Popper Rod

[Ben G]

Hi all ,

I am after some advice or a starting point to find a popper rod. The reel is a daiwa dog fight with probably 80 to 100 pd braid and lure sizes will range from 100 grams and up. I was hoping to find an off the shelf job. Any ideas??

Thanks Ben

[Horse]

Go and check out Fishead at Vicky point or Jones' Tackle. Either of them will give you plenty of options

[Scott79]

Could try Wellsys for a look at their Calstar Grafighter range. They stock the GF700XH which is rated 40-100 pound (although web site says 24-37kg).
Perhaps a little "old school" to the dedicated GT Popping crew using Fisher / Carpenter etc, but pretty good value IMO.
I went for the GF700H recently with a Saragosa 18000 and 80 braid- feels good, heaps of grunt. Haven't had it out yet throwing poppers around, but certainly bought it with this in mind. Went for the "H" version (30-80 pound) as it has more sensitivity than the "XH"
Scott.

[Lovey80]

Ben I have a Shimano GT special and would only advise buying one if your looking at casting poppers in the size of a Halco haymaker or larger. Although the larger river 2 sea popps casted ok anything smaller just doesnt cast IMO. For the larger poppers though its pretty good with heaps of grunt.

One issue is its realy hard to break apart sometimes.

Cheers

Chris

[Pistol_P]

One of the best 'Off the shelf' rods is the Shimano GT special.
It is capable of fishing 100lb braid to the limit and IMO is best suited to 80lb and 100lb.....It is quite a brutal rod and poppers around 120g - 150g are excellent for the rod.
Once you leave this price range you start looking at some serious dollars.
Zenaqs,Smiths etc.......Which as the others mentioned 'Fishhead' can help you with.

Pete

[Barraholic]

Hey Ben, I think I know what trip this rod is for........

I bought the GT Special for the trip and as Pistol Pete said, it comes with a good reputation for the $ - certainly feels like an elephant gun after barra gear!!

PM if you want to come round and have a look at it if you can't find one in a local tackle shop.... .

Cheers
Kev

[diabolical]

Daiwa make a monster mesh in an 8'3" popper rod pe6-8 200gram $350+ freight from MO tackle. Not sure what they are like but my pe6-8 jig rod is nice to use and very well built and finished.

Very light rods may well come in under the tcurve.

[sulla]

as most ppl have mentioned fishead has a zenaq and smith and patriot design pd's which are probly the most expensive you can get out of this world price wise and nearly double the others . some of the top brands for popper rods are carpenter, ripple fisher, zaneq i have a zenaq and a ripple fisher both though are not gt rods but the tuna casting rods the zenaq rated 4-6 pe and ripple at 6 pe this rods im using with for 50-60 lb briad and suit what im after the workmanship is fantastic so wouldnt hestitae to buy one of there gt rods . prefer the butt on the zenaq though its longer and desgned more egnomically fishhead is the only place for zenaq for ripple fisher and carpenter you can order them from nomad sport fishing however sometimes its cheaper to order them overseas cant with zenaq they have funny rules o/s online tackle store plat has carpenter also fisheman rods got my ripple fisher through oriental angler store seems they the only site online i can find them

[Ben G]

Thanks everyone, I have plenty of options to pursue now,

Cheers Ben