This topic shall continue eternally without any resolution in sight.

There are too many personal preferences and different definitions for the same issues.

This makes it extremely challenging to identify a definitive solution.

That said, my version is below and I apply it to every technique I fish. 

I use fast action sticks for baits that require angler input to impart fish-attracting motion.

Jerk baits and topwater are two solid examples. 

 I use some version of a moderate action blank for almost everything else.

It's all about 'The Bend' for me.

I prefer a rod that I can LOAD and keep LOADED !

On the cast and on the hook set and especially when working to put a hooked bass in the net.  

The "power" of the blanks is dictated by a few things but in the case of a spinner bait & a wiggle wagon, it's the hook itself that drives my decision.

The beefier the hook is, the heavier the power wand I'll reach for. 

As for "sensitivity"—that's always on me not the rod. 

In the end, and during the heat of the battle, I never want my rod to 'unload',

until the bass is in the net.

On a good day, it looks a lot like this. 

There's a trophy brown bass on the other end, with a spinnerbait in its face.

A-Jay

 

1 hour ago, ohioguy25 said:

Ok now I’m really confused. The majority seem to recommend fast for this application. I thought “fast” meant faster to load up/stiffen allowing you to use the full “power” of the rod to set the hook?

 

The action is where the rod bends.  A fast action rod has a fairly light tip that transitions into the power section of the rod quickly.  A slow or moderate action rod will have a proportionally stiffer tip and less power further down the rod backing it up such that it flexes more fully. 

 

Power is how much force it takes to bend it there and how much power there is to fight fish.  Regardless of the action, an ultralight isn't going to have that much power to turn a hard fighting fish or set a thick wire hook into a bass's jaw.  An extra heavy powered rod is going to take a good bit of force to flex it whether it is a fast action with a lighter (proportionally) tip or an old slow fiberglass rod.

 

When you set the hook on a fast action rod, the tip gives way quickly and the power that is higher up the rod takes over to drive the hook home.  On a moderate rod, the top third of the rod flexes quickly and then continues to flex deeper into the rod.  How much power it delivers to the hook depends on the power of the rod.  A moderate action with heavier power will take a good bit of force to flex which means it is putting a good bit of power into the hook point.  A fast action with heavy power will do the same, just with the upper part of the rod.  They feel different, but both will get the job done.

 

All of that is to say, you have to try both and find what works for you.  If you're throwing 14# mono and also using it for topwaters, then to me that is medium heavy/fast action.  That is almost exactly what I'm throwing for the same things.  I run 16# supernatural mono (which is about the same size as 12# trilene) and a head turner (6'10", heavy/fast though it is falcon 6 power heavy which is like a MH+).

12 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 

The action is where the rod bends.  A fast action rod has a fairly light tip that transitions into the power section of the rod quickly.  A slow or moderate action rod will have a proportionally stiffer tip and less power further down the rod backing it up such that it flexes more fully. 

 

Power is how much force it takes to bend it there and how much power there is to fight fish.  Regardless of the action, an ultralight isn't going to have that much power to turn a hard fighting fish or set a thick wire hook into a bass's jaw.  An extra heavy powered rod is going to take a good bit of force to flex it whether it is a fast action with a lighter (proportionally) tip or an old slow fiberglass rod.

 

When you set the hook on a fast action rod, the tip gives way quickly and the power that is higher up the rod takes over to drive the hook home.  On a moderate rod, the top third of the rod flexes quickly and then continues to flex deeper into the rod.  How much power it delivers to the hook depends on the power of the rod.  A moderate action with heavier power will take a good bit of force to flex which means it is putting a good bit of power into the hook point.  A fast action with heavy power will do the same, just with the upper part of the rod.  They feel different, but both will get the job done.

 

All of that is to say, you have to try both and find what works for you.  If you're throwing 14# mono and also using it for topwaters, then to me that is medium heavy/fast action.  That is almost exactly what I'm throwing for the same things.  I run 16# supernatural mono (which is about the same size as 12# trilene) and a head turner (6'10", heavy/fast though it is falcon 6 power heavy which is like a MH+).

