Surf fishing (spinning) rods for jerkbait halibut in Socal area?

[reason162]

I forgot about Black Hole's Suzuki Special Ultralight line. Probably perfect for your needs.

The BH "UL" is a buggy whip compared to real suzuki rods like the Labrax/Lunamis - wasn't impressed with the old or new ones at all.

[d510addict]

Oh I don't doubt it. But JDM rods aren't thr easiest to get. I built the 10 ft light model for Surf Perch. Came in at under 7 ounces and could throw .75 to 1.5 oz out of sight. They are a great budget surf rod. Better than anything off the shelf for surf (at least on thr West Coast). Personally I would get the 8 ft Carolina Cast Pro blank. 130 bucks plus shipping. Throw Fuji KLH guides (size 25 12 6 with 5.5 runners) An Alps MVT spinning seat and carbon skin grips. That would be an extraordinary rod for up to 1.5 ounces. Tommy Farmer designs, tests and overload tests the piss of the blanks and fishes them (and is a Champion distance caster, so he knows how to push a rod). And his ratings are spot on. The my 10 ft that I built can launch 1-3 ounces with all my weight into it. Can cast 4-5 to fishable distance, though I don't like fishing if I need 5.

[dragon1]

Looking for a 2 piece rod, preferably 9' to throw primarily a LC 110 on 20lb braid to 12-14lb fluoro. Been using a 9' too floppy Fenwick steelhead rod for a while. Tried to upgrade to a 9' Phenix trifecta lite as it came highly recommended but they sent me a presumably defective one that was nearly impossible to get the 2 pieces together. After a bad/weird customer service experience, I'm just going to return it as I have no interest in supporting the company at this point.

Looking to keep it below $300. Obviously rod specs vary but looking for something M-MH rated for roughly 8-20lb, 3/8-1oz and most likely fast action but there might be some moderate fast rods out there that would fit the bill. Pretty set on 9' multipiece. 8'6" could work but 8' just brings me to the territory where I'd do something dumb and go with a very high end single piece rod probably. On the other end, 9'6"+ is just too much rod for what I'm doing

21 Labrax AGS 90ML - perfect for what you want to do.

I use it for flounder/albies from shore - https://youtu.be/beG9Z4pQgYg

I always enjoy this guy's reviews...I like the one where he compares his Labrax vs his cousin's rod pick...funny video.

BTW to the OP...perhaps look into the Shimano Hard Rocker series. I have an 8'3" MH 2-piece and have tossed 5/16 oz Daiwa poppers and 1/2 Megabass Pop Max with ease and control, as well as a 1/3 oz Zip N Ziggy...all the way up to XCalibur 100 lipless (1 oz bait).

[dragon1]

If you can find one a Ballistick 86M TZ/NANO would be a great option and fall into your price range.

Here is a youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z96wmT4TJqM

There are a variety of similar JDM rods, as they make big use of rods like this for shore saltwater fishing.

I certainly love my Yamaga Blanks Blue Current III 82B so I concur on the quality of this brand.

Here's a 9'4" Ballistick TZ/Nano on sale:

https://jdmtackleheaven.com/collections ... z-nano-963

[reason162]

Oh I don't doubt it. But JDM rods aren't thr easiest to get.

Not difficult - https://ebay.us/7IhuQk

Click buy it now, and the rod will arrive at your doorstep within 3 business days. Doesn't get easier than that!

[reason162]

I always enjoy this guy's reviews...I like the one where he compares his Labrax vs his cousin's rod pick...funny video.

Ty!

[Senkobass1]

The Saltist Inshore West coast series is hard to beat for the price. Has the taper you want for a 110 for sure. I use the ML 9 foot, and my buddy uses the 9 foot M. Both are killer for the 110 and we have got some serious fish on them. Biggest was a 6 lb bonito off of Catalina using small jigs. I like the ML because it doubles as a Carolina perch rod too.

[oops]

I think you may have hit a home run here. Looks like the exact specs I'm looking for. I won't go to prison for putting an Exsence on a Daiwa rod, right?

I have a Stella on mine and so far remain a free man

But yeah I've owned or tried many JDM "suzuki" rods in that rough price range - Dialuna/Lunamis Palms up to the new Branzino AGS - the 21 Labrax was the one I kept. If you're going a little lighter that 90L is crazy light/balanced with enough oomph to land teener stripers and bluefish.

Funny you mention the Dialuna, I actually ended up ordering one instead of the Labrax after debating for a while. Same specs, a fair bit less expensive and I thought the aesthetics were sweet. I've had it for well over a week but haven't had a chance to fish with it yet. It feels perfect in my hands for what I'm looking for, but I need to get some time on the water, followed by some respectable fish to really know. I'm such an inexperienced surf fisherman that going from my $60 Fenwick Steelhead rod I got on Amazon to this $200 stick will probably be as big of a game changer as when I got my first NRX in 2010


Phenix really outdid themselves with the poor customer service. Sent the rod back a day or two after they sent me the return receipt almost 3 weeks ago. No correspondence that they ever received the rod or issued me a refund so I'll have to check my credit card statement. I wouldn't fish one of their rods if you gave me one for free after this experience. I've always fished what I liked because I trusted it but I try to keep an open mind. The only good thing about my poor experience with Phenix is that it pointed me in the direction of a huge variety of JDM rods at a comparable price range that I will probably enjoy more. If I like the Dialuna, I'd definitely be open to a more premium offering and possibly a longer rod. It's really a bummer that quality USDM stuff is so aggressively largemouth bass and heavy saltwater gear focused. JDM UL gear and apparently surf gear just seems light years ahead. At least there's accidentally some great USDM inshore gear since a lot of the premium bass stuff works really well