I’m a lews guy and been looking at the super duty rods to fish large swim baits with. I’m most likely getting the 7’6 or 7’11 heavy rod. Any thoughts about these Lengths? Also will be fishing glide baits with the rod I get.  Thanks for the input 

What I used to determine if a swimbait rod was decent for casting heavier lures is add the suggested lure weights for that rod ie, 2 to 6 oz = 8 div by 2 = 4 oz the maximum lure weight for that rod to perform properly.

Length is dependent on average casting distance, longer is usually preferred.

Tom

I have a few different swimbait rods (mainly cheaper ones from Daiwa, Ugly Stick, Lews etc...)

From 7'-8'.

I struggle casting the shorter ones quite a bit, the 8' one however i can cast with ease and prefer it so much more. So in my opinion go with the longest rod available.

the longer one. I throw swimbaits on an 8 foot MH St. Croix Musky rod with a tranx 400A and 20 pound Sufix Siege Mono. 8 foot rods are great for big baits 

My 1st “swimbait” back in the late 80’s was a Lamiglass 8’ HMF custom that I used for about 20 years. This was Dobyns gen1 DC 806 SB before Gary started his business. Perfect rod for Huddleston 8” ROF 12’s. 
2nd was a Okuma GS H  7’10” used for jointed wooden Swimbaits with treble hooks , good light weight rod.

3rd was Irod I bought at a local (Bass A Thon) from Matt Newman when he was a start up, 8’11” HMF 2 oz-8oz. rated and lighter weight then my Lamiglas rod, excellent for my 8” & 68 Hudds.

I fished those 3 rods for decades catching a lot of DD bass.

if you are new to swimbait fishing the 3-10 oz Irod is essential coupled with a 300 size reel w/ 5.8:1 ratio Shimano!

Line today would be 25# Tatsu/..016D, 25# : .016D Armilo is no longer available. 

Tom
 

No reason for a short swimbait rod.  I have a bunch of other rods at 7'10" though as it is a sweet spot for length imo.  Still accurate, big distance and lots of line/fish control.

1-4oz glide baits are my bread and butter. I have been experimenting with different rod brands, lengths and powers for a little over a year now. Rod length is mainly going to boil down to personal preference and it's mainly going to depend on the size and weights of the baits that you are planning to throw. 

 

In my opinion, 7'6" to 7'9" rod is the 'golden/money' range for 1-4oz glide baits. I had a 7'11" Okuma Guide Select that I absolutely hated because it was too long. It felt heavy, cumbersome and fatiguing after a long day of fishing glide baits. I went to a 7'9" and immediately I could feel a huge difference. 

 

One caution, don't go too short! If you go too short, your line pickup on each quarter or half crank suffers a bit and you are going to have to compensate by either using braid to leader and/or a very high gear ratio reel and/or going to a bigger reel with a larger spool dimension.

 

One other thing to consider, a larger/heavier bait is going to require a longer rod, even if a shorter rod can handle said bait's weight fine. For example, I love to fish a Japanese bait called the DRT Klash 9. It's a 2 piece jointed bait that has the option to configure the bait with lips and tails of varying kinds to change the bait's action at will. The bait is 9 inches long and weighs 4oz. I tried fishing the Klash 9 on my 7'9" rod and I hated it, even though it could cast it just fine. I decided to try the Klash 9 on my 7'11" Okuma Guide Select rod and I ended up liking it better on the longer rod. 

 

Different rod lengths, powers and brands, all bring a different set of problems and variables and in the end, complicate things even more and make it that much harder to fine tune your setups for different baits. 

 

My 2 cents. 

On 4/13/2024 at 12:22 AM, DEPS_250 said:

1-4oz glide baits are my bread and butter. I have been experimenting with different rod brands, lengths and powers for a little over a year now. Rod length is mainly going to boil down to personal preference and it's mainly going to depend on the size and weights of the baits that you are planning to throw. 

 

In my opinion, 7'6" to 7'9" rod is the 'golden/money' range for 1-4oz glide baits. I had a 7'11" Okuma Guide Select that I absolutely hated because it was too long. It felt heavy, cumbersome and fatiguing after a long day of fishing glide baits. I went to a 7'9" and immediately I could feel a huge difference. 

 

One caution, don't go too short! If you go too short, your line pickup on each quarter or half crank suffers a bit and you are going to have to compensate by either using braid to leader and/or a very high gear ratio reel and/or going to a bigger reel with a larger spool dimension.

 

One other thing to consider, a larger/heavier bait is going to require a longer rod, even if a shorter rod can handle said bait's weight fine. For example, I love to fish a Japanese bait called the DRT Klash 9. It's a 2 piece jointed bait that has the option to configure the bait with lips and tails of varying kinds to change the bait's action at will. The bait is 9 inches long and weighs 4oz. I tried fishing the Klash 9 on my 7'9" rod and I hated it, even though it could cast it just fine. I decided to try the Klash 9 on my 7'11" Okuma Guide Select rod and I ended up liking it better on the longer rod. 

 

Different rod lengths, powers and brands, all bring a different set of problems and variables and in the end, complicate things even more and make it that much harder to fine tune your setups for different baits. 

 

My 2 cents. 

Have you seen/heard anything about the 7'6 okuma guide select? I think it's a Collab with tackle warehouse... Looking to throw a tiny klash on it and an wondering if I should be trying to get a 1-4 oz mh rated rod vs the 1-6 H.

I'm NOT an expert but the rod I have is 7'6".

 

Built for 3/4-3.5oz.

 

Works perfect.

Long open water casts you want a longer rod with a longer handle.  For short casts (i.e. fishing the bait in the same manner you would say a spinnerbait along the bank or around/under docks) you want a shorter rod and a shorter handle for more accurate targeted casts.  Just depends on how you fish the baits.