What to Look for in a Flipping Stick (2 of 2) | Abu Garcia Vendetta

In the last post, we talked about length, power, and action of a flipping stick. Now we're going to cover a few more details.

Handle Length - Now, this may not seem important to some, but when flipping, you want a bit of a longer handle to take some of the weight off your wrist. I prefer a handle of about 12". I think a handle that comes to your elbow is good.

Guides - Most likely, you'll be fishing with braided line when flipping so you want guides that aren't going to wear out. Most guides on todays rods won't wear out quickly, but they will eventually. The toughest and best guides for braid are SiC or Silicon Carbide guides. Alconite guides would be my second choice. Some rods have titanium recoil guides which will also stand up to braid good.

Weight - Most people want the lightest rod they can get. But when it comes to flipping, I want a rod that is balanced more than light. Now, most longer rods are not very well balanced, but some had balancing systems that allow you to add weights to custom balance them. You can also purchase a plastic sleeve that hold supplied weights or quarters and then slides over the end of the rod. If you're flipping stick isn't balanced well, and you flip for a long time, like all day or two or three days, you may develop tennis elbow.

Now some of my recommendations. The new Abu Garcia Vendetta series of rods includes a couple rods that would work great as flipping sticks (the 7'6" MH and 7'6" H) and offers a lower cost option. I like Shimano's rods for the money and find the Crucial Flipping Sticks are good rods in the medium price range. And for high end rods, a G Loomis IMX (FSR904X IMX) or GLX (BCFR894 GLX) flipping stick is hard to beat.

I hope this guide helps you when picking out a new flipping stick!