IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Jigging => Topic started by: MichiganMan on Mar 07, 2018, 01:54 PM
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For those of you who may use a bait caster for ice fishing. I'm looking for info on brand and source for the rods you use. For many ice fishing applications I prefer a bait caster, but it's difficult to find ice rods designed for their use.
Thanks for any insight you have to offer.
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I use two different rods both are a bit heavy I used for lake trout, a Jason Mitchell mackinaw rod and a 48" ugly stick. I used heavy spoons, tubes and jigging raps with these rods.
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Haat rods does baitcaster rods
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St Croix makes decent ones, useful for many applications.
Some rods can just simply be mounted with a baicasting reel. If you want something specific, it's gonna be custom made. Do it yourself or have a rod builder make it.
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Sportsman direct sells a spiral wrapped (acid wrapped) rod that is made for baitcasters. It doesn’t have a reel seat, you would have to use tape or something else.
https://sportsmensdirect.com/shop/hwi-acid-rods-combos/
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Most of the ice rods that are made with a bait caster reel seat will be a heaver rod from what I have seen.
How bad is the ice up on a bait caster reel? I am thinking of building myself a rod for sturgeon but not sure if I want a spinning reel or bait caster reel.
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Steal @ $22 Fenwick Elite-Tech 30" Medium Casting Ice Rod. MSRP $39.95 It wouldn't cost you much if you just wanted to try one out!
https://www.amazon.com/Fenwicks-ETICE30M-C-Elite-Tech-Casting/dp/B011LVAJWK
DN
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Most of the ice rods that are made with a bait caster reel seat will be a heaver rod from what I have seen.
How bad is the ice up on a bait caster reel? I am thinking of building myself a rod for sturgeon but not sure if I want a spinning reel or bait caster reel.
If you pinch or feather the line before it hits the levelwind line guide, there will be no icing. I palm my reel anyways and I got use to doing it. In fact while hole hopping I always pinch my line before the tip to prevent icing up even on my spinning reel set ups, and I do it methodically with bait casting set ups.
The industry is just not willing to move over to a lighter set up on baitcasting rods.
The Fenwick Elite Tech 30" medium is about the lightest bait casting rod on retail shelves for ice fishing.
Diawa Triforce Shorty Casting rod can be used for ice fishing, but again comes in a medium power. It's three feet long. Probably feels more like a heavy power rod.
Abu Garcia Volatile Ice casting rod 29" medium, 31" medium heavy.
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I have got a couple HT (ice blue) and they come in lighter baitcast rods for around the 20-25 dollar mark.
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https://www.marinegeneral.com/product/clam-jason-mitchell-mackinaw-34-h-baitcasting-rod-8482/
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For anyone interested, I've just discovered that the JawJacker brand manufactures casting rods marketed for ice fishing. I was browsing Fish307 when I noticed them, and at the time of this post, they still had some in stock. The available actions are described as 36"/H , 34"/MH, and 32"/M, and they all sell for about $30.
I wish I had found these sooner; bait-casting rods have been tough to find and I mean to try them this winter. I intend to use them as stand-alone jigging rods, not paired with a hook-setting device.
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I would really like to find a 40-50" light or ultralight for my BFS Baitcaster. I was playing around with it yesterday and it drops 3mm tungstens easily and I have no doubt it will drop even lighter jigs. Most likely I'll need to go custom.
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I use 2 bait casters for lakers, they are 38" med/hvy rods I got from Cabelas 2 yrs ago. Cheap, they were only about 30 each. I was planning on just trying them out before spending more on rods but they have held up very well.
I have landed some really nice lakers on them, I can feel 1/8oz jigs in around 80 FOW just fine. Action is good to soak up head shakes. Im running 8lb braid and have maybe 20 feet of 10lb flouro for a shock leader.
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Sorry this is 3 1/2 years after your initial post. I got two of these Jason Mitchell Elite Series Walleye 28JMC Medium rods for Christmas several years ago. I shared one with my son. Notice in the pic how the guides index around the rod so the eyelet faces down. It has a soft sensitive tip with some backbone. Hope the image attaches.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4KvkjDQ6/EA4-EA961-3-DD7-4055-BA20-BEC7-A8-ABE7-FB.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4KvkjDQ6)
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I would really like to find a 40-50" light or ultralight for my BFS Baitcaster. I was playing around with it yesterday and it drops 3mm tungstens easily and I have no doubt it will drop even lighter jigs. Most likely I'll need to go custom.
I'm just wondering why go so long? Especially with Ultralight power, the vibration feel factor diminishes greatly after about 36" and it goes more so into the visual detection.
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Hole hopping, shallow backwaters. I have a custom rod builder building a 48" power noodle with spiral wrapped guides. Should be a fun and versatile stick.
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I'm just wondering why go so long? Especially with Ultralight power, the vibration feel factor diminishes greatly after about 36" and it goes more so into the visual detection.
Lot of guys love those long rods and do well with them using sensitive wire indicators. Most do it standing up and hole hopping. Me? Not so much. I can't be on my feet that long.
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Sorry this is 3 1/2 years after your initial post. I got two of these Jason Mitchell Elite Series Walleye 28JMC Medium rods for Christmas several years ago. I shared one with my son. Notice in the pic how the guides index around the rod so the eyelet faces down. It has a soft sensitive tip with some backbone. Hope the image attaches.
(https://i.postimg.cc/4KvkjDQ6/EA4-EA961-3-DD7-4055-BA20-BEC7-A8-ABE7-FB.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/4KvkjDQ6)
Love this rod! Custom set up
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Love this rod! Custom set up
The one I'm having built will look similar, but 48" long and geared for big crappie and perch. It will be able to handle larger fish, but I'm only interested in panfish. I dropped the reel, a Daiwa Alphas Airstream Custom, off with the rod builder today so he can get the balance right. There are a few deeper places beyond the reach of my normal long rods, so this will be a nice tool in the toolbox. Now we just need some good ice!
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Lot of guys love those long rods and do well with them using sensitive wire indicators. Most do it standing up and hole hopping. Me? Not so much. I can't be on my feet that long.
Hole hopping, shallow backwaters. I have a custom rod builder building a 48" power noodle with spiral wrapped guides. Should be a fun and versatile stick.
Nice. The only thing I find more difficult is when leaning down the the hole with a longer rod to get to the handle the fish. It's one thing to easily flip the fish on the ice, but the big ones, you can't always or else a line break.
I occassionally do use my 4' baitcasting rod when I'm like lazy on the lounge chair just so lazy fishing on my back.
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I have a custom made 52” bait casting rod I use for eyes and perch up at Oneida. Got it a while back, don’t even know if there’s any info on the rod blank but I’ll check for you. It’s a little tip heavy for what I used it for but it works.