Which popping rod to get for chugging 150g chuggers

[Dave Hoo]

Hi all,
I am looking for a popping rod to chug 150g eltoros; craftbaits. (i think popper will weight 160-180g with hooks)

I have been using 8" popping rods to cast 125g poppers for chugging and am looking at the following rods:
1. Patriot Design GTZ 77 Black diamond. 7"7, pe 8-10. Not too sure if its too short for good casting distance
2. SEED 710HP Popping rod. 7"10 Pe 8-10. longer but not too sure if its too stiff
3. Smith Rocket

Will pair the rod with either a Saltiga6000 GT or the new stella 18000HG and PE8 line

Hope to get some good advice here

thanks

[Mark Harris]

As an aside has anyone here swung a Smith Rocket yet?

I am not at all familiar with the SEED model so no comment there.

There are a host of excellent choices Dave. For a general all round rod for that class of popper and line I suspect I am not the only one here who would suggest Ripple Fisher GT79R.

If you want a longer rod, I love using a Carpenter DJMH83 for big faced 140 to 160 gram poppers.

[Kasey Leong]

Dave, I think there's a good reason why you don't really hear about SEED rods at all.

[Chris Leong]

El toro 150?

[Brandon Khoo]

Kasey, I think SEED have really suffered in terms of their reputation for the blanks and rods from a generation ago. The Shirens developed a reputation for blowing up. The problem with this is that we won't ever know if this was angler error or not. The Shiren was a 100% graphite bank and as we know, a couple of other 100% graphite rods developed a rep for this as well. The way I see some people load up jigging rods, I am not surprised they blow up.

I have a Shiren PE6-8 and I used it a bit although it hasn't seen a  trip in quite a number of years now and probably never will. The blank was badly misclassified in the first place. It was PE6-8 but had a load limit of 10kg. Going beyond 10kg was a very bad idea with this rod but fi an angler was fishing PE8, they're going to go way past 10kg!

Their Boss range which was their range of popping rods never developed such a reputation. I knew a few people with these and they performed ok although the rods were very heavy in comparison to other offerings in the market.

I understand that their latest range of popping blanks have improved quite significantly but I haven't tried one myself.

Dave, I think there's a good reason why you don't really hear about SEED rods at all.

[Kasey Leong]

I used to own a Shiren PE-10 custom and while that never blew up, it simply folded away once loaded up. It had a really horrible action and I was fortunate to get rid of it. I think I know which PE6-8 you are talking about as well - is it a kind of noodle? Perhaps this mismatch of drag rating and line class could be one of the reasons for blowing up.

I must admit I'm extrapolating the experience of the Shirens to their popping range - I've probably only come across a BOSS rod only once or twice. But after the experience with their jigging rods, its hard to have faith when they could get a product so wrong! Of course, if anyone would like to take the risk and stray outside the 'tried and proven' box and purchase a custom BOSS.... well, buyer beware, especially when there are so many tried and tested rods on the market like RF, Carpenter and Smith.

Anyway, maybe someone should try one to prove it a misconception. Brandon, there's something in your collection that hasn't been filled yet 

(It could go next to your Southern Deep Ultimate Monster)

[Brandon Khoo]

Thanks Kasey for suggesting I be the guinea pig but please find another volunteer like Cai! 
In any event, there is no distributor for SEED locally now.

If I had that Southern Deep now, you would be taking it to NC to try it out. It's much stronger than the OH55XHS

[Dave Hoo]

Hi all,
many thanks for the feedback.
Anyone has any experience on the Patriot Design (PD) popping rods?
I will look at either the ripple fisher or the PD rods then..

I am concern with the rods below 7"10 as I have never tried casting with rods shorter than 8" and on PE8 lines.

thanks

[Mike_Tan]

Hi all,
many thanks for the feedback.
Anyone has any experience on the Patriot Design (PD) popping rods?
I will look at either the ripple fisher or the PD rods then..

I am concern with the rods below 7"10 as I have never tried casting with rods shorter than 8" and on PE8 lines.

thanks

I can let you fling some under 8'ers this Saturday evening if you have time to join me at Bedok Reservoir. Check your PM

[Kasey Leong]

Dave,

If you want rods with a bit of length then it sounds like you might be interested in Carpenter's new Endless Passions. I'm sure Brandon can go into more detail here as I know next to nothing about them other than them being quite long, being able to work small chuggers and being very comfortable to fight fish with as per Brandon's NC report with Konishi.

Brandon when you finally get your Southern Deep we can take it along to jig 20kg Reds!

[Brandon Khoo]

I reckon we can stop the reds with the Southern Deep!

[Mark Harris]

El toro 150?

Superb option for the money.

[Chris Leong]

Yes mark. Gonna put the 180 to the pace in 3 weeks time. Might gather a 150 for lighter work.

[Mark Harris]

Good luck Chris. Where you off to?

I still have my El Toro 150 version 1 and ought to use it more.  Very sweet rod.

[Chris Leong]

Burma banks on the same charter with the same captain that brought Fukui San for some popping.

More jigging than popping but does not hurt to hurl some poppers out!

Hows bali doing? Still trying to get my hands on the penipens