Looking for a new fishing rod? Having a hard time choosing the right one? Here are some quick tips to help you choose the right rod for your needs.

If you are looking for info and tips regarding choosing the right reel, you find our reel selection guides HERE >>

1. What kind of reel do you have? A Spinning Reel or a Baitcaster?  

The most common and all-around rod is the classic spinning rod with a spinning reel attached to it. It is easy to handle and gives overall good control, long casts, and good abilities to fight a fish. A classic spinning combo is also the first step for many beginners while a baitcaster setup is perhaps the next step in your fishing.  

A casting rod with a baitcaster reel is on many occasions more precise and accurate in its casting, control, and ability to fight your fish than spinning reel. 

2. Rod Length

The rod length basically decides how far you can cast and the overall control of your rod. Longer rods make longer casts in general. While shorter rods give you more control but shorter casts. Fishing from a boat or a kayak a shorter rod is preferred choice, while fishing from the shore along banks the longer rod gives a big advantage. 

Shorter rods are usually between 5-7 feet (152-213 cm). These models are easier to handle, often more powerful when you are targeting larger fish in general. A 7 feet (213 cm) rod is a great length to start with. A good all-round choice for many different situations and species. 

Longer rods are usually from 8-14 feet (243-426 cm) and are more suitable for shore fishing with waders or from the bank. But still 8-9 feet (243-274 cm) rods are very popular in predator fishing from boats around the world. 

3. Casting weight

What kind of species are you targeting = what kind of lures are you casting? The weight of the lure set its own requirements on the rod. Each rod has the recommended casting weight marked on the rod. Using a too soft rod for a heavy lure makes it hard to control the cast and might even break the rod. Whereas a very stiff a rod will not give you long casts when using very light lures and jigs.

4. Action

The fast-action rods are often very sensitive and register every single bite. The rod bends mostly at the upper part of the tip and is very responsive with a quick snap back. These rods are very good for a powerful hook set and will work very well with single hooks; anything from finesse fishing creature baits and worms to standard, mid, and larger traditional jigs. A fast heavy action rod is also ideal when fishing areas with a lot of vegetation to pull your lures out of the grass or pull a fish out. 

Moderate/Medium-action and slow-action rods have a deeper bend through of all the rods in general. Therefore, they give you more versatility overall. Medium-action and slow-action rods work well with both single hooks and trebles. A broad spectrum between everything from smaller fish to the big ones. Usually, the medium action rods bend from the top of the tip to the middle of the rod while the slow rods are quite soft and bend starting from the lower third of the rod.
Moderate/Medium-action rod provides good casting abilities and a good hook-set rating. For the long casts, smaller lures, and fighting even the smallest species (for example Perch), a slow (light) action rod can be great. However, the hookset capacity is a bit lower compared to a fast or medium-fast rod. But as soon as you have set that hook, fighting the fish, and keeping that tension will be much easier.

5. Power

The power of your rod dedicates how much the rod will bend at a certain weight. 

The main rod powers are:  Heavy, Medium, and Light. 

There are also rods with the power marking XH (Extra Heavy), XXH (Extra Extra Heavy) or XXXH. The heavier the rod power is, it takes more weight to bend. In big predator fishing XH, XXH and XXXH are very common markings. See for example Fate Black GateKeeper.

If you are looking for a common all-around rod, we recommend:

• Rod length 7 feet
• Casting weight around 10-30 or 15-40 grams
• Action: Medium Fast or Fast
• Power: Medium or Heavy

HERE ARE SOME OF RAPALA'S ROD RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COMMON PREDATOR SPECIES

For Pike and Big Predators, we recommend rod to to have the following specifications:

• 8-9 feet (243-274 cm)
• Casting weight up to 130 g
• Action: Fast
• Power: Heavy to XXX Heavy (3xExtra Heavy) power

For Perch, we recommend the rod to have the following specifications:

• 7 -8 feet (213-243 cm)
• Casting weight 5-25g
• Action: Medium Fast to Fast
• Power: Medium light to Medium power

For Trout, we recommend the rod to have the following specifications:

• 7-8 feet (213-243 cm)
• Casting weight 15-40g
• Action: Medium to Fast 
• Power: Light, Medium-light or Medium

For Jigging / Zander, we recommend the rod to have the following specifications:

• 7-8 feet (213-243 cm)
• Casting weight 15-40g
• Action: Fast 
• Power: Medium-light or Medium