by dahlberg » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:04 pm
There's so many different factors it's hard to explain this but, a couple of thoughts. First, is rod length/butt length. You must consider both the length of the blade and the length of the butt. In other words, you could have two identical 8 foot blanks, build one with a 12" butt and the other with and 18"er and you'd have two different performing rods..
As far as line take up, in a 90 degree "swing" the linear distance the tip travels is 1.8 times the "blade" length. (blade length being that portion forward of where the rod pivots on a hook set) Obviously, all other things being equal, the longer a rod will pick up more line, but there's a point where the length becomes disadvantageous due to the leverage you are giving up.
A stiff nine footer with two feet of butt and having an 8 oz jig hanging on it exerts 3.5 foot pounds of torque on your wrist just hanging on to it while holding it horizontal! Ouch! But more importantly, you actually get much less total pounds on the hookset. it just feels like you are pulling harder because you've given up so much leverage. If you doubt it, take a scale and test it.
As far as "feel", the most sensitive set up is NO ROD AT ALL. A hand line.
Back when most musky guys were using short stiff 5 1/2 foot rods, there were so many fish lost at the boat it was ridiculous. One of the main reasons they were tearing hooks out or straightening hooks is because the shorties allowed them to pull too hard, and with little or no shock absorption.
A better term for "loading" in this context is something designers call "hold out". It refers to the place on the rod where it quits bending when under load.
The closer to the handle the hold out occurs, the more leverage is gained by the angler.
Different types of angling require different nuances in rod design to come up with the perfect stick, and believe me little differences in design can make big differences in performance. The jigging thing is somewhat static compared to casting dynamics, but let me give you a quick example, using fly rod construction as the model.
As you all know, fly rods come in different "weights", 4,5,6,7 etc.and are designed to cast a given "weight of line" that matches the rod. Use a line weight that's one number too light and it will be very hard to cast. One weight heavier, it gets pretty sluggish. Two heavier is bad new.
The grain weight of a #4 line is 120 grains, a 5 is 140 grains. A difference of 20 grains. There are 15.4 grains in a gram! One gram is about 1/28 of an ounce!
so the diff between a 4 and a 5 is only about 1.3 grams. In other words it does not take much weight to make a significant difference when casting.
Getting back to the subject, I like something less than 9' for jigging. A reel that picks up a couple of feet per crank oughta be fine if you've got normal reflexes and aren't using a small reel with 100# line so you've only got a half spool when you jig is down 30 feet!
Good questions, wish I had a way to discuss this in person!
best
L
Larry Dahlberg
The Hunt For Big Fish