3 or 4 Rods to cover all bases

[Adrian Gumban]

I am slowly building up my arsenal of rods & looking for some guidance. So far I have CV79/40 & a beautiful custom EP82/38. I figured both of these rods would cover lighter casting weights from say 100-160g lures. I am not really fazed when it comes to brands but really want to stick to the proven/tried & tested brands. So I was thinking which two rods should I consider next. I want one specific to fishing stickbaits 140/160g upto say 200/250g & another for fishing poppers in the same weight range. Is the Carpenter TBL80/40 considered to be the best? & as for poppers maybe the MH80H or MH79XH. I was also thinking maybe I could go Ripplefisher Ultimo 79H for stickbaits & maybe Ripplefisher GT78Power Fight or Flex for poppers.

Seeing as though I have absolutely zero experience with these rod, I would love to hear from some of the more wiser/more experienced members. So what do you guys think?

[Trevor Skinner]

Adrian,

I wouldn't call the Monster Hunter 80H a popping rod, it's really a bit of an all-rounder. Mine handles stickbaits in your target range very, very well but only handles 160g poppers comfortably and will work 180/190g poppers from the bucket at a push. My understanding of the 79XH is that is fundamentally similar although the sweet spot is slightly heavier than on the MH 80H for both stickbaits and poppers.   

From what I've seen fishing with other guys, big poppers require specialized gear so I'll leave that to the guys that fish big poppers. 180/190g is as much as I push that envelope.

Hope that helps.

Regards,


Trevor   

[Ben Yeo]

The TBL 80/40's sweet spot; 160 gm stickbait un-rigged. But will work for SBs +-20 gm of 160.

For 200 gm SB I use the DJ83MH, which will handle poppers up to 150 grams (approx 44mm cup face) comfortably.

Hope this little bit of info helps.