# Lightweight surf caster recommendations



## westcoaster (Aug 27, 2003)

I need a rod that is capable of bait-casting 1 oz @ 100 yards +...

We fish light lures here, and with our shallow beaches and rocky bottoms, 1 oz seems to be the maximum weight for the proper retrieve.

I don't want to break the bank, and am *THIS* close to picking up a predator carp rod...

However, I'm really unfamiliar with surf rod blanks, but I am hoping someone here has a rod where they toss similiar weights.

Ideally I'd like minimum 10'.. but it's not necessary. The main thing is the ablilty to toss out 1/2 oz, and 1 oz lures, and to be able to handle a 20 lb chinook salmon..

Thanks in advance..


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## Adam (Feb 19, 2001)

Id have to say an All-Star Breakaway 1265 10'6" rated 3/4-3oz. Put a 6500 Abu or one of the Daiwa Millionaries on it and it should be good.

Or you can do spinning and put any Daiwa spinner on it you want, loaded with 14# Fireline or 15# Power Pro.


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## westcoaster (Aug 27, 2003)

with those setups, what do you think the actual casting distance is? 

I have tried various combinations of west coast rods, and for the most part, I cannot break the 70 yard mark. 

We do alot of fishing using 1/2 oz lead and spinners, and we can barely cast these 50 yards with our current configurations..

I want to order a rod, however, I would like the security of someone actually having casted 1 oz of weight 100 yards +, as I won't be able to return it..


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## Led (Feb 1, 2001)

1/2 or 1oz over 100yds - practicaly impossible  

I use a Zziplex Powertex Bass for lures around the 11/2 to 21/2 oz. this can just about get 100yds, a nice through action rod that tires the fish and not the angler.

Using a 50gm (1.7oz) sinker only, this setup can cast 162yds.


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## Adam (Feb 19, 2001)

Yes Ive seen and thrown that 1265 over a 100yds with 1.5oz. If yer gonna be doin 1oz and down, Id suggest you get a spinning setup for ease of casting those light weights.

Check out www.hatterasoutfitters.com and talk to Tres about your options, great guy and knows a bunch about long distance fishing.

There's a couple plug rods made by Lamiglas that the Striper Sharpies up north use for light plugs...I think one is a 1083-2, 9'. I'll check it out and see what I can find.


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## markedwards (Jan 29, 2001)

*100 yds? depends on what you're casting.*

first i own a 1265 and it can cast 3/4 oz 100 yds but that distance has a lot of factors in it.3/4 oz is a sinker what kind of lures are you using?some lures like light wieght plugs and wide bodied plastic lures just will not fly no matter how hard you try.now i'm not trying to sell you a rod but the 1265 is a great lure casting surf rod and so is the powertex bass,but the one thing most new casters have to learn is you can't buy distance.give us some more info and lets see if we can help you get 100 yds.what kind of lures are you casting?what # test line do you use?spinning or baitcasting ect.


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## westcoaster (Aug 27, 2003)

Thanks for the replies everyone, finding my next rod has become a quest of epic proportions.. lol..

I currently use an ambassadeur 6000C ... most of my fishing mates use abu 6500's , all loaded with 12lb test mono.. and a few use spinning reels with fireline or similiar lines.

The lures we cast are probably as " cast-friendly" as you can get , they are heavy and aerodynamic, and probably cast as far as a lead...http://www.buzzbombzzinger.com/buzzbomb.html , 

We use the 2" size, which weighs 1 oz. If more weight is needed we can easily move up to larger sizes, however the anomally here is everyone believes that fishing low tide for salmon is the best, so lighter lures keep the retrieve slow and off the bottom.

Spinners, using #1 blades, and 2" of pencil lead ( 1/2 ounce) are the most common setup however, as this seems to give the optimum retrieve speed and depth..

The rods we use are west coast " steelhead" type blanks, 10' with medium-heavy actions... some people have converted 12 wt fly rod blanks for rods.. 

This has become a bit of an obsession for me.. I firmly believe that I can borrow from your surf/beach fishing to use on the west coast here, although most I talk to are skeptical..

All I know is, we are limiting ourselves to fishing 40-70 yards out, which is silly when you can cast 200 yards + ... 

The powertex and zzipplex are very very tempting, but also very very costly.. the cabelas predator was recommended to me by various sources, but I guess I need to hear from an experienced caster that " yes, i can cast 1 oz 150 yards, I did it last week"..

If an experienced caster can move it out there 150, then I assume that I can at least hit 100 yards, which would be 30 yards further than we are casting now..


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## markedwards (Jan 29, 2001)

westcoaster last year i did a casting study for laserorca.i used an allstar 1265 and an allstar 1565 and casted 1-3 oz between the 2 rods which are both spinning and using a 30 lb shockleader on 12 lb test line the shortest cast was 330 ft with a 1 oz sinker.all the casts were OTG casts and give the fact that i am 6'2 245 and and very good hand speed i would say with the proper setup and practice that yes you can reach 100 yds. do you use a shockleader?if the answer is no i would suggest you try yozuri hybrid or berkley vanish 30lb that alone may increase your distance. hope this helps you out.