What I have found interesting is how much the tip stiffness can play into hooksetting power and especially when fishing from a kayak or other small watercraft with limited body movement.  When I use my solid tip XF rod I have to REALLY move the rod to get a hookset or I'll lose the fish.  Much of my normal hookset in a kayak gets absorbed by the super light XF tip on the rod and I'll often lose my 1st fish on that rod for the year until I adjust to it.  On the other end there is my super stiff tipped MH Lews HP that has a taper I would describe as a slow loading broom handle.  I can just move the rod up a bit and that super slow stiff tip will drive a jig hook home as the rod manifests a gentle bend.

@Bigbox99- Yes.  The key with the lighter tip rods is getting enough into the bend and power zone.  Solid tip are going to be super extreme in that regard.  I have the poison adrena UL/M spinning rod which is basically a medium power in the bottom 1/2 but an ultralight top 1/4 and fishes like the solid tip rods.  I've lost a couple fish on it that were out there and deep because I didn't set the hook enough (into the medium power section of the blank). You actually have to drive it home and not just feel the rod load up.  

I use mxf but I use mono line. Makes up for the stretch 

22 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

I confused.  There seems to be an idea out there that a slower action rod has a softer tip and less power then a fast action rod.  That you will lose some hook setting power with a moderate rod compared to a fast action rod.   Its not just this topic but I have seen it before.

Now you are getting into the further complexity of action. Power is usually consistent across a brand. Sometimes they decide to change it in newer lines, but across that line it should be consistent and over time it will propagate to the brand.

Where things get a little crazy is the tip flex. Many rods of the same power can have different powered tips. Extra fast rods usually don't have the strongest tips and some have very soft tips, but it's a short tip so it doesn't really matter. When you get to fast rods that are more on the moderate fast side though, if you have a real soft tip, that might make it more of a cranking rod and if the tip is a bit stiffer it's your typical bass rod. Manufacturers generally know who they're targeting with a rod, so they usually make rods in these applications, but even so I've seen some pretty big variances based on tip strength.

 

At the end of the day it comes down to personal preference.

On 9/22/2025 at 2:08 PM, ohioguy25 said:

Ok now I’m really confused. The majority seem to recommend fast for this application. I thought “fast” meant faster to load up/stiffen allowing you to use the full “power” of the rod to set the hook?

Correct.  It brings the backbone into play faster than a slow action.

I throw both on a Medium/Fast with 15lb mono, except for the smaller 1/4 and 3/16 oz, they go on a Medium/Moderate Fast with 12lb fluoro.

It’s confusing because no standard exist to define the action terminology. 
A fishing is is straight before a force is applied to the tip. The force applied has nothing to do with the power when bending the tip section only.

Power is the force required to fully bend the rod.

You have the reel mounted and the line through all the guides. With the rod help upwards about 45 degrees slowly pull the line down until the tip section bends, the middle and butt section are still straight. Extra Fast action the tip end of the bends in the upper 1/8 of the rod length, Fast the 1/4 tip bends, Moderate the 1/2 bends, Parabolic the entire rod bends. 
Power is the force to bend into the lower section of the rod.

Light = 1 pound bend the rod fully.

Medium Light = 2 ponds

Medium = 3 pounds

Medium Heavy= 4 pounds

Heavy = 5 pounds.

Since no standard exist the values vary between manufactures, use as a ball park.

 

On 9/22/2025 at 3:34 PM, A-Jay said:

This topic shall continue eternally without any resolution in sight.

sounds like … Ford vs. GM vs. Dodge … but to answer the question, I use a Kistler 7’3” KLX MH/MF for bladed jigs.

2 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

sounds like … Ford vs. GM vs. Dodge … but to answer the question, I use a Kistler 7’3” KLX MH/MF for bladed jigs.

