Northwest Fishing Reports

so lets say i wanted to throw some spinners, spoons, jigs etc, we all know they are sort of on the light side, im looking for a 9-9'6 rod rated from around 1/4-3/4 or 1/4-5/8 and about 6-15lb test, something along those lines so i can get some good casting, would a spinning or casting setup be better? mostly for silvers, but theres always a chance of hookin a king

Spinners and spoons casting. Jigs spinning.

I using spinning reels 90% of the time if I'm casting anything. Easier to get more distance without worry about backlashes. And you can get the light stuff out there a lot further without adding wieght to the line. Pulling plugs and trolling I like my casting reels just because it cuts down on the line twist. I have an okuma sst paired with a plufger and its a great combo. Spooled on some 25# braid. It will cast a mile and I've drug in kings with it on the samish.

what kinda rod would you recommend for like #4 or #5 vibraxes, 1/2-3/4oz spoons etc?

I would say spinning so you can cast lighter gear farther.

#4 and 5 vibrax are pretty big. I like casting rods for everything, but you need a really good reel if you want to get distance on less than 1/4 ounce. Especially good for feathering the spool so that you don't slap the water and spook the fish. Your best bet is to have one of each and switch back and forth.

I have a spinning rod I use for jigs and hardware (spoons and spinners) and I use my baitcaster for my bobber dogging setup with bait. bring both rods to the river. If the river is small or hard to cast in Ill use my spinner for bait as well.

natetreat wrote:#4 and 5 vibrax are pretty big. I like casting rods for everything, but you need a really good reel if you want to get distance on less than 1/4 ounce. Especially good for feathering the spool so that you don't slap the water and spook the fish. Your best bet is to have one of each and switch back and forth.

my homemades are pretty small and light so a lighter spinning rod gets a done versus a baitcaster that I have to worry about getting a back flash or lack in casting distance. But I do fish with bait caster when salmon fishing because I mainly use eggs but when I do use hardware I like spinning, seem to twitch jigs better with a spinning rod as well.

so what are some good rod models to look out for? under $150 please lol

I have 9'6" Okuma SST's in both spin/cast...great value, and you should be able to get one of each if you want and still be under/around $150.

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I have both the Clarus and the SST and enjoy fishing with them both. But I have been mainly sticking with the Daiwa DXS rods, nice fast tip with lots of back bone. But that is only for rivers where there is no bushwacking. If im walking thru heavy brush then I only take the clarus or SST purely for warranty purposes.

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thought the sst had a life time warranty? I have only broke the one and that was due to line wrap. Was my first time using braid, snapped a lot easier then one would have thought. Either way it was a quick swap at the counter as well. I have beat the living crap out of the clarus's tho and they have yet to skip a beat. I take two or three rods when I go. And with my back, well lets just say the legs sometimes decide not to work correctly which results in me tripping over freaking leaves. Thats a lot of tubes to be packing around. I do believe my time bushwacking is coming to an end tho. Got myself a toon and plan on fishing from it more often than not.

there are a lot of nice cheap rods for hardware out there like lamiglas x-11 or graphite/norwest special and berkely im-8 rods.

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Berkley Air IM-8 model A94-9M or A94-9-6M and the Okuma SST both around $70-80. Lamiglass X-11 model LX96MS for about $100-120.

The berkely airs are beastly rods. You can seriously beat the S*** out of them and they still maintain. Ask FF about his medium heavy air it has undergone 2 seasons of serious abuse on the samish. The SST's are good as well. Dont forget the classic blue lamiglas I don't know exactly what the model is on them but they're nice.

Kockmandoo wrote:The berkely airs are beastly rods. You can seriously beat the S*** out of them and they still maintain. Ask FF about his medium heavy air it has undergone 2 seasons of serious abuse on the samish. The SST's are good as well. Dont forget the classic blue lamiglas I don't know exactly what the model is on them but they're nice.

yeah I have a couple of the lamiglas blue graphite series rods along with the norwest specials and love them for salmon. there west coast premier rods are killer for skok kings.

X11 is on sale at sportco right now for $64