Until you find yourself in the end stages of severe fishing addiction, most people have neither the inclination or the means to own a vast fleet of fishing rods in various sizes and weights that are perfect for every specific application and fishery that Cape Cod has to offer. If you can only own one or a couple of rods, what size and action will cover most of your bases for fishing salt water on Cape Cod?
In the olden days, the conventional wisdom was that you need only a 9'-10' medium/ medium heavy action rod for fishing the beach/ jetties and a 7'-8' medium action rod as a boat spin.
As a result, most of the commercially available offerings were made and stocked by tackle shops in those sizes. While that sizing can still mostly be accurate, advances in rod & line technology have made it possible to fish more pleasantly with much lighter, down sized gear.
Can you downsize and still effectively fish your favorite spots? Most likely, but as with most things fishing, it depends.....
Unless you habitually fish places where prevailing bottom topography absolutely demands extraordinary casting distances or requires terminal tackle in excess of 2 ounces, stepping down to a 7'-8' foot rod can make alot of sense...even on the Cape's famed Outer Beaches, most of the time, the fish are closer to the beach than not. You don't have to suffer the added length and weight of a 9'-10' foot rod to " get way out there". In my experience, only a couple of times a year will the increased casting distance of a longer ,heavier rod be a make or break issue on a beach fishing trip. In the rare circumstance that I find I need another 50-100 feet of casting distance is required to reach fish, I simply switch out to aerodynamic, heavier metal lures like an Mighty Fish A-17 and can usually make up the distance I wasn't getting with my surface lure or swimming plug.
Now, if you are going to fish bait and stick your rod in a sand spike on the Outer beaches or SoundSide jetties, more than 50% of the time, sticking with the medium action 9' rod is probably the best idea. Between the bait and the sinker weight required to tend bottom, this style of fishing can be hard to downsize.
However, if you prefer the action and activity of casting lures, downsizing to a 7'6-8 foot rod is generally going to dramatically reduce weight, increase balance in your hand and reduce the fatigue that comes with the repeated casting of this style of fishing.
At various points in the season, depending on weather, presence of baitfish, and water temps, I will hopscotch around from fishing the saltwater rivers, gentle SoundSide beaches, wading the flats of Cape Cod Bay, bank fishing outside Barnstable Harbor, top water fishing way up inside Pleasant Bay or even plug fishing the pounding surf of Nauset Beach. The rod I use for almost all of it? A 7'6 TSUNAMI CARBON SHIELD II INSHORE BLUE SPINNING ROD. Perhaps a little heavy for first of the year schoolie striper fishing and sometimes a little light when Nauset is at its angriest, it covers 95% of every type of fishing mentioned above just about perfectly. Best part, I can blind cast for hours without arm fatigue.
As for boat spin-except for larger boats, trying to fish with an 8' or longer rod is a cumbersome liability....unless the configuration of your boat is extremely tight, the7' medium action DAIWA PROTEUS BOAT SPINNING ROD is just about perfect. From casting& jigging to dealing with a big fish boat side, this sizing is very easy to manage and is plenty potent enough to land big stripers.
So, if you wore out your back ,shoulders and arms last season fishing a long, heavy rod, consider down sizing this year!
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