# surf rod help



## breamboy (Nov 2, 2005)

Hi all just after some help in the surf department, i currently looking at buying 2 new surf rods, i was looking at the diawas but there a bit $$$$ and was woundering what else is out there thats a top rod around $250 wanting to pair them with my emcasts.
Also what is braid like for surf fishing?? i know it cast alot better but how does it cope with wind knots??? looking at braid in the 30lb area or am i better sticking with 20-20lb mono??

Cheers
Tim


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## radar (Nov 4, 2007)

Breamboy, Mate i tried braid in the surf and didn't like it, found it would be picked up by the white wash more than mono , but in saying that i only tried one brand and and different location might be ok  (When i say picked up by white wash i mean the bait was continually being pulled to shore by the surf.)


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Gday Tim, i know the diawas are little bit expensive but they are worth every cent in my books. I have tried ugly sticks and various shimano and penn rods all of which are ok. My diawa sensor surf rod is rated to 40lb which i use with a spheros spooled with 50lb and it is an awesome beach combo guaranteed to stop most beach species.I think i paid around $270 for the rod only a few months ago any way shop around there are some good deals around at the moment if you are prepared to look.

Cheers Micka


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## tryto2fish (Nov 14, 2008)

have a look at the nitro surf rods range.cant beat them on warranty!!.on the other hand,shimano tirajelo seems to have sic guide and better.........high end looks n feel.in the end,comes down to your preference and $$$.which ever one you go for,theyre the best.good luck!!


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## locky24 (May 24, 2008)

Get one sent down from QLD.
Gary Haword is a Surf rod Guru up here & Knows his stuff .About $ 200 will get you an awsome 
Rod.
He deals with a lot of Tackle World Stores up here, Ma bee they can tranfer one down to you if the dont sell them there Already.
I have used them for a long time & rate them as up there.


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## craig51063 (May 30, 2008)

ive a silstar crystal power tip in a 12 foot [ $110 ] and an okuma av 70 spooled with 12lb braid and 25 lb braid .

this is the best beach rod ive used and ive used a few . it can and does feel whiting and bream bites and yet still has enough backbone to handle jewies and sharks . its light ,strong and half the price u want to spend .

braid on the beach for me is the only way to go .its fine diameter casts further , is more sensative to bites ,cuts through waves and can if you want drifts better .

goodluck

craig


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

spooled with 50lb and it is an awesome beach combo guaranteed to stop most beach species

Crikey what beach species are you looking at in the 50lb range...........


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

sort of agree with woppie, most of what we get in the surf up here is whiting, tailor and dart. 50lb braid geez

i suppose if your targeting jew after dark maybe,

probably one place where the old alvey is ok as it can take the inevitable sand and salt abuse.
i think most people up here would still run mono.
to be honest a lot of the whiting and bream i get at the beach are caught about 10 ft out and you could get em with a rod spooled with 4 lb mono you dont always have to chuck to the horizon to catch fish.

youd be surprised on the gold coast how many good flathead come in at night and sit just behind that little curl right at the waters edge.

cheers pete


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## sitonit (Dec 29, 2006)

The Nitro rods are ok for tossing lures I dont like them for tossing baits I find that pacific composites do a number of blanks which can be custom made for you do a great job, any of the Gary Howard are generally good, if you can find any of the snyder glass rods/blanks you will find them great rods with incredible versatillity.
When it comes to line what would you want 50lb braid for (breaking strain 80lb+) I fish the beaches every year and have done for 30 yrs and use 15lb mono generally as well as 1 rig set up with 25lb in case I have to cast a very large sinker. I have caught Tailor up to 5+kg and jew up to 25kg loads of sharks etc etc on spheros/spinfisher loaded with 500m of 15lb. 50lb braid is just overkill and you could skull drag a 25kg jew with it where is the fun/challenge in that


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## TROJAN (Jan 2, 2009)

I agree with sitonit. Find a good rod builder in your local area and get your rods custom made.
Do some homework and find out who makes good custom made rods.
Horses for courses, find out what suits you best in the area your fishing and the fish your targeting.
All the guys in my fishing club in beach comps use a one peice MT.7144H rod with a bent tip for tailor and jew with 15lb to 25lb main line.
MT.4120 rod with a bent tip for bream, whiting and flathead with 9lb main line.
Depends on the conditions, if there is a small swell and the water is really clear I will use 4-6lb for whiting and bream off the beach.
I like mono myself for fishing the beach, some guys like braid.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

If you don't want to go down the custom route the Nitro Messiah (rated at 8-15kg) is a ripper to fish with 20-30lb braid, but out of your budget at $350+. I used mine for salmon/gummies when I lived in Vic, and use it in southern NSW for big salmon and tailor, and (unsuccessfully so far) chasing jews off the beach at night - I didn't feel that I needed such a heavy rated rod to deal with big fish, and agree with sitonit that you can land big fish using 15lb mono, but wanted the heavy outfit to cope with casting large baits and BIG sinkers when required (up to 6oz was needed to hold bottom in some spots I used to fish). It is also helpful if you hook a big ray 

$350 could buy you a ripper of a custom rod though ;-)

And I am another fan of braid in the surf - smaller diameter for a given breaking strain, so casts further, and is less affected by wind, side wash etc.

