The Big Book on Spinning Rod Basics
May 20, 2008
Gary Yamamoto's written the book on spinning rods. Not only is he a legendary lure designer, but Gary's also designed some of the best spinning rods on the planet.. Even if you don't currently use Gary's spinning rods, it's still worthwhile to read the book below. It's a definitive source of information applicable to any spinning rod you may choose to use for bass. Please enjoy.
Chapter 1
Gary Yamamoto's Winning Spinning Rods
As an avid angler, I am on a never-ending mission to find better fishing rods. How it works is I constantly question everyone I know about what rods they use and why, especially leading experts in specific techniques, and I try to borrow and fish with as many recommended rods as I possibly can. I have a name for this process. I call it "ratcheting up a rod" because I usually have to ratchet up - or try - several incrementally better rods along the way until I finally click with the best rod for me. There's a whole lot of phone work, poring over rod manufacturers catalogs, and getting on the water to test as many recommended rods as I can. Often there's no way I can actually borrow every rod from every expert who recommends one. So trying their rods often means I must buy one. I don't do this lightly since I've found the experts' choices aren't always what suits me best, and trying (buying) rods that fall short of my expectations can get expensive quickly. The process does work because at a certain point, I do feel confident that I've found the best rod possible for a particular application. For example, six to seven years ago when dropshot first got hot, I began a search for a better dropshot spinning rod. It took me several years during which I ratcheted up dropshot rods numerous times to finally get to the Yamamoto dropshot spinning rod I now enjoy. That was about five years ago when Yamamoto designed his dropshot rod. Although I've tried a bunch of new dropshot rods that have come onto the market since then, I still feel confident that Yamamoto's dropshot rod remains the best rod for me. Besides dropshot, I've also ratcheted up over recent years to better topwater, crankbait, jerkbait, spinnerbait, jig and rig rods - all baitcasters. Some of my "best finds" include G. Loomis spinnerbait, crankbait and Falcon Expert Rods for jigs. These baitcasters are the best possible that do everything I expect from them. I also know which of my other rods still need to be "ratcheted up" to better ones for certain applications. It's a never-ending process, with complacent respites of rare rod finds along the way. In terms of a spinning rods, I had been searching unsuccessfully for several years as of late. I just didn't have the spinning rods I wanted and the search to find them was becoming expensive. Fortunately, in 2007, Gary Yamamoto came out with a few new spinning rods that proved to be more than what I was looking for in terms of spinning rods. Gary Yamamoto's new spinning rods so exceed my expectations, and the rods perform so well, that I've called off the search for now. Reason is, I don't believe any better bass spinning rods exist today. - Russ Bassdozer |
Until the past few seasons, spinning rods have historically been shunned with contempt by skilled bass angers as being too easy or too simple to use, or too light. Until recently, spinning rods were often snootily pooh-poohed as entry level equipment for persons just starting to bass fish, or as a convenience for persons who only fished occasionally, spinning rods worked fine.
Now I expect that I will receive replies in the mail from highly-skilled experts among us who have tonged big bass on spinning tackle forever. So have I.
Yet the progression for anyone who wants themselves taken seriously as a bass angler has always been to shed the stigma of their beginner spinning rod by stepping up to baitcasting equipment - the symbol of a bona fide bass angler.
Then the tide turned. Starting approximately five years ago, the rising swell of dropshot fishing in North America made light spinning rods advantageous to dropshot. Seasoned anglers discovered that dropshot fishing with spinning gear could fill livewells and win tournaments, thereby making flimsy spinning gear a necessary evil.
In just the last few seasons, as shakey jigs came on strong and other finesse worm tactics have become increasingly popular and productive, spinning gear has gained new-found favor. Good spinning gear today is a force and a factor in countless tournaments wins.
Spinning gear has become a force to reckon with in tournaments today. If you're not spinning, at least some part of every trip, you're probably not catching or winning as much as you could.
As a result, spinning rods are here to stay, and three of the finest spinning rods available today are the rods below, designed by Gary Yamamoto.
Above rods designed and used by Gary Yamamoto for tournament competition. Together, these three spinning rods cover the effective range of spinning gear, which is 6, 8 and 10 pound test mono or fluoro, 4/15 and 6/20 braid.
Next: Chapter 2
Yamamoto Dropshot Model #SSC661M9H Spinning Rod