World Changing Information

 Adventure Location: Rockport, Texas

Adventure Date: 11-09-2020

Click the pic to enlarge it.

Sometimes the OFM just has to find out the answer to a question that bugs him.  Today we set up to answer the critically important life changing and universe saving question.  How much casting difference is there between his 6‘-6“ fishing rod and the same model in 7‘-0“?

First we took the lazy way and searched the Internet for a well done test on the subject. There was not even one test to be found. LOTS AND LOTS of opinions without any factual testing.

Here is what got tested. The OFM uses mainly the Storm Wild Eye Shad lure in 1/4 ounce size for his fishing. He had been happy with his rods performances except he could not tell when casting into the water how much farther the longer rod casted the lure.

The rods are Shimano Sojurn rods that are lower end good performing rods. We use 10# Power Pro braid line. The reel is a well experienced Shimano Syncopate of lower end  also.

We used the same lure, reel and line on each rod. We do not care about a couple of inches difference like some of the more rigorous Internet nonsense that we found. We were concerned about only real use situations while fishing.

So bright and early this morning we got over to the big sandy open area of the Rockport Beach Park to do the test. A line was scratched in the sand near Sierra where the casting would be done from.

The 6.5 foot rod started the party. The OFM made several casts to make sure he was warmed up and could be fairly consistent. Then he made three casts for the record. After the first cast he went down and scratched a line in the sand. This picture shows the layout and the beautiful hot sunny day with nearly no wind we were working with.

The red line is where the first distance scratch in the sand was made.  After two more casts we got a surprise.  All three casts were within a spread of only about 6 inches in distance.

Now the reel, line and lure was switched to the 7 foot rod.  A couple of casts were made to let the OFM be sure he was adjusted to the new rod length feel.  Then he did three for the record casts. To our surprise all three casts were also clustered in a 6 inch spread like from the shorted rod.  We were feeling good the results seemed to be so repetitive. 

In this next picture there is a line shown for the 6.5 foot rod and a line shown for the 7 foot rod. Yep there was only about two feet of longer casts from the 7 foot rod.  This is great to know. Keep in mind this applies only to using a light weight very wind resistant lure.

How far did the casts go?  The 60 feet mark was centered between the two  marks in the sand. So for all practical purposes we can consider the casting distance for each rod with this frequently used lure to be the same. We are pretty sure the OFM’s repeatability of casting is much less than the equipment. We had expected at least ten feet more from the longer rod. WRONG.

We got very lucky also because the Castle is needing some more 2x8 leveling blocks after 15 years of use. Right there on the shore was an old treated wood eight foot long 2x8 just waiting for us. Now all the OFM needs to do is dry the board out and cut it up to the correct lengths.

With the news about the rods and a good board all  before noon, we were definitely on our way to a great day of trying to have tooooo much fun.