# Finding the perfect sinker weight to maximize casting distance



## arjun (Mar 10, 2020)

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to increase my casting distance for a while without much improvement. Adding more weight will obviously give me some extra distance but I don't want to break my rod. So I have two questions.

1. How to find the best casting weight to maximize casting distance?
2. How to know if my rod is loaded properly while casting?

Rod specs:
Uglystik BIgwater 10 foot spinning rod, Medium Heavy action. I am also attaching the specs I got from the website


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## fish bucket (Dec 5, 2002)

Rod is not a good choice for distance....you could throw 10oz on it and not get good distance.........longer rod(11’+) and fast/moderate fast action rod will get you decent distance.......start with weight in middle of rated ounces and go up/down n ounce at a time till you find sweet spot


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## arjun (Mar 10, 2020)

fish bucket said:


> Rod is not a good choice for distance....you could throw 10oz on it and not get good distance.........longer rod(11’+) and fast/moderate fast action rod will get you decent distance.......start with weight in middle of rated ounces and go up/down n ounce at a time till you find sweet spot


Thank you for your reply.

Can you tell me how to find the rating (in ounces) for the rod?


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## Catch This (Nov 19, 2005)

on your ugly stick it is the lure weight 2-6 as in 2oz to 6oz


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## arjun (Mar 10, 2020)

Catch This said:


> on your ugly stick it is the lure weight 2-6 as in 2oz to 6oz


Thank you.
Can you tell me how to know if my rod has loaded properly? I don't want to overload it.


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## fish bucket (Dec 5, 2002)

Hard to overload an ugly stick......lol
Seriously ....ugly sticks and other soft to moderate rods are hard to break by throwing too much weight......it would have to be very very overloaded.
They lob more then cast


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## Tommy (Jan 24, 2001)

Each rod and each fisherman will have an "optimum" weight for best casting performance. A good place to start is the rods weight rating. If properly rated (big if) then the best performance should come near the center of the rating. In other words, a rod rated 2-6 should give best performance around 4 oz. The problem here is that some companies are a bit liberal with the ratings. Some have ratings like 4-14 oz which is really nuts. A rod that will properly load with 4oz is going to fold up like a cheap suit with 14...

It is a misconception that heavier sinkers mean longer casts. 8nbait is a heck of a lot harder to throw for distance than say 4 or 5 oz would be. For most fisherman, max distance will be achieved between 4 and 6 oz as long as the rod is up to the task. A high quality carbon fiber rod will outperform a fiberglass rod all day and be much lighter and have better bite detection. With all else being equal, a longer rod will outcast a shorter (bigger arc) but everyone has limitations on rod length. 

So, get out in the field and do some testing. Throw 5 casts each with 3, 4 and 5 oz (as your rod is rated 2-6) and see for yourself how the performance compares. If you want to see your rod loaded, then video the test casts and playback in slo-mo.

Hope this helps,

Tommy


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## Fish'n Phil (Nov 11, 2002)

Just last week I saw a guy cast a really good distance with his 10’ Ugly Stik and Shakespeare Alpha reel loaded with braid. I think the sweet spot should be 3 to 4 oz which is the middle of the rating. Use whatever casting style works for you. I don’t think you will break the rod...it’s pretty floppy. Doesn’t it have a five year warranty?


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## Ivan Bilic (Jul 5, 2020)

I first test every rod that I buy. I start with sinker weigh that is in the middle of that declared by manufacturer. Than I alter and lower weigh in order to find weigh that casts furthest. Almost always, rod behaves best at sinker weigh that is somewhat below weigh that casts furthest. For example, if I find out that I can reach best distance with 3 ounce sinker, I usually use that rod with 2 or 2 and 1/2 ounce sinker. It casts less but it behaves much better..

Also you need to calculate bait weight, not only sinker. Because if you use big hooks with big baits, it changes overall rig weight significally.


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