going to be and how practical to use. I am not a biy guy, weighing in at low to mid 60kgs, so I simply cannot use the brutest of the brute rods to anything like full effect.
I am thinking that rods like the JM Three Kings (prob a 350 model?), a JM Powerspell (maybe a 350 or 400) may be suitable. I am willing to invest in something like a Fisherman Spinoza if that is a suitable rod, but I am not sure which model would best suit, it is hard to work out when some of them are rated to 1kg jigs whether they are viable for use with 300-400gm jigs, and funnily enough my local tackle store doesn't have a few for me to play with.
Other rods like the Hots One Pitch Slider and the Carpenter range are also in the mix, as would be the suitable Ripple Fisher model (I really like my RF popper rods, but can't work out whether the heavierRF jigging rods would be too brutal for me to use). I have discarded the Smith AMJ 52EX not because it is not up to the job, but because I already have a lighter AMJ and am after something a bit different.
Thoughts/feedback really appreciated.