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## westcoaster (Aug 27, 2003)

> _Originally posted by markedwards _on 12 lb test line the shortest cast was 330 ft with a 1 oz
> 
> Ahh okay, so I know it's possible, to hit the 100 yard mark, .. Yes I do use a shock leader, but due to my ignorance , I just tied on 20 ' of white, braided 50 lb shock leader, with an albright knot... Are you saying that the line used for the shock leader will give more distance? Or that just using a shock leader itself will mean more distance?
> 
> ...


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## Ardmore Bill (Feb 4, 2001)

Westcoaster - you can reach 100yards with as low as 1oz even with an 8ft rod. My father and I regularly did this while fishing 1oz hopkins shorties and the 1 1/4 oz gibbs casting popper. How did we know? We were spooled with the 115 yards spools of fireline or whiplash braid and were casting right into the mono backing. 

Spinning is the way to go with these light weights, diawa tournement ss 2600 or Emblem /Regal reels cast well for us. I like the St. Croix Ben Doer surf rods, but Rods like the breakaway models, Loomis, Lamis, even the Diawa Sealine-x series will all put you out at 100yards. 

The trick is thin diameter braid, that has some strength to it(I use 50lb Whiplash, 12lb diameter mostly) and decent casting form. 

I even wrote an article in the NJ Angler two winters ago on this subject. It really is a lot of fun to get a surface popper out that far, when bass and blues are blitzing the outer bar and to have a good fish blow it up on the surface way out there. I once had an angler who was standing a few yards away from me get all excited, thinking my plug was a fish coming in closer until he realized that I was indeed able to cast out that far.


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## westcoaster (Aug 27, 2003)

Hmmmm........ I just recently converted to baitcasting, endured a month of backlashes from hell.... and now you're saying I gotta go BACK to spinning? lol...

Actually... it was on the back of my mind to do the firewire-spinning thing...but I wanted to see the baitcaster's response at these lure weights... ( c'mon baitcasters/conventionals...talk me into it..)

OKay.... what spinning rod blanks ( model numbers if possible) would you recommend? Some people are already using spinning/fireline combinations, however even they are maxing out at 70-80 yards..

If you could name some brands other than all-star or zziplexx as noone carries the surf-oriented rods here. Daiwa used to have a head office here, but it's been long gone. 

At this point I'm willing to consider anything to hit the 100 + yard mark....even this..: 

http://linedrive.freeyellow.com/linedrive.htm


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## Connman (Apr 14, 2001)

WC , have you tried contacting the American Castins Assoc .
http://www.americancastingassoc.org/

What you are trying to do is more inline with what they do than the surf casting and tournament casting we do . 
A couple of things to remember , light line thin diameter either braid or mono is easier to cast further, longer rods help too , you should be looking at a fast taper ,tip action rod , the parabolic rods just aren't capable of the bigger distances .
Have you though about a heavier lure that planes in the water so it wouldn't snag or adding a breakaway planer ahead of a heavy lure to plane higher in the water .


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## longcaster (Oct 3, 2000)

*Official Welcome*

Hi "westcoaster",

At this time I would like to "Officially Welcome" you to the "Distance Casting" forum.


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## RJohn (Oct 24, 2002)

A couple of thoughts and suggestions. You might look into a rod that was designed by an East Coast fisherman and distance caster and manufactured by a Pacific Northwest rod company, the Lamiglas Ron Arra series has two rods that might meet your needs. There is an 8’ XSRA-961 and a light 9’ XSRA-1083 or 1083-2. Blanks for these rods are available and you might be able to wrap it or get it wrapped using the Fuji concept system. I have a 1083-2 and match it with either a Diawa SS2600 loaded with 30 lb Whiplash or Emblem Xia 3000 loaded with 12 lb Ironsilk (which I find balances the rod better than the larger reel). I have not measured the distance that I can cast with this set up but it is pretty far. I doubt that it is 100 yd with ½ oz but may approach that with 1 oz. I am not a tournament caster but that brings up the second point and that is that you may want to investigate casting techniques that could help. The local casting club that is the basis for this forum, Capitol Longcasters, has done wonders for some of us by teaching distance casting techniques that are appropriate for surf fishing, an example is the Brighton cast that you can research on this site. Finally, if you go with a revolving spool reel you should consider a small reel that can handle thin braid and probably one with magnetic braking like the high-end Diawa baitcasters mentioned above by Adam or Abu 5600 C4 Mag. If it stops raining here soon I will go out on the field and cast ½ and 1 oz with the XRA-1083.
John


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## Ardmore Bill (Feb 4, 2001)

Westcoaster - don't give up on the baitcasters and bigger rods - they are great for the 3oz and up realm of plugging and throwing weight and bait. But, for the lighter stuff in the surf, spinning is the way to go.


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## Kajun (Jul 13, 2003)

tica 9ft to 11ft with a shimano or diawa spinner...20lb tuff line or power pro (6lb diameter)


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## westcoaster (Aug 27, 2003)

this is getting interesting.. .

I have been working on my " brighton cast", trying to perfect the timing of the " push/pull" and sequence of the weight transfer... 

Everyone here stares at my shock leader setup ( I have been dabbling with the pendulum cast) and react like I've got a boil on my neck...

I do value the importance of the technique... however I am adamant that most of the limitations arise from the " west coast" style steelhead blanks we have... 

Out of curiousity, how many spinning people use a line holder/release device like the breakaway cannon?


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## longcaster (Oct 3, 2000)

*Official Welcome*

Hi "Kajun",

At this time I would like to "Officially Welcome" you to the "Distance Casting" forum.


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