About to send you a PM with a link to another site where a guy is selling a 2nd hand Messiah ;-)


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Breamboy what are you fishing for my friend ?? Will you be using bait or lures ??

I think these are the questions that you need to think of first............


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## breamboy (Nov 2, 2005)

thanks for all the replys guys.
Ill be chasing salmon and gummies/sharks of beaches in vic and i also will be chasing mullaway in S.A Goolwa and the big salmon.
One more quick question with the braid, do you get alot of wind knots when using it for the surf and what brand of braid should i be looking at in the 25-30lb

cheers
Tim


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Never had problems with wind knots and heavy braid in the surf.  Had plenty of problems with wind knots and lighter braid in estuaries. :?

Have a lot of faith in FINS braid in the 20lb and 30lb, and have recently tried Sunline SuperPE in the 20lb which is also good. I used to get my surf reels spooled up with the bulk FINS (mega spools of many 1000s of metres, and you pay for the line by the metre), two places that I know used to stock the big bulk spools were JM Turvilles in the city and Cranbourne tackle (Worsteling's store).


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

wopfish said:


> spooled with 50lb and it is an awesome beach combo guaranteed to stop most beach species
> 
> Crikey what beach species are you looking at in the 50lb range...........


 I have hooked some pretty descent jewies and some good sharks that would make you cry if you used anything less. These days when it comes to beach fishing i want the odds in my favour. I have lost to many good fish ( Big jewies ) trying to caress them on twenty and thirty pound. Some big buggers around and they always catch me unawares not any more lock and load :lol:

Cheers Micka 

Ok maybe it is a little overkill :lol:


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## john316 (Jan 15, 2009)

My favourite surf combo is a 12ft very fast taper, genuine Len Butterworth sports rod that is about 40 years old combined with a manual pickup 499 Mitchel spinning reel of the same vintage. All the rest is a bit more modern though. 20lb braid with a good leader and a preference for 65gm Raiders. I almost never use bait in the surf and love to walk and cast/retrieve as I go. I know that you can just walk straight to the gutters but I enjoy the moving bit. The anticipation of the strike is always there and when a big salmon or tailor strike in the surf its like hooking onto a freight train.

I have bought a couple of other replacement rods and reels but they always get relegated to "the loaner" for visitors. I bought it as a blank bound it up myself and have only had to do one rebuild in the time I have had it and it has caught many fish over the years. When it was bought new, the reel was about a weeks wages so it seems to me that if you buy quality it should last you a long time with good care...

cheers
John


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## craig51063 (May 30, 2008)

breamboy said:


> thanks for all the replys guys.
> Ill be chasing salmon and gummies/sharks of beaches in vic and i also will be chasing mullaway in S.A Goolwa and the big salmon.
> One more quick question with the braid, do you get alot of wind knots when using it for the surf and what brand of braid should i be looking at in the 25-30lb
> 
> ...


the sylstar will handle these guys with ease THOUGH if you going jewie fishing in s.a, u would probably want something a bit beefyer ........ 
they have some big jewfish over there .

craig


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## Saltiga5 (May 15, 2009)

DAIWA SENSOR SURF


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

http://www.campbellsprotackle.com/store ... sp?ID=2673

Ive used one of these for several years - good and solid - easy on salmon and sharks too...


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

wopfish said:


> http://www.campbellsprotackle.com/store/product.asp?ID=2673
> 
> Ive used one of these for several years - good and solid - easy on salmon and sharks too...


Hey woppie how do these rods go for casting whole live baits like 30cm tailor or mullet or even large yakkas ?
I have a couple of snyder glass rods that i use with my alvies but find them a bit whippie for big baits.

