I try to understand the need for longer punching rods. I mean am I really losing that much leverage on the fish between my 7’4 and 7’6

I'd have to assume it's pure marketing and nothing else.

 

Question: If I want to fish a jerkbait, such as a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait, what rod should I get?

 

Answer A: A 6'10" or so Medium/Fast or Medium/Extra Fast

 

Answer B: A Megabass Vision 110 Special, of course.

 

If you're looking at Shimano rods, how would you know which Poison Adrena rod would be ideal for jerkbait fishing? If you know, you know. But if you don't know, you may want to go with the 110 Special just to be certain.

 

You don't have to have a lot of experience to figure that out when it's named after a technique or even after a very specific lure. A lot of rods now have both the length/power/action and the various techniques often associated with that type of rod. Something for everybody ?

 

My current favorite rod is a 7'3" MH/F and the technique it's designed for is also printed on the rod: "All Around" LOL. It's so confused, it just does what I ask it to do.

 

2 hours ago, kingmotorboat said:

I try to understand the need for longer punching rods. I mean am I really losing that much leverage on the fish between my 7’4 and 7’6

Not at all. 7'6" is pretty popular, 2" shorter isn't gonna handcuff ya.

8 hours ago, kingmotorboat said:

I try to understand the need for longer punching rods. I mean am I really losing that much leverage on the fish between my 7’4 and 7’6

The longer the rod, the more leverage,.... for the fish. What you gain with a longer rod (in addition to the casting distance thing) is the ability to move line with less motion on your part at the expense of the required force, similar to speed vs torque with reels. 

Longer rods is the trend right now driven in large part by marketing. There are several disadvantages to longer rods in many applications, sure if you are chucking large lures, flipping or deep cranking a longer rod makes sense.

To me it is rather simple and unrelated to the label any manufacturer puts on anything.  In my collection of rods some do certain things better than others and therefore that is what I use them for.  When I buy new rods it is usually to improve how I can throw a certain bait that is the most limited in my current collection.

Funny as a kid and young man I had one rod for everything but musky and one musky rod.  IDK that I ever missed any fish with just that?  

5 minutes ago, Randy Price said:

Funny as a kid and young man I had one rod for everything but musky and one musky rod.  IDK that I ever missed any fish with just that?  

Same, one rod. Fished Jamaica Bay for striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, porgies and anything else that showed up and then headed to LI to catch bass, white perch and eels, all with the same 6' spinning rod and 8-12 lb mono.

14 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

Same, one rod. Fished Jamaica Bay for striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, porgies and anything else that showed up and then headed to LI to catch bass, white perch and eels, all with the same 6' spinning rod and 8-12 lb mono.

Yep - as a kid I had one rig...Mitchell 320 on a 6'6" Medium

Bass, walleye, pike, panfish, trout...even some canal fishing on Cape Cod when we vacationed there - that rig handled it all.

 

Now I look at my 13 rigs (10 for canoe, 3 for shore) and I go...do I need more...probably not - do I want more...well, upgrades maybe.

I’m in the market for another crankbait rod. 7’, MH, Moderate. It will be easy to find. Could just order up a tech. specific rod and call it a day and things would probably be fine. But I’ll have to touch about 12 rods before I find the one I go home with. 

23 hours ago, J Francho said:

Or we're just saying that is the rod we use for what.  I think the last marketing hype I bought into was side imaging, and I bit hook, line , and sinker.  It was delicious, to say the least.

Are you saying the side imaging hype is real?

12 hours ago, kingmotorboat said:

I try to understand the need for longer punching rods. I mean am I really losing that much leverage on the fish between my 7’4 and 7’6

I hear you on that one. My longest rods I fish with are 7 foot. I don’t struggle with that length. But I’m only 5’10” and have wondered if anything in that 7’6” would be tough to flip and pitch with. Might have to put one of those Rubbermaid step stools on the deck, cast, come off the stool and start fishing. In my case if I was considering a 7’6” rod I’ll try to find one I could borrow for the day.  

I'm 5'7" and use an 8' rod to pitch pretty regularly. I'm not sure why people think it's a tall person thing. 

You can “make do “ in pretty much any facet of life. It might be out of necessity, responsibility or preference. We here on BassResource.com are a small fraction of the angling market. The vast majority have little to no idea what we’re talking about most of the time so I can see application labels being helpful from that standpoint. I haven’t gotten the impression from manufacturers that technique specific rods are a necessity or of them labeling identical rods for different applications. That would be disingenuous for sure. 

Why stop at rods? The same can be said about just about every other aspect of our gear, too. Most of us could shelve 90% of the stuff we lug around every trip and still catch fish.  But why?

 

It’s fun to collect different rods, reels, lines, lures and try out different combinations. It’s fun to log onto a forum and chat about likes/dislikes. Nobody needs to carry 20+ rods to go bass fishing but many of us do anyway, because it’s fun and it’s convenient to have different presentations rigged and ready. 

 

It’s a cool thing about fishing: it doesn’t take much to get involved, but the rabbit hole can go as deep as you want to dig it.

I think the need for technique specific rods are based on the individual.  Weekend/pleasure anglers really have no need outside of a few possible areas.  For example, if you throw deeper diving crankbaits where casting distance really matters, a longer parabolic rod does have value.  Also, if you are fishing heavy slop/cover/frogs/big swim baits, a heavy/XHeavy rod has value.  Other than that Med and M/H will cover most needs.

 

However, if you fish competitively or you have the means, some technique specific rods may get you an additional fish or two.

 

I like the OP, scaled down my collection a few years ago from around 30 mid/higher end setups to 10 higher end setups.  Unfortunately what I found is that I am a tackle junkie and now I am just satisfying my fix with more expensive gear.

 

I would also add that if you feel the need to get into the higher end rod world, I would focus on bottom contact rods only where feel and sensitivity are important and can make the fishing experience more enjoyable.  Otherwise, you are just spending high dollars on a need that can be satisfied at a lower price point.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.