Light vs heavy Fishing rod

Fishing pole rod power

We can’t discuss what a “light vs heavy fishing rod” is without first explaining fishing rod power. The answer to the question what is a light vs heavy fishing rod, hinges on the concept of rod power. To keep it simple, rod power is basically how much force (power) it takes to deflect (bend) your fishing rod. This is an important concept to understand as you begin fishing. Matching your rods power and action, (we’ll discuss this next) with your style of fishing, will give you the best result and experience.

The most common fishing pole powers:

Fishing pole rod action

The other component of what is a light vs heavy fishing rod, is the rod’s action. Mistakenly, often the terms rod action and rod power are used interchangeably. When in fact rod action and rod power describe two very different aspects of the fishing rod. Whereas, rod power refers to how much force it takes to bend a rod, the rod action refers to where said rod bends.

As you can see from the chart above from Rapala.com, the lighter the rod power (labeled on the bottom), the more the rod bends from left to right. Whereas the slower the action the lower the rod bends. Meaning an ultralight, slow action rod would just about bend in half when you catch that monster bass. Or a heavy, fast rod may not be sensitive enough for crappie fishing, if that’s your goal.

Light vs Heavy Fishing Rod

As we can see from above there are some vast differences between a light and heavy fishing Rod. The light fishing rod my be described as a “flimsy” or “wobbly”. Whereas a heavy rod maybe described as “rigid” or “stiff”. Which one should you use? Yes! The answer to this question depends on what your fishing for. A light or ultralight is frequently used when fishing with very light gear. A good example is fishing for trout.

Trout are a skittish picky fish, that generally are caught with small lures or small hooks. This tackle can be challenging or almost impossible to fish with on a heavy rod, as the weight of the tackle is not enough to cast effectively. ITs similar to trying to throw a tissue. Using a light rod allows the bend and the potential energy stored in the bent rod to help cast the light lure. A heavy rod with no bend or very little bend will not cast well with a light lure.

The trade off with the light pole is the effectiveness of the hookset. A good hookset, requires little to no slack in the line. The pole’s ability to bend, allows a large majority of the force used in the hook set, to be absorbed into the rod, instead of the hook when pulling back for a hook set.

Now, if you put that same fishing pole in the hands of a Mid-Missouri cat fisherman, Fishing on the Missouri river. The pole we be just about useless. As the pole’s weight (ease to bend) would keep the angler from having the leverage to pull a big catfish off the bottom of the river. Imagine trying to lift your cellphone off the table with a strand of cooked spaghetti.

In order to get that big catfish off the bottom you’d need a pole with more leverage, or more “power”. A term also used to describe a rods weight. A pole with a heavy weight or power would have very little “give”. Allowing all of the energy to be transferred to the hook and the fish on the other end.

Which one should I use?

Light vs Heavy rod? A good choice may be somewhere in the middle for the beginner angler. A med/heavy rod is a common rod among many anglers. Bass fisherman frequently use the a Med/heavy rod. Bass like to hang out in heavy cover and the Med/Heavy rod gives enough power to pull them out. However, the rod is light enough that it will handle some smaller lures, while you discover what types of fishing you enjoy and build your tackle box.

The most important thing is to just get fishin’. See you out there!