The Importance Of Matching Your Lure Weight To Your Rod Rating
- By: Luke Simonds
- on August 9, 2021
If you want to maximize your inshore setup, make sure you are using the right rod with the lures you’ll be using!
It’s really important that you’re matching the weight of your lure to your rod’s recommended weight.
In this new video, learn why this is crucial for casting and why the total lure package should be the focus.
Check it out!
Matching Your Lure Weight To Rod Rating [VIDEO]
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Typically your rod’s weight rating is listed on your rod.
This will tell you how heavy and how light of a lure package you should be using with that particular rod.
Don’t use a rod that is too powerful or too light for the lures you’re using.
This will make it not as easy to cast!
And your performance will be much better if you’re using the correctly weighted lure and rod combination.
Knowing the weight of your lures PLUS your hooks is the weight you should be focused on.
You need the weight of the total package: lure plus hook.
Here’s an example:
A 1/16 oz Owner Weighted Twistlock Hook plus a Slam Shady 2.0 paddletail weighs 1/4 oz.
So you should be using a rod that is rated for 1/4 oz, not 1/16 oz.
Have any questions about this?
Let me know down in the comments!
And if you know someone who may be using lures that are too heavy for their rod rating, please TAG or SHARE this with them!
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This is the first time that I’m learning about this. Is there a chart that shows which size of hooks to pair with which lures so that you’ll stay within the correct lure range of your rod? For example, my Toadfish rod has a lure weight range of 1/4 – 1 oz. and I’m trying to determine which hooks to pair them with from the 11 lures promo you guys offered back in November 2022.
How do sinker weights factor in to this?
The entire weight of whatever you are casting needs to be factored in. So if throwing a soft plastic rigged on a jighead with a popping cork above it on the line, all three items need to be factored in.
How do you know what sinker weight a rod can handle if you’re bottom fishing and NOT casting?
The casting is what puts the rod at risk of damage if the lure is too heavy… a rod can certainly handle much more weight if simply dropping it down for bottom fishing. I’m not sure exactly how much more weight though.
This question is similar to the one you answer already but want to confirm if I use a slam shady bomber with a red fish eye jig head the 3/8oz with the same TFO you have in the video that rated the max lure 3/4 would that be considered too much weight for that rod should I look into keeping it max in the 1/4 jig not higher with the bomber for that rod thanks in ahead
That lure/jig head combo will work just fine for the Medium TFO rods… it’s on the heavy side, so just don’t cast it too hard though.
Great explanation Luke! But an additional question on a rod rating…what if your rod is rated maxed to a 5/8 rating…and let’s say the current is very strong…and you need to up the weight to keep the weight of the lure more stable…is there a risk damaging the rod?
Good question! Following.
If using a lure/bait that’s heavier than the rod’s rated range, just make sure to cast it lightly so that the rod doesn’t get damaged (no fast accelerations).