Hey I hope everyone is doing well so far this year. I was just curious what opinions are out there about medium light power casting rods? I know it's not seen very often compared to the favored powers but I feel like it would be a cool option to have. I was thinking it would be fun for small squarebills, jerkbaits, topwater. maybe using 8 or 10 pound mono or fluorocarbon. What are your thoughts? thanks

I use a lot of medium light casting gear. Traditionally you didn't see a lot of ML rods because the reels weren't capable of casting at the lower half of the range that those rods typically have, but capable reels are becoming more and more common and therefore the rods are now as well. If you're looking at using such rods, you definitely want to pay attention to your reel's casting capabilities. Very important.

I especially like 70 or 80 sized reels for these rods. Not as specialized as reels typically labeled "BFS" which are often very purposefully designed for much lighter lures and therefore have more drawbacks. The biggest limitation a 70/80 class reel has is usually line capacity but I think more and more people over time have come to recognize that your traditional 100 class line capacities are really more than we often need in actual practice.

You may want something even more specialized to hit that 1/8 or 3.5g size that is often at the bottom end of many ML rods, but I find in practice that most rods don't cast their low ends particularly well and that 3/16 or 5g size is really more of the lower end that we tend to actually use in finesse bass fishing. That's about an 1/8 oz jig and 2 inch plastic, so very, very common and when a lot of people say they're throwing 1/8 they're really throwing more like 3/16 due to this.

20 minutes ago, brophog said:

I use a lot of medium light casting gear. Traditionally you didn't see a lot of ML rods because the reels weren't capable of casting at the lower half of the range that those rods typically have, but capable reels are becoming more and more common and therefore the rods are now as well. If you're looking at using such rods, you definitely want to pay attention to your reel's casting capabilities. Very important.

I especially like 70 or 80 sized reels for these rods. Not as specialized as reels typically labeled "BFS" which are often very purposefully designed for much lighter lures and therefore have more drawbacks. The biggest limitation a 70/80 class reel has is usually line capacity but I think more and more people over time have come to recognize that your traditional 100 class line capacities are really more than we often need in actual practice.

You may want something even more specialized to hit that 1/8 or 3.5g size that is often at the bottom end of many ML rods, but I find in practice that most rods don't cast their low ends particularly well and that 3/16 or 5g size is really more of the lower end that we tend to actually use in finesse bass fishing. That's about an 1/8 oz jig and 2 inch plastic, so very, very common and when a lot of people say they're throwing 1/8 they're really throwing more like 3/16 due to this.

thanks for your thoughts on this. yes I'm a fan of 70 to 150 size reels, im not a big fan of 200 size. I would probably put my curado 70 on the rod or my metanium 100. I was thinking throwing lures around 1/4oz. Do you think 1/4oz lures are a good choice for medium light?

10 minutes ago, BassSteve said:

thanks for your thoughts on this. yes I'm a fan of 70 to 150 size reels, im not a big fan of 200 size. I would probably put my curado 70 on the rod or my metanium 100. I was thinking throwing lures around 1/4oz. Do you think 1/4oz lures are a good choice for medium light?

Absolutely. Excellent options for a ML rod.

4 minutes ago, brophog said:

Absolutely. Excellent options for a ML rod.

how much backbone would you say it has? say I was using a 3" swimbait with light wire jig head. Do you think it still has enough to get a good hookset?

9 minutes ago, BassSteve said:

how much backbone would you say it has? say I was using a 3" swimbait with light wire jig head. Do you think it still has enough to get a good hookset?

That's going to depend on the exact rod you're using. Every rod manfacturer tends to have a little different idea of what a ML rod is in terms of power. Plus you can have a ML rod power that is moderate action so it bends much closer towards the middle part of the rod or a ML fast action that bends closer to the tip. A moderate-fast action sits somewhere between those. Generally, your more moderate rods will tend to cast further because more of the rod is allowed to easily bend on the cast but your faster rods provide better hook setting power as less of the rod tip wants to bend. Keep in mind, this stuff isn't set in stone, there is a lot of nuance here that these terms don't adequately convey.

You're using a moving bait with an exposed, light wire hook. That's a good recipe for a hookset.

Conversely, let's assume you had a 1/4oz Texas rigged plastic just sitting on the bottom with a thicker hook. That fish may not be committed to taking it, you have a thicker hook that has to penetrate not only the plastic but then the fish. That's not a good recipe for a hookset. In that situation, even though you may be casting the same weight, here you would probably want a more powerful rod like a Medium or even Medium Heavy and in a Fast action.

