I’m searching for rods to throw small, weightless soft plastics over pads. 

 

I like throwing 3” pit bosses weightless but they’re quite small. Im currently using a 6’10M spinning rod rated 1/16-1/2oz. They (Halo) make a casting rod of the same length, power, and rating. 
 

It works, but I’d like more casting distance since I’m steadily reeling these across the top and sometimes they’re way back in the pads. But it needs to have enough power to get them out of there, hence the dilemma. 
 

TIA. 

You need a MH spinning rod and 30-40# braid.  

12 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

You need a MH spinning rod and 30-40# braid.  

And a paddle to get out when you end up back in there!!

 

scott

Short xf medium spinning rod with 30lb braid...  so weird to say but I love that set up for irresponsible fishing.  

3 minutes ago, webertime said:

Short xf medium spinning rod with 30lb braid...  so weird to say but I love that set up for irresponsible fishing.  

To be honest.. I broke the tip off the rod I use now so it’s more of a 6’8 or 6’9” haha

 

I’m just using the 10 or 15 lb braid I had spooled on it already, that’s probably doing me a huge disservice. 

I throw fat ikas everywhere on that set up.  And I set the hook like a roid raging monster and haven't snapped the thing in 16 years (jeez I'm old).

Those little pit bosses are like a quarter ounce so it's very light especially with a missing tip on the rod.

For weightless weedless lures in lily pads I use MH fast rods from 7' to 7'6" as my preferred rod size. It gets some of that extra distance you want while having the backbone to deal with a fighting fish in the lily pads.

 

I'd like to add that to me this type of fishing can be abusive to rods so I don't use high end rods in heavy cover where I am pulling on snags and fish tangled up in it.

 

So over the years I have gravitated towards using my high end rods for less abusive fishing, and tend to use rods I won't cry about if it breaks in the lily pads.

 

So my current heavy cover "abuse" rod- the same one I caught a 7+ pound bass on last week, is a Bass Pro Pro Qualifier PQD76MHS. Its a medium heavy  with extra fast action and powerwall construction to help with the extra loading the lily pads can put on a rod.

 

https://www.basspro.com/p/bass-pro-shops-pro-qualifier-spinning-rod

 

"The Bass Pro Shops® Pro Qualifier® Spinning Rod is crafted using our exclusive RT3™ graphite with Powerwall™ construction, a specialized process that creates a strong, structurally enhanced rod blank with reduced wall thickness. Reducing the amount of material in the blank minimizes overall rod weight while enhancing sensitivity,"

 

When I hooked into a 7 pound plus bass last week here in Florida fishing the edge of cover, it handled the fish effortlessly. Not a bad rod for what you want to do.

 

BTW, another member here caught another 7+ bass about on the same day as mine. We swapped photos thru texts. His was fatter than mine. Mine was kind of long and skinny. It would have been a heavier fish at another time of the year. But it was caught doing the technique the OP is asking about.

 

I used a VMC 1/8oz. weighted #5 hook... or same hook with no weights sometimes. Either do about the same. One just casts a little further and has a faster sink rate.

 

 

And on this lure I was using a zoom swimming fluke Jr. I switched to white ice color because the water was stained like tea or coffee with low visibility, and I wanted the lure to have a little better visibility so I was working boat right down a grass line along shore casting back up into the lily pads on other side of grass and working it through the grass to open water and letting it drop deeper right on the edge of all that cover.

 

I was casting to new undisturbed water in front of the boat when a big one swirled on it about 2 feet down 1 to 2 feet right off cover in clear water. I set the hook and this rod was able to easily handle that fish and keep it out of cover with no problems, but it seemed like that fish wanted to turn tail and run towards middle of the lake to deeper water so I had no problems handling that fish with this $100 rod.

 

Oh, and the line I use is usually 20 to 25lb braid with no leader. I know a lot of guys think heavy cover and they use 50 or 60lb line. Like you I want to be able to cast it further. I like to troll around Florida lakes about 15 or 20 feet from cover and be able to cast all the way across it to shore and work the lure back to me through it all and then fish the edges before making another cast.

 

For this technique I always use a 4000 size reel.