Sounds like BMW vs Audi vs Mercedes Benz!

Tom

Moderate but with power. 

48 minutes ago, Columbia Craw said:

Moderate but with power. 

Nailed It ! 

A-Jay

On 9/22/2025 at 3:34 PM, A-Jay said:

 

 

 

What rod is that?

 

I often fish braid, and definitely like a MH moderateish rod for chatterbaits, and do/did for spinnerbais too. Problem is feel like braid wraps around the spinnerbait arm more frequently than when using mono. 

 

So I'm back to finding a slower MH fast, not quite fast in the classic sense. 

 

Also, most of my fishing is from the bank, with a good amount of vegetables on my plate, so I've been exploring longer rods, and this is where a slower rod really maximizes its potential. After it loads up I still have enough length of back bone to battle, but it's also still slow from the middle to top. 

 

Best rod I've ever used for chatterbaits is the Edge 765 NEO. They definitely somehow gave it a fast tip to cast well with, backbone starts about moderate fast forna hook set,  but it gets pretty moderate when bringing a bass in and they make a run.

 

I plan to throw spinnerbait bait on it and see how it does, but that's a lot of stretch and give with mono. Plan to throw some buzzbaits on it too, I think this is the best moving bait rod I've ever used, and I basically only throw moving baits at this point. 

9 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Sounds like BMW vs Audi vs Mercedes Benz!

 

No contest! BMW for the win.

 

 

My setup is a 7' M/F with straight braid. It is a matter of personal preference.

You're over thinking it. You need something sturdy enough to drive the larger single hook, but with a little bit of flex to load up since bass can use the blade as leverage to pop the hook.  Grab a Dobyns 4 power rod in any of their rod lines with a fast action and you'll be golden.  I personally don't like using glass rods for this because I want something snappy enough to rip the lure (and hopefully a bass) out of grass.  I have a Dobyns Sierra 704 that is a great bladed jig rod.  Spinner baits are easy, anything that is MH/fast will work.

If you are also using the rod for topwater, I would get the one that helps you work your topwater baits correctly.  Both will work well for the bladed jig, and you may have some topwater baits that need a specific action in order to make them walk, pop, etc. correctly.

It really doesn't matter that much.  Power is more important for hook setting and casting easily for the weight lures you use.  I like braid with mono leader for surface, mono or FC for underwater.  Kingfisher makes a good point about working surface properly, but I'm not convinced it's as much about action as the power and flex of the tip.  I think only experience with rods will sort it out.  Remember, you can never have too many rods, so whatever you do, it will work with most techniques, some better than others.

On 9/22/2025 at 3:34 PM, A-Jay said:

This topic shall continue eternally without any resolution in sight.

I guess this is a good thing right?? what would we talk about if we had all the answers! 

Isn't Brett Hite the king?

 

Why not just look at the specs on his Evergreen rod?

 

Heavy moderate I believe.

 

Anyone have it?

1 hour ago, Gera said:

what would we talk about if we had all the answers! 

Rodbuilders and fishermen overthink everything.  Sort of like wine aficianados.

15 minutes ago, MickD said:

Sort of like wine aficianados

Snobs...we're called 'Wine Snobs' - get it right.

 

10 hours ago, king fisher said:

If you are also using the rod for topwater, I would get the one that helps you work your topwater baits correctly.  Both will work well for the bladed jig, and you may have some topwater baits that need a specific action in order to make them walk, pop, etc. correctly.

Yeah I have been throwing walking baits a lot, does fast action lend itself better to this technique? 

8 minutes ago, ohioguy25 said:

Yeah I have been throwing walking baits a lot, does fast action lend itself better to this technique? 

Depends on the make of rod, and your style.  Try a few rods, and actions until you find the one that works the best for you.  I can walk the dog with almost any rod, but when I use my favorite the walk is natural and easy, instead of a struggle, and yes that rod works well for bladed jigs too.