A true ML is starting into BFS territory. A “true” BFS rod is in the light or lighter range. I use quotes use to mean the origin of BFS. Right now in the market, BFS has expanded from where it started to getting into light bass applications that casting rods haven’t been before. That said, every rod is different and in the market right now there are options for everything. If you think about a medium being 1/4-5/8, then a ML is more 1/8-1/2. Every manufacturer is different, but that’s a nominal way to think about it. And there are a lot of manufacturers that are making casting rods in that realm now. I love my Cara BFS rod which is basically a 7’2” ML spinning rod build on casting gear rated 1/16-5/16 (but the spinning blank is 1/8-5/8). Great for all the things you mention. I have an aldebaran on it but for what I do I should swap one of my zillions onto it. Phenix has a couple rods in that range as do others. If you like throwing that 1/4 oz range a lot then why not?

1 hour ago, brophog said:

That's going to depend on the exact rod you're using. Every rod manfacturer tends to have a little different idea of what a ML rod is in terms of power. Plus you can have a ML rod power that is moderate action so it bends much closer towards the middle part of the rod or a ML fast action that bends closer to the tip. A moderate-fast action sits somewhere between those. Generally, your more moderate rods will tend to cast further because more of the rod is allowed to easily bend on the cast but your faster rods provide better hook setting power as less of the rod tip wants to bend. Keep in mind, this stuff isn't set in stone, there is a lot of nuance here that these terms don't adequately convey.

You're using a moving bait with an exposed, light wire hook. That's a good recipe for a hookset.

Conversely, let's assume you had a 1/4oz Texas rigged plastic just sitting on the bottom with a thicker hook. That fish may not be committed to taking it, you have a thicker hook that has to penetrate not only the plastic but then the fish. That's not a good recipe for a hookset. In that situation, even though you may be casting the same weight, here you would probably want a more powerful rod like a Medium or even Medium Heavy and in a Fast action.

yeah I'm a fan of more moderate action rods, even when fishing Texas rig or chatterbaits/spinnerbaits. I just like the feel. when it comes to this lower power medium light rod though, im probably going to stick with fast action. to be honest most light power rods I have ever seen are almost always fast action. maybe because there is not much backbone to begin with they dont also want to make it moderate lol.

1 hour ago, casts_by_fly said:

A true ML is starting into BFS territory. A “true” BFS rod is in the light or lighter range. I use quotes use to mean the origin of BFS. Right now in the market, BFS has expanded from where it started to getting into light bass applications that casting rods haven’t been before. That said, every rod is different and in the market right now there are options for everything. If you think about a medium being 1/4-5/8, then a ML is more 1/8-1/2. Every manufacturer is different, but that’s a nominal way to think about it. And there are a lot of manufacturers that are making casting rods in that realm now. I love my Cara BFS rod which is basically a 7’2” ML spinning rod build on casting gear rated 1/16-5/16 (but the spinning blank is 1/8-5/8). Great for all the things you mention. I have an aldebaran on it but for what I do I should swap one of my zillions onto it. Phenix has a couple rods in that range as do others. If you like throwing that 1/4 oz range a lot then why not?

yes exactly, I already have my "bfs" setup. its the shimano scorpion bfs with the dobyns sierra light power rod. I want something a tad stronger, hence the medium light. I dont want medium power since I already have a few mediums. I think it will be a blast catching 5 pound fish with it. I plan to use 1/4oz lures but possibly lighter.

The two ML casting rods that I have feel very different from each other. Phenix Feather ML is a light BFS rod. ALX also makes two “Medium-Light+” rods - one at 6’8” called the Twitch, and the 7’2” they call the Splittail. Both rods feel almost like a true Medium to me, but are good rods for things like soft plastic jerkbaits.

I have a 1st gen 13 Fishing Omen Black and a Kistler Helium in ML/F, which are both 7'. I use a Shimano Core and SLX XT DC 70 on them. Their actions are very similar. They're my Ned, small paddle tail, and Senko rods.

I have a few Shimano Sensilites. They are an economic gateway into light BC rods. You can’t expect these rods to punch a 4/0 hook through an unweighted beaver, but the do a great job with light wire hooks and trebles. My general rule is I’m using braid with any larger single hooks, and copoly with everything else. It works for me. Fishing Spook Jrs on these rods to schooling fish is one of my favorite applications.

I have the feather that frydog mentions (because he told me to buy it) and it is rated 1/4-5/8. A touch more moderate than I wanted but it’s a good rod to consider. I moved on to the Cara BFS 7’2” and that’s what I was looking for. They call it bfs but it isn’t. I can throw a true 1/16 oz on it with an aldebaran on it but mostly it stays rigged with a 4” piece of plastic and a 1/16-1/8 oz piece of lead (jig head minnow, light Texas rig, etc) as a spinning rod replacement.