Characteristics:
Action: This describes how much of the rod bends when you put pressure on the tip. A fast action rod will bend in only the top third, a medium or moderate action will bend in the top half or so and a slow action will bend starting in the lower third of the rod. Fast action rods provide better sensitivity and an easier hook-set. Fast action rods also facilitate a longer cast. However, fast action rods require better timing when casting and are harder to maintain uniform tension with the fish – lest the fish shake the hook.
Power: This describes the strength of the rod, heavy, medium, light. Bigger fish require a rod with more power.
Responsiveness: Responsiveness indicates that energy will not be lost as the rod flexes and releases during a cast or during a battle. Generally, a fast action rod will be more responsive than a slow action rod.
Components:
Blank: This is the rod upon which the guides, reel seat and handle grip are mounted or inserted. Modern blanks are built-up from layers of material, typically graphite, fiberglass, and resin in various quantities and using various processes. With higher-end rods, most of your investment is in the blank.
Guides: Guides are the rings through which the line is thread from reel to tip. While heavy boat rods feature roller guides rather than ring guides, these are not applicable to surf casting. Most ring guides feature a metal frame surrounding a ring through which the line glides. The ring material varies, silicon carbide (SiC) is considered by many to the best for its super smooth, resilient surface. Alconite, Hardloy, Hialoy, and aluminum oxide are less expensive alternatives, respectable in performance and popular.
Surfcasting guides are typically very large in diameter closest to the reel and gradually get smaller to the tip. These guides are desiged to contain the circular whip motion coming off a spinning reel. If you are not using a spinning reel then you might consider a rod with somewhat smaller guides.
While it may be counter intuitive, more guides lead to longer casts and greater strength. Guides reduce line whip and therefore reduce friction through the air. Guides also transfer pressure from the fish to the length of the rod.
Reel seats: The reel seat holds the reel on the rod. If you stick with a name-brand rod, there is no need to consider the seat in your evaluation. However, the cheapest rods will have reel seats that don’t have a plastic cushion inside the metal hoods that secure the feet of the reel. These seats will often rust and seize.
Blank Materials:
Graphite: Most modern rods have some graphite. Graphite, itself, does not make a rod good or bad, expensive or inexpensive. Quality and cost is in the process, not the material. Graphite is produced using extremely high temperatures in a two-part process, one to create tensile strength and one for stiffness. Generally, a hotter furnace (up to 3,000 deg) will produce more tensile strength and stiffness (modulus). Tensile strength and stiffness translate into lighter and more sensitive blanks. Working properly with graphite is expensive. Eliminating steps and cutting corners is one way that manufactures try to keep costs down. The resulting blanks may be heavier or brittle or both.
Fiberglass: Fiberglass has been around longer than graphite. Fiberglass is used in the construction of most modern blanks. Most often, it is used in conjunction with graphite. However, some blanks are still made entirely of fiberglass. Rods made entirely of fiberglass are known to be slow in action.
Spline:
Rods have a natural “spline”, sometimes known as a “spine” which is the side that wants to bend the easiest. You should not need not know about the spline unless you are building rods. Unfortunately, you do need to know because I have recently observed several name-brand ($100+) rods with improperly aligned splines. A rod with an improperly aligned spline will annoy you to no end.
Checking the spline is very easy and you should do it before you purchase a rod. For a spinning rod, the reel and guides should be under the rod when you are fishing; the rod’s natural bend should also be down in the same direction as the guides. To confirm this, put the butt of the rod on the floor and rest the tip on your finger; gently bend the rod in the middle using your free hand and allow the rod to rotate until it find the easiest side to bend. It should want to bend on the guide side which is the way it would bend while fighting a fish. If it does not, the spline is wrong and you should not buy the rod. For conventional rods with the reel and guides on top, the spline should be on the opposite side of the guides – again, as though you were fighting a fish. (With a multi-part rod, you should check each segment separately.)