Length of steel rods

[snubnose57]

Have 4 rods, a Bristol, a Betts, a Premax, and one unmarked. All are about 4 feet long.
What was up with making rods so short, back in the day. Almost too short to fish with.
Were people that much shorter a long time ago?

[Eric J]

You haven’t seen the Stubcaster? It was steel and about a foot long! The original short baitcasting rod was bamboo and made in Kalamazoo by Locher & Rob in the late 1890’s and was the beginning of what became known as the Kalamazoo style of baitcasting. They were only 4 to 5 feet long with large diameter guides when most rods were 10 or 12 feet long and used narrow guides. My guess is a 4 foot steel or berrylium rod had the same power as a longer bamboo rod. And a longer steel rod would just be that much heavier. Some were tubular though which might help but I bet they were no fun to cast.

[snubnose57]

Funny, I have a stubcaster.

[Eric J]

Have you ever cast or fished with it? I’ve always wondered what those cast like.

[snubnose57]

No, I understand these were made for ice fishing.
I thought about putting a Zebco 202 on it and a bobber for wading my local creek for panfishing.

[mark bumgarner]

Believe it or not but Waltco marketed the Stubcaster as a casting and trolling rod!

[snubnose57]

Well, maybe I need to put a baitcaster on it and try it out...

[Paul Roberts]

I suspect that as steel and even early glass rods got long they lost power. Building them up made them too heavy. Tubular steel was adequate for lighter power rods. Solid steel rods provided more power but got heavy with any length.

Can't imagine fishing effectively with a 1ft long rod! I would think one would need mighty long arms to move enough line to set hooks and keep a fish pinned.

[snubnose57]

Lets call the stubcaster my vintage pocket fisherman.
Take that Ron Popeil!!

[john elder]

I still have the Stubcaster Mom and Dad kept under the car seat in case the urge to fish came up. You have to appreciate that the rod was spring-loaded, so that if you held the bait carefully so as not to get hooked, you could shoot the bait out quite a ways. I used it to shoot a cat toy all over the house and reel it in past the cats… great environmental enrichment!

[mark bumgarner]

Never thought about that spring loaded business John. Neighbors have a nice stock pond not far from my house that is surrounded with willows and honeysuckle, this may be the answer to those places where bank casting is a challenge. I have a couple maybe I will give that a try.

[snubnose57]

My stubcaster has a coil spring, did not know there was another model.
Wonder which version is the oldest?

[snubnose57]

Well, took the stubcaster out today. With an old push button Wondereel and 6 lb. test, was able to through a 1/8 oz. sassy shad about 25 to 30 yards with ease. Think I will keep it in the truck just in case I see something fishy when out and about.
With a baitcasting reel and larger bass lures, I think it would cast as far as a normal lengh rod.
It is missing the back rivet on the handle, need to think of a way to fix that.

[Bill Sonnett]

I have not had much experience with the rods mentioned but have extensive experience with True Temper solid and tubular steel rods. In solid steel (square) the optimum length for me for comfortable casting has always been 4 &1/2 feet. In tubular steel, I prefer the 5ft rod over the 5 & 1/2 ft rod. I hollow glass, give me a 6ft rod for everyday work. Of course, I am speaking of use with vintage baitcasting reels.

[snubnose57]

My 4 rods are all solid steel. I now can see how a longer rod would be too heavy to enjoy casting for very long.