 

This technique can be a lot of fun. Some bass literally jump out of the water trying to get at the lure. Fishing like this can produce explosive action repeatedly each trip out.

 

I just can't bring myself to pull out a $400 or $500 GLoomis rod and start abusing it in heavy cover. This is one of those techniques I choose cheaper rods for. Sensitivity is not an issue since I can see most of the lure strikes. I just want good backbone, and longer rod length for longer casts.

 

The one complaint about this rod I am presently using is the location of the hook keeper. If I use two hands to make a power cast, where they put the hook keeper on top middle of rod just above grip is right where my second hand and fingers go to on the top of the spinning rod and is uncomfortable to me. So I removed it and spun it around the blank to lower right side in the one spot that is the most out of the way location.

 

Good luck and let us know how you do!

I imagine a weightless 3 inch pit boss with hook is pushing 3/16 oz.  I'd go with a ML bass casting rod and a shallow-ish spool with 20 to 30 pound braid.  From what I already own I would use my Zodias BFS 610 ML with a Daiwa Fuego CT with the Ray's Studio long cast or Tatula Elite spool with some mono backer.  I'd also give the Tatula 80 a go but its small spool is heavy at 15 grams.  The Shimano MGL reels are also a good choice.   All the MGL spools are pretty light weight.  Even the 32mm of the Curado "150" is like 12 grams.

 

 

@Bigbox99- not throwing them into pads like the OP you wouldn't.  You'd throw the pit boss plenty well enough but you wouldn't get one back out of it.  

BigBox I have to agree with casts by fly on this one.

 

I would not recommend a ML rod for lily pads use, and I also would not recommend a baitcast rod/reel setup.

 

I think a ML rod is too light for lily pads. And a baitcast reel does not give one the pinpoint accuracy needed nor the casting distance for this technique.

 

Your recommendation would work for along the edges of cover in open water, but a ML rod might not be enough to handle a good sized fish to keep it out of cover or pull it out of cover. I'd go with a 7' to 7'6" MH fast or extra fast spinning rod.

 

I recommend spinning because I need instant pinpoint casting precision accuracy at longer distances than a baitcast setup can do- especially for lighter lures. Spinning setups can be reset and cast faster than a baitcast setup and this is important to me.

 

I go with as light of line as I can get away with so 20lb and no heavier than say 25lb to keep line weight down and get longer casts. I avoid the leaders as they simply are not necessary at all. Straight braid from reel to hook. And a slightly weighted hook works well- either a 4 or a 5 is where I am at with 1/8oz weight or hook with no weights.

 

A setup like this is just about perfect for long distance casting of lighter rubber lures over top of lily pads.

 

I'd keep the ML rods out of cover and in open clear water where they can be a lot of fun.

 

When I am fishing using this heavy cover technique on the MH rod, I have a medium rod laying on deck with a rat'l trap or spinner or jerkbait on it ready to cast in any direction for any schooling activity in the open water.

 

I'd be curious to read any comments of others who might choose a ML rod for lily pads and heavy cover? What would be the reasoning for it?

Do you have some sort of difficulty using a baitcast reel?  The accuracy and distance of baitcast vs spinning can be debated all day but not the rapid casting of baitcast vs spinning.  It's is well established that it is quicker to push a thumb bar and then turn the reel handle of a baitcast reel to enguage the reel than to wind the bait up to the tip with a spinning reel, but not too close to the tip, while rotating the rotor and bail into the casting position, fip a bail open, cast then close the bail by hand and then grab the handle knob ready to fish.

