Looking on a ugly Stik 7ft elite medium... Would it be sufficient for fishing on the pier and freshwater? The pier recommends 3-5 oz for sinkers as I'm told and wonder would the ugly Stik cast that weight?
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by ohmuhguds
I mean, it could but it is highly nonoptimal. What type of freshwater? Something like steelhead, cats and carp you would probably rather look at the ugly stik elite salmon rod.
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by HarryBigBawls
I'm not even sure... I was hoping there would be a OK rod that can do light/small fish and big fish if needed.
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by ohmuhguds
That rod is a good rod for the money... I have the 7' 2 piece medium version I keep in my truck for random fishing opportunities in freshwater. I'd probably be fine using it for specs or grunts inshore, but it's way way too light for even a calm day pier fishing for anything but bait. It's rated for 1/4 to 5/8oz, so those 1oz+ sinkers for even moderate current are too much for it... casting a big 5-6oz you might use on a heavy current/waves day would probably snap it.
I would pick whichever you do the most and build a combo for that first... for pier fishing, you want a salt water rated rod, and in Ugly Stik that'd be the Tiger line primarily... For example, a 7' medium Tiger (regular version) is rated for 1oz to 6oz lures so that'd be a good pier rod... even the biggest sinkers you'd regularly use wouldn't be an issue.
For a do it all rod, you could maybe use a saltwater inshore rod rated for in the 3/4-2oz range for lighter pier fishing and then heavy freshwater fishing like throwing big bass jigs, striper or catfish cut bait rigs, etc, but otherwise for most common freshwater lures that's pretty excessive. I'd go with the two which will be much better at their respective uses.
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by aRushinTroll
Ah... thank you. Trying to keep everything simple and bummer to hear :( Would the saltwater rods be sensitive enough for small lakes?
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by ohmuhguds
A good pier fishing rod would likely be way too heavy for smaller water fishing. The reason being, is that a trout or bass lure at 1/4oz, 1/2oz etc isn't going to make a heavy rod rated for 2-6oz lures or whatever flex nearly at all, so you're going to get VERY little casting distance... that flex or "loading up" is where you get a lot of your distance. That and the line you'd have on a big combo like that is going to affect the way the lure behaves and be more likely to spook fish... that size 5000-6000 reel can't even handle small diameter line like you'd want on a lighter combo with a 2000-3000 size reel for most freshwater use. Plus it'll be heavy as anything... you don't want to be flipping bass jigs all day on a combo that could easily weigh 3lbs. (I know that doesn't sound like much, but my heavier pitching/flipping combo for bass weighs about 12oz total).
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by aRushinTroll
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