[Kevin Bogan]

Most anglers, Party boat, charter and private are happy to see that the weather till now has been cooperative, reasonably warm, and more importantly a great mix of bottom species. Cod, Ling, Blackfish, Sea Bass,Poprgies just to name a few. This thread is intended to help understand what it takes to put a few more fish in the cooler, and which rod to use.
Material: We could argue all day, which is better, Graphite, E Glass? The primary difference between each material is that graphite fibers are "stiffer" giving a "stiff" feel to a rod, while E Glass is "softer" giving a soft feel to the rod. Manufacturers would have you believe such nonsense that certain materials are "lighterweight", but the actual difference is minimal. Some claim more "sensitive". Sensitivity has little to do with a fishing rod, it is an ability.
A skilled fisherman can feel all he needs to feel with the least sensitive rod, simply because he knows what he is feeling.
Rod Taper: This is the single most important characteristic of a rod that performs well. Fast taper is one where the rod generally bends in the tip area. The bottom portion barely bends. This is a great action for Tuna, and other top water species. As fish runs off line, the angler can put a good deal of pressure on the fish to slow him down and tire him.
Medium or slow tapers bend more in the mid section. So often someone says, "I want a fast taper rod to go bottom fishing". This leads me to believe that the person is not aware of what fast realy means. The advantage of medium to slower tapers is that they give a "shock absorbing" flex as you reel in a fish. As the fish attempts to "surge" away from you, the extra "give", or what I call the "slow load" helps to prevent a lip hooked fish from becoming dislodged, line breakage, and in fact works like a fine tuned drag on a reel.
There needs to be a little give and take. E glass has a natural ability to perform as described. Graphite can as well, but it must have a slower taper. Look at the legend/description of the rod that you own. If it says "Fast" and it's graphite, this is a sure combination of "more lost fish". High modulas graphite flexes even less, making higher cost graphite rods perform to lower levels than expected. Low modulas [ a measure ment of resistance to bending, or stiffness]teamed with medium taper makes the best performing graphite rod. When a Blackfish goes bananas, pulls out all his tricks to get you back into the wreck, just engage the proper taper, and in short time he will know he is in big trouble. If a doormat Fluke starts to go into "evasive tactics", the natural shock absorbing qualities of "slow load" tapers will give you the best chance of getting him to the boat.
Slow Load=Dead Fish