@Bigbox99 not sure who that last post was asking, but my logic for this is simple (I didn't elaborate much in the prior posts).  The OP is throwing something in the 1/4-3/16 oz range for total bait weight.  From a casting rod perspective, that will sit you around a ML/M for casting purposes.  You might have a MH that will do it if you have one with a light enough tip.  In a spinning setup, you have more flexibility when you get into the heavier rods to still be able to throw lighter lures.  On the cover side of this, he's throwing back into fairly thick pad fields.  This isn't an edge of the pads affair (where a ML would be fine).  He's throwing it truly into the pads where you need enough oomph to pull them back out or to hold them in place long enough to go in for them.  That's getting into 15 lb big game at a minimum or heavier mono or 30-40# braid (I prefer heavier for this application personally).  Neither of those choices is going to fish well with a Medium baitcaster.  The 30# braid might be okay, but even with 30 lb braid I wouldn't trust a medium baitcaster to be enough horse power.  So practically speaking he's going to need a 1/4-3/4 spinning rod with 30-40# braid (15 -17 lb mono would work but be a pain to manage on a spinnng rod).  Nothing to do with speed of casting or accuracy necessarily, just sheer power and managing the cover. 

I probably do have more difficulty with baitcast over spinning.

 

I am now a senior citizen in my 60's. Never thought I'd live this long, but I am getting weaker for sure even though I exercise and take care of myself, there is nothing I can do to beat mother nature in this game.

 

And it is my observation and opinion that I cannot cast any baitcast rod/reel setup as far nor as accurately as my spinning setups. Just not happening.

 

I can often nearly double the distance on a spinning rod and reel. And my accuracy on spinning is much better than baitcast especially at the distances I am talking about.

 

To me its all about getting that distance on the cast, and being able to put it where I want it. I simply cannot do it with any baitcaster. I just did a google search and asked the same question twice switching out reels and got this response:

 

How far can spinning reel cast?

 

"A spinning reel's casting distance can vary significantly, with beginners averaging 20–40 yards and experienced anglers potentially reaching 80–120 yards or more under optimal conditions."

 

How far can baitcast reel cast?

 

"A baitcasting reel can cast a distance anywhere from 30 yards to over 100 yards,"

 

Even google gives an edge in casting distance to spinning setups. But google does say a baitcast reel can cast as far, but requires more weight to do it.

 

And this thread is about casting lighter lures over heavy cover so that is why I tailored my response the way I did favoring spinning over baitcast for this situation.

 

When I am standing on my boat looking out over the water, and 15 feet of clear water between me and cover, and then the cover, and looking to clear open water behind cover to shore some 100 to 150 feet away on average, when I want an accurate cast to a pinpoint spot at the farthest distance I can cast to, I have to choose spinning for that. I simply cannot make a baitcaster do it as well or as fast.

 

Maybe a younger person can.

 

I think part of my problem with baitcasters is that I am a sidearm caster. I don't like to cast a baitcast setup over my head. Yet with spinning most of my casts are overhead with very few being sidearm casting.

 

This might have an effect on distance and accuracy at the tail end of the cast. Spinning is my top choice hands down for this type of fishing.

 

 

St Croix Victory VTS71MF spinning can easily perform the OP’s task.

Tom

I use a 7' mhmf baitcasting rod with a curado mgl 71hg and 15lb copoly for this exact task.  It works very well.  The reel can cast weightless plastics with ease and distance, and the mod fast rod really helps to load the light bait in the cast.

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

@Bigbox99 not sure who that last post was asking, but my logic for this is simple (I didn't elaborate much in the prior posts).  The OP is throwing something in the 1/4-3/16 oz range for total bait weight.  From a casting rod perspective, that will sit you around a ML/M for casting purposes.  You might have a MH that will do it if you have one with a light enough tip.  In a spinning setup, you have more flexibility when you get into the heavier rods to still be able to throw lighter lures.  On the cover side of this, he's throwing back into fairly thick pad fields.  This isn't an edge of the pads affair (where a ML would be fine).  He's throwing it truly into the pads where you need enough oomph to pull them back out or to hold them in place long enough to go in for them.  That's getting into 15 lb big game at a minimum or heavier mono or 30-40# braid (I prefer heavier for this application personally).  Neither of those choices is going to fish well with a Medium baitcaster.  The 30# braid might be okay, but even with 30 lb braid I wouldn't trust a medium baitcaster to be enough horse power.  So practically speaking he's going to need a 1/4-3/4 spinning rod with 30-40# braid (15 -17 lb mono would work but be a pain to manage on a spinnng rod).  Nothing to do with speed of casting or accuracy necessarily, just sheer power and managing the cover. 

