Nice getting in action in front of the weather. Heading out in a bit hope it's not too late.
Fished a cm beach from sunrise to 7am. Was fishing bait in the dark and got 5 hard fighting dogfish. Then when it got light I was tossing a small bucktail tipped with gulp around some rocks and got a 19" weakfish, released.
went out last night to a popular jetty. The tide was coming in. The current was ripping. I tried chunking from the jetty just to see. 6oz mine as well put a floater on- just went with the tins and swimmers. Nothing happening. Left the jetty went to the bay. Again, current ripping. Nothing but weeds. Left there and started to head to another spot out front but the rain kicked in and we called it a night. Lots of exercise is all we got!
I have owned the exact rod for a while now as well as the heavier rated version (...lets say that mine are most likely outside the five year warranty period already).
Its a great schoolie rod as Vpass mentioned and it really excels with the light stuff. Throw on a 4000 sized reel with 20lb braid and its a casting beast for lures in the .5oz - 1oz range. Its also a great rod for fluke fishing as well and my goto surf fluking rod. I regularly cast 2-3oz plus a clam in the spring or a gulp rig in the summer. 3oz is really pushing it and its just a soft lob but thats okay as I don't need distance. The key with the heavier weights is to start winding up slow and finish fast. I wouldn't recommend going over 1.5oz unless you are highly confident in your casting ability. I have caught bass up to 20lbs on this rod in the back bay with no problems.
I will say that since they are steelhead rods they have a lot of give (they were built with this intention) and I feel at times can lack the backbone to set the hook into the jaw of a bigger bass.
Vpass, I know yesterday was the first day with the rod but don't be afraid to tighten that drag a little more and really drive those hooks home on the hookset.
Now for the heavier version of the rod - I don't like it that much, I find it to be too stiff but my brother loves it but he likes fishing heavier lures while I prefer the lighter stuff. The only thing I like this rod for is snagging bunker but I have a friend who swears by it and throws stuff as light as 1/4 oz.
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I recently got my hands on a St. Croix 8' surf avid and I am in love with it for light to moderate sized plugs. It handles the light sub 1oz stuff incredibly well yet launches a 2-3oz metal out of sight. I really wish St. Croix made the same rod in a 9ft model.
With all the talk about light plugging rods I should also mention the two older standbys that will forever be the "bomber" rods of NJ IMO: Lami Ron Arra 1083 and GSB1081L
Very informative gents thanks!
Nice reports guys I was out last night from 8-12 in the rain. caught the skunk and it seemed the bay got a little colder. I checked the temp site today and it says it went down from 72 to 64 an 8 degree drop in 2 days
I hope it clears up by tomorrow.