It’s been a dilemma for anglers through the ages, as fishing gear advanced; the options for anglers grew and expand. From bamboo to boron, graphite to glass and beyond every rod had its benefits, but also downfalls. Anglers have long been forced to choose between the sensitivity and strength of graphite and the parabolic flex and action of glass. But the game has changed, thanks to Witch Doctor Tackle.
The Surman 50G gives you the best of both worlds in a transitional blank that provides the soft tip of a fiberglass crankbait rod with the stiff and strong backbone of a graphite stick. To have a rod that I can comfortably throw moving baits and treble hooks on without giving up sensitivity or strength is an absolute game changer. I can absorb the shock from hard pulsing crankbaits, vibrating jigs, and blades while still feeling the slightest of pickups on a baits fall.
The Upper Mississippi River in fall can be a magical place, and a bucket list destination for bass anglers anywhere. Fish school up and aggressively chase bait on sand drops and around current seams. One of my favorite ways to fish during this time of year is to grab a 4” swimbait rigged on a 1/4-3/8 ounce jighead and swim or bounce it along the edges of heavy current.
In the past, I’ve used a typical 6’-7’ medium or medium heavy spinning rod to do the job. I liked being able to feel the bottom structure as I bounced a jig and feeling the subtle bite as my bait drifted down the current. My biggest problem was that these graphite rods were not very forgiving to the multitude of rocks and snags and also didn’t have the play I needed in the rod to fight fish out of current without pulling hooks.
My first experience with the Surman 50G, was with the 6’6” spinning rod and I used it in in a situation very similar to what I described above. I was fishing a rocky culvert with moving water slow swimming a swimbait near the bottom and I could feel everything. Every rock, every sparse clump of weeds, every contour change only this time I was able to pop the bait off of cover and snags with ease and when I felt a bite the rod loaded up with ease and the glass tip gave me the extra time I needed to reel down and pin the fish.
The fight was effortless and letting the rod do all the work getting the extra play in tip, the fish wore out and I didn’t. It was a 24” walleye, my biggest of the season to that point and since then I have put the rod further to the test with everything from 4 pound smallmouth to 35” pike and it has been a breeze.
These hybrid type rods really usher in a completely different style of fishing where anglers don’t feel they have to sacrifice the qualities they love about their graphite rods in order to throw treble hook and moving baits. You aren’t limited to just hard trebled baits either, swimbaits, spinnerbaits, even some jigging techniques benefit greatly from the extra give of a fiberglass tip.
The next time you’re in the market for a do-it-all, workhorse rod that will do all the work for you, see why there really is such a thing as getting the best of both worlds!
