GTPopping.com - Giant Trevally, GTPopping, Topwater & GT Fly-Fishing Resource
Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) => Tackle & Techniques => Topic started by: Daniel Wen on July 03, 2013, 11:51:26 PM
-
Hi all! ;)
Im looking for a rod to bring to the maldives for some GT fishing! I want the rod to be primarily a stickbait rod but not to the extent of being unable to work poppers-simply put something versatile but leaning towards the sticbait side!
Truth be told, I've never fished with a carpenter and honestly Im quite confused as to which carpenter rod would suit me the best! Im from Singapore and there are rarely any shops that have a regular supply of carpenters as such I am unable to load up the rods. That being said if anyone knows of any online store that carries carpenter rods do let me noe!
Now correct me if Im wrong but the CV would be more a popping rod but would still be capable of working large stickbaits while the EP more of a stickbaiting rod right? I am more sold on the EP tho! advice?
Also is it worth getting myself a custom made carpenter? sad to say the website is messy as hell... :-[ and the order process as well as cost is fairly vague. Anyone who has custom made a carpenter here? Was the waiting time very long? I heard it can be up to a yr!!!???
pls share if you have any other recommendation for stickbaiting rods! budget below $1500 USD.
I was thinking of pairing the rod with either a 2013 Stella 14k XG or a either a 2009 Stella 10k with SOM 16K no limits spool. I will be loading PE 6. What would you guys suggest?
thks!
Daniel
-
i will be fishing on board a smaller boat that will be able to get close to the reefs, so distance is not an issue!
-
Hi Daniel
I have both the rods you mention and they are two rods which I use often.
I have heard disagreements on this, but I think CV79/40 is slightly stiffer tipped. It's a close run thing though. Either rod is suitable for chuggers up to about 140 grams (but perfect for lures like Seafrog 120 gram, Cubera 125 gram etc) and medium sized stickbaits. Either will fish OK with the PE6 line that you mention.
Everyone tells me that casting distance is paramount in the Maldives in which case EP82/38 might be your best bet. Whichever you choose you will not go far wrong. They are both wonderful rods.
Your coments about the Carpenter website and custom rod ordering process made me chuckle... hard to disagree with you :) .
If you look here you will see some ideas for Carpetner custom rods: http://www.carpenterlures.com.au/rod/custom/custom-rod-gallery-4.aspx
-
Read this: http://www.gtpopping.com/forum/index.php?topic=1374.0
-
Hi Daniel,
Great to hear you looking at a Carpenter, word of warning if you go down the Carpenter route it is very hard to go to anything else!! For Maldives you want a longer lighter rod that can give you good casting distance and from my experience cast stickbaits between 80-120gr seem to work best in Maldives. CV79/40 is not really a rod for Maldives and has to much power and to short.
I would say rods to consider are possibly EP82/38 but more EP85/36 (my perfect Maldives rod), EP86/40 (bit more power in case a big fish comes along) or LR88 (casts like a rocket). All good with a 14000 and PE6. Casting with the longer Carpenters takes a bit of getting used to as they have a slower taper than most rods and you have to really push hard to load them, but once you get used to them they are amazing, cast a mile and fighting a fish is a pleasure.
Shop wise there are several www.carpenterlures.com.au, Pro Shop Mogi, Saltywater Tackle, Jon Li or if you cannot find we have in our shop in Dubai. The custom route is a long process and you have to fill out the custom request form in Japanese so need translation which can be a bit of a mission but well worth it if you willing to go through the effort.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Nick
-
Hi Brandon!
yes really detailed and awesome write up! ;D thks!
-
Daniel,
I'm no physicist but doesn't all that imply a stiff lever. What if the lever folds as happens with a parabolic action rod, particularly like the Carpenters?
In my experience, from a practical stand point the longer Carpenters are just as easy (if not arguably easier) to use in terms of fighting a fish as their shorter stiffer counterparts.
As far as I'm aware the 38 and 40 nomenclature relates to the lifting power of the blank, mainly as relates to the butt section of the rod. I have a BLC 83/35 and an EP 85/36 and although they have similar lifting ability they have very different tip and middle section profiles.
