Jigging Master rods- some observations

[MarkR]

Hi guys,

Have used JM rods for close to 3 years now, just some of my general observations in this post, hope to hear from Samboslayer in particular 

First off, JMs are great rods for working long heavy jigs, short pitch & rapid machine style but are probably not the best option for short centre-weighted jigs. The full parabolic JM blanks impart great action on long jigs and I'm sold that JMs are among the best jig rods for working long jigs in deepwater.

I also find that I get very good hook sets and seldom "drop" or lose the fish when I shift the rod to my fighting belt when using a JM, on the other hand, I tend to lose more fish at the strike/hook-set with a faster action jig rod or a jig rod with a softer tip (some of my mates have made similar observations).

JMs can take a lot of abuse and a fair amount of high sticking under heavy load too They are not 100% carbon rods so not as brittle nor as light as some Japanese jig rods. They have very thick walls and the blanks come in a standard 5'8" length for all models.

My main grouse with the JMs is strangely also linked to the rod's full parabolic action. AG recommends trimming the 5'8" blank to 5' for speed jigging. Some guys are doing 4'8" here with 500g blanks. A lot of butt power/stiffness is lost when trimming 8 inches or more from the JM parabolic blank. I've watched perhaps every AG promotional video and from personal experience, I can say that it is very hard to hold on to a big fish on it's first run under moderate-high drag settings with a JM. I think being a full parabolic rod, the fulcrum point keeps shifting down the blank, to the reel seat and even further down...this makes it almost impossible to get a good grip on the rod with a big fish on the run...only 2 options are available at this point, i) remove the rod from the belt to an underarm position or ii) rest the foregrip on the rail as a cushioning measure (you can see this happening in a lot of the AG videos).

I wonder why AG will not produce 5' blanks? Is it a cost issue? Or it could be because AG wants to keep the tip diameter and gradual/slow taper of the blank to work heavy jigs effectively....if this is the case, will it be possible to incorporate different materials in the butt section to give more pulling power?

Tight lines

[Andrew Woodley-Page]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the kind words about Jigging Master rods.  I started importing them because I was using them and my fishing buddies kept wanting them because they were so much better (for our purposes) than the top end 'enthusiast' Japanese gear that we were previously using. 

You are quite right, the parabolic action is perfect for heavy long jigs fished short pitch in deep water with overhead reels. Not suprisingly, this is the environment encountered in Taiwan where AG is based.  Similarly, this also suits the Samson fish jigging in Perth. 

I assume your comments re suitability to free fall style jigs are not related to the new powerspell rods.  These were released late last year and are what is available in the tackle shops now.  These are lighter, stronger and pokier than the previous series.  They retain the perfect JM parabolic taper.  As such, they are even better for short rods and left at or close to the full length of the blank 5'9" will be ideal for the long stroke method using spinning reels and centre balanced jigs such as the Jigging Master Ocean God which is a ripper. 

Incidentally, I never had a problem working centre balanced jigs with the pre-07 rods.

The balnks are 5'9" (you can't get many top end blanks which also attracted me to JM) are desiged to be cut from the butt.  Naturally, a 4'8" rod is softer than a 5'4" rod cut from the same model blank. 

Again thanks for the kind words, the full range of top of the line accessories and jigs are also available.



Best Regards

Andrew

[MarkR]

Hi Andrew,

I'm from Singapore and know the fishing buddy guys (William, Simon, Jason, Wei Chong etc) fairly well. Enquired about the Power Spell after watching the Perth video and was told that it was a factory rod direct from Taiwan and recall them telling me the powerspell was a 4'8" rod. I like JM rods for sure but not a massive fan of their jigs. Still prefer Japanese jigs for their design, shine and finish...kinda flash I must say but Japanese jigs seem to work for me better in most locations except for the time I was jigging in Taiwan The AJs in Taiwan simply devoured AG jigs (no luck with Fisherman Crazy Longs and only 2 hits with a Tamentai)...I hear the rockets work miracles on Sambos too 

Best regards,

Mark