I'm just really perplexed by the statement that a spinning reel is faster to rapid cast than a baitcast reel.  Anyways, I don't feel like playing baitcast reel internet defense force and derail a thread in an unrelated tangent over casting speed and reel operation.

Its just my opinion I think I can operate a spinning rig faster than I can a baitcast reel.

 

For me it is all about longer distance accuracy more than speed. But when I see a bass actively feeding 150 feet away near shore and I want to cast to it quickly, I really need the accuracy a spinning setup offers me. My baitcast sidearm just is not as accurate.

 

When I am standing on boat looking at say a small hole in the lily pads- say a 2 or 3 foot wide open hole I want to drop a lure into and its 150 feet away on backside- shore side of lily pads, I am more accurate with spinning than baitcast probably due in part to being a sidearm caster with a baitcast reel.

 

With a spinning rig I may be able to hit it accurately in one cast, maybe two. But less accurate at that distance with baitcast if I can reach it at all with a baitcast reel. Maybe I can hit it accurately, but it might take more casting for me to put it where I want it with a baitcast reel.

 

The OP is getting the info they requested I do believe, and I don't see the thread derailing over discussion on why to choose one or the other. It might help them decide.

 

The key here is light rubber lures only. I think spinning is a better option.

18 hours ago, LootyDjibouti said:

I’m searching for rods to throw small, weightless soft plastics over pads. 

I like throwing 3” pit bosses weightless but they’re quite small. Im currently using a 6’10M spinning rod rated 1/16-1/2oz. They (Halo) make a casting rod of the same length, power, and rating. 

It works, but I’d like more casting distance since I’m steadily reeling these across the top and sometimes they’re way back in the pads. But it needs to have enough power to get them out of there, hence the dilemma. 

TIA. 

 Since your current setup, throwing a 3-inch bait with a medium spinning rig, "works,"

you're probably targeting smaller bass.  Successfully and routinely hooking & landing

healthy 4 lb-plus bass from any distance in a thick-stemmed lilypad field, is rarely accomplished with anything medium.  More heartbreak than anything else. So there's that. 

I recommend ditching the spinning gear, go all in on a frogging setup with at least 40 lb braid

and get to work.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

 

 

When the OP says his medium spinning works he maybe saying it works to cast the weightless Pit Boss. Getting the bass out of a pad field is another story!  Braid will cut through Lilly pad stems depending on how dense the pads are. 
Trying to convince the OP to use bait casting isn’t productive if he doesn’t like bait casting.

Tom

2 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Trying to convince the OP to use bait casting isn’t productive if he doesn’t like bait casting.

Unless I am missing something, OP never said that.

 

The request for the rod includes a rod that will allow more casting distance.  No mention that OP only wants to stick with a spinning rod.

7 minutes ago, Rockhopper said:

Unless I am missing something, OP never said that.

 

The request for the rod includes a rod that will allow more casting distance.  No mention that OP only wants to stick with a spinning rod.

Currently using spinning, let the OP reply!

Tom

5 hours ago, WRB-2.0 said:

St Croix Victory VTS71MF spinning can easily perform the OP’s task.

Tom

I just purchased one of these and cannot wait to try it!😉

Thanks fellas.

 

I love throwing a frog. However the bass here in south jersey (like elsewhere) are very pressured and in my experience there are times the steady retrieve of a tiny pit boss generates reaction strikes that the frog just doesn’t. 
 

I throw a horny toad too, but it has a tendency to get stuck in the pads more. I also like the pit boss’s ability to be dropped into and then out of the smallest of crevices during the retrieve. 

4 minutes ago, LootyDjibouti said:

Thanks fellas.

 

I love throwing a frog. However the bass here in south jersey (like elsewhere) are very pressured and in my experience there are times the steady retrieve of a tiny pit boss generates reaction strikes that the frog just doesn’t. 
 

I throw a horny toad too, but it has a tendency to get stuck in the pads more. I also like the pit boss’s ability to be dropped into and then out of the smallest of crevices during the retrieve. 

Prefer spinning or casting?
Tom

My opinion is that you're better off pitching and flipping to targets in the lily pads rather than casting into them.