Regards,
Trevor
-
Nick, I will happily leave it to you to respond to Daniel ..... :o
-
Maaaaannnnnn :o
Just go and buy a fishing rod.
-
Ooops!
A case of fools rush in then.
I'll get my coat..................
Trevor
-
LOL @ Trevor :)
-
blehhhh sorry! my bad! :'(
-
blehhhh sorry! my bad! :'(
I think what the guys are saying Daniel is, you can't go wrong buying a Carpenter product. Nick's advice is from experience and he one of the best in the business... ;)
-
Daniel,
Sam is exactly correct.
I tried to justify the science, badly.....in those terms I have no idea what I'm talking about. Remind me to count to 1000 before I attempt to answer a question like that again.
I have, however, caught some reasonable fish on Carpenter rods and have seen Nick catch even bigger ones, quite a few of them. Brandon wrote the book and Mark is right in the thick of it.
It's good advice, follow it.
Trevor
-
Daniel
There is no apology required but sometimes one can think too much.
If we followed your line of thinking, we would start off with a six foot GT rod that was an RF50 and then by the time we got to nine feet long, we would have a rod that was an RF15. What if I am fishing a place though where I need to be able to get to breakers that are a long way away but I also need PE8 to be able to try to extract the fish from structure? There are different rods made for different purposes.
I suggest you follow my suggestions in the guide to GT rods to work out what suits you rather than worry about the physics and mechanics of GT rods.
On the brand of rods, well, if I leave my Carpenter hat on, I would of course say buy a Carpenter but on the forum, I am obliged to wear my gtpopping hat and what I will say is that while the quality of Carpenter rods and the fact that they are among the leading producers is undisputed, they are not the only GT rod producer. That much should have been obvious in my guide to GT rods.
Trevor, thank you for your very kind words but I am treading a well-trodden path. Guys like Richard Foong, our new Ripple sponsor were popping for GTs in the monofilament era. Most of the GT guys from the very early days of the braid generation have disappeared now. They're off nursing arthritis and various injuries to their backs, elbows and arms from this sport! I'm just too stubborn to admit that I should be off fishing for something less strenuous.
-
OK Brandon, you updated the book then...very eloquently.
May there be may more years of popping claw. Always remember the Voltaren!
Trevor
-
Hi Brandon, Sorry was off the airwaves for a few days! Well put!
Hi Daniel! As said I think you are looking at things in quite a difficult way to be honest I got a bit lost! There is never any right or wrong and this forum is here to help everyone and one of the great pleasures of being in this community to get great advise and help along with reading people views and feedback. I think it is great you trying to figure things out from a human/scientific prospective but with fishing this rarely works out. If this was the case then we would have the perfect rod, perfect lure, perfect reel etc. But with fishing a lot has to do with personal taste, styles, physical attributes, experience etc. So nothing is perfect and as you build experience you build your own style.
Basically a shorter rod does not mean a stronger rod as a manufacturer will make a wide range of rods with various materials and strengths and you choose what suits your needs and requirement from flyfishing to popping to trolling etc. For me I was answering your query about a rod for Maldives that was possibly going to be a Carpenter. So those were my suggestions and still pretty much I would suggest the same.
The whole fighting to rod to angler questions with strain on the angler really boils down to the manufacturer of the rods and how parabolic the rod is and what materials along with what reel and braid. I can fight fish on the EP85/36 all day but if I fish with my Wild Violence 80XH which is a shorter rod and catch one big fish I'm most probably done and will use another rod as the rod maxs out and hurts like 25 kidney punches but it does the right job in right conditions ie shallow water big fish and current. But for Maldives this is not the right rod and from my suggestion would be find a rod 8ft+ that is parabolic and casts a mile with PE6. No matter how close you get to the reef you need more distance in Maldives as it is about covering as much water as possible. Plus the rod must be able to handle a decent sized fish like a Carpenter, Ripple, Smith etc. To put another spanner in the works your lures are also very important in Maldives, you want something that is short and solid and casts very well rather than something that is light and will catch the air and tumble.
Hope this helps a bit with your train of thought and can possibly answer a few of your queries, but I think rather go with your gut feel than a scientific formula.
Cheers,
Nick