Fishing Rod Action Explained

Choosing fishing equipment can be a daunting task at first. With so many options for something even as simple as a fishing rod or fishing reel, it’s hard to know where to start. Luckily, Skiff Life is here to break down your choice of a fishing rod to three main selections. Depending on where and what fishing lures you use, the selection is quite simple. Fishing rods are categorized by what is called “Action” which describes how much bend and backbone (strength) a rod has when casting and fighting a fish.

The three actions of a fishing rod are:

Slow (Light)
Medium
Fast (Heavy) action

SLOW (Light) Action

This type of fishing rod is very flexible or whippy with the rod able to bend starting at the handle. This type of rod is very good for casting light baits such as rattle-traps or crankbaits with the focus on keeping the fish hooked. You will not want to throw heavy fishing lures with this rod or fight especially large fish as the rod has too much bend. When the rod provides less “bend” it acts as a fulcrum and helps battle the fish and tire it out.

MEDIUM Action

This is the best of both worlds in our opinion. This rod has enough backbone to fight a larger fish while featuring increased sensitivity to soak a bait on the bottom as well. This rod provides the most selections to choose from in baits (live or artificial) and also presentation (working a lure or bottom fishing).

FAST (Heavy) Action

This is the type of fishing rod used for big fish. The bend in the rod starts about halfway up (or more), forcing the fish to work much harder to bend the rod (tiring the fish). These fishing rods are excellent for fishing single hook lures in heavy cover like grass or timber. Remember, that rod backbone though and if you snag a log…you could drag it up, hahaha! These rods are great for throwing all sorts of fishing lures from topwater to spinner baits and on down the water column to the bottom.

Want to learn more about the best fishing lures? Click here for our next article.

Don’t forget your fishing decals and fishing hats! Did you know Skiff Life offers an ENTIRE selection of killer fishing apparel and stickers? Even better, all of our peformance fishing shirts feature moisture wicking technology that “wicks” away sweat while protecting your skin from harmful sun exposure with a UPF/SPF +50 sun protection rating. Here is a great photo of professional fishing guide, Tim Jones wearing one of our favorite colors, aqua. People tell us this is the most comfortable fishing shirt they own. Check ’em out!

Our fishing hats also feature this great technology too! Here is a great pic of Captain Clif Gilchrist wrestling a Goliath Group in one of our signature Kryptek Camo Fishing Hats. Notice the awesome American flag on the side of his hat? It’s little details like that we include at no additional cost that people love.