I'm an old member of this board that is just returning after a couple year layoff. I recentally decided to treat meself to a new mooching rod. After looking at the different options available I chose an Okuma SST 10'6". A beautiful rod and I was blown away by the price. Auburn Sports and Marine had them for under $70 bucks. I've never used this length rod to mooch with before but the salesman said that was pretty standard now. I'm planning on using my older Shimano Bantam level wind with PowerPro braided line and a slideing weight system using the round lead weights. I'm curious what everyone else is using for your mooching outfits.

I am sure that set up will work just fine if you have are fishing with someone that can net your fish. I fish by myself about half the time so I stick with 8 1/2-9' rods so I can net the fish. I also use braid for mooching and the sliding weight. good luck out there. Nice to have a fellow moocher on the board.

SCARBOO

I use the Lamiglas G1308-T which is an 8'6", works great. I fish it with 25lb mono, and either sliding egg sinker or a kidney sinker. v

I fish mostly by myself out of two different sized boats. One of those boats is bigger and has much higher sides. When I fish out of the larger boat I can handle a large fish and bring it to net it with my 10'6" rod and a 8' leader. However when I tried to use the same setup in my 14' Sea laker which has much lower sides, I had my hands full getting a spunky 13# Chinook to the net. Now when I use that long rod in my small boat I keep my leaders to 6.5', in hopes that when I hook a bruiser I will be able to bring him to net.

When I use a modern high speed retrieve reel I use a shorter rod, 8.5' to 9' rod.

10'6" Made by XRODZ.Good luck,
SZ

I use my steelhead float rod. I read an old school book on mooching and it certainly suggested longer rods.

That being said, I'm just trying to figure it out and, based on my real world experience, can't really bring much to the table.

I've been building a lot of Mooching rods lately for some real old schoolers. It seems the rod of choice is either a
Rainshadow ISA1027 or ISA1087. 8'6" or 9'. Both rods 15-30lb. mod fast action. Unfortunately there are only a handful of these left (around 50) for they are being discontinued for the lack of demand. If a guy want to go with a 10'6", i'd go with an Rainshadow ISA1266 mod fast 12-25lb. built up with alps components.

That seems like a pretty good deal for a rod. I really like the shimano convergence 10'6" poles for the money. It is helpful to have a long rod when running long leaders 8'-10'. Without a long rod it makes it hard to net a fish on a long leader.

Love my Loomis 1086 for mooching. Those 10' or 11' rods are too uncomfortable to fish for very