Cheers Micka


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## Saltiga5 (May 15, 2009)

Iee


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## fishinflo (Nov 7, 2006)

Just my 2cents worth,I know grahite and composite rods are all the rage but my favourite surf rod is a 13 foot 8 wrap snyder glass matched with a mitchell 498X manual pickup 8),huge amount of power,and if you decide to head for the stones it doesn't matter if it gets a bit scratched up(had a few too many high end rods break in the heat of battle due to minute scratches).On the braid front I like to run a 120m topshot of 25pound spiderwire stealth for bite sensitivity and castability,and 25pound cajun mono backing,this gives me in excess of 400m on the mitchell.The reason I only topshot the braid is that you would be hard pressed to cast any further than that :shock: and is therefor a lot more cost effective,and I only really have it on for the above reasons.Have had the odd wind knot, but very few and far between.All mono braid knots are bimini twist doubles and improved allbright.One thing I will say with braid is that you need a good rod length and a bit of shock leader when casting otherwise you will throw a lot of rigs away,hope this helps.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Yakatak - the rod I mention there Is quite stiff and not a long surf rod - I think 11 foot. I've used specifically for big slab baits and ganged baits off the beach - also chucked metals with it... I had it as an over head but also but a bigger eye first along so it can be used with a spinning reel too.


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Saltiga5 said:


> Daiwa Sensor Surf
> 
> I have the 12'0" 15-30LB and the 13'0" 20-40LB version.
> 
> ...


Thats a pretty awesome setup. I have been eyeing up one of those reels for a while now. Can they handle 50lb braid.


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## Saltiga5 (May 15, 2009)

They can handle up to 15kg of drag pressure. So they will easily handle 50lb braid.
I'll be changing it to 50lb braid soon.


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## breamboy (Nov 2, 2005)

Thanks guys for al the help and info now i gotta do my homework lol
Just one quick question, where can i get the metal sand spike rod holders in or around melbourne??? im looking at the really long ones so the line is clear of the wave and all i can find is the short ones which dont help the line clear the waves.

Cheers
Tim


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## fishinflo (Nov 7, 2006)

Get yourself some aluminium angle and a bit of pvc pipe from bunnings,cut both to required lenghts and attatch pvc to ali with rivets or screws,try to ensure the head of the screw/rivet is on the inside of the pvc so as not to scratch your rods.


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

eric said:


> Have a look around for Penn Big Game Spinfisher rods. I rather like them for the price. You can easily get the 10 and 11 foot ones, but their might be the 12ft hiding in a shop somewhere.


How much did you see the Big Game Spinfisher rods for Eric?

Thanks

Marty


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## john316 (Jan 15, 2009)

fishinflo said:


> matched with a mitchell 498X manual pickup 8


hey fishinflo... glad that someone else even remembers what the big old Mitchels are. I use a 499 manual pickup and love it to bits - poor thing has been used and abused and looks a bit the worse for wear but has caught some good times over the past 40 years. Did you have yours from new??? I know and older (than me) gent who still has one that has never been out of its box.

cheers

John


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## fishinflo (Nov 7, 2006)

Hi John,yeah I have a bit of a softspot for the old Mitchells,also have a 487(right hand wind),486(left hand),both family hierlooms,a 306(left),and 307(right), both purchased by myself,one new,the other second hand.The 498x is a graphite spool and bodied reel that I bought new about 25 years ago at a cost of $280, a lot of coin at the time.It is the last of the old shaped reels before they introduced the nautilus model.Such a pity they sold the brand as the French reels were really well put together.The manual pickup on the 498x folds down for casting and activates a spool lock.If ever you get the chance to pick up a matching reel for spare parts grab it.I managed to pick up a new main gear after a mate somehow managed to strip it(lesson hear,never lend your wife,tools,fishing tackle or rifles to your mates,and not nescessarily in that order :shock: ).One other thing I did was have an engineer machine a new line roller out of stainless with a stainless bearing after I wore the original out on a 30 kilo eagle ray back in N.Z.I dunno if you've ever heard of Crack reels(also out of France),another nice piece of engineering,and i believe the reel on which the Van Staahl is designed.


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## breamboy (Nov 2, 2005)

Thanks for the help once again guys.
What are the Daiwa Moonrakers like compared too the sensor surf???


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## breamboy (Nov 2, 2005)

which is better the moonrakers or the sensor??? what are the moonrakers like as they are a 3 pc????


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## Saltiga5 (May 15, 2009)

Hi,
I use the Sensors and my mate uses a Daiwa Moonraker.
The Monrakers are 15ft, he loves it but i'd rather the shorter 12-13ft Sensors because I think 15ft is too long, it's personal preference.


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## breamboy (Nov 2, 2005)

Im looking at the 12ft sensor but i can get my hands on a 13ft used once moonraker for a really good price, just dont know about the moonraker being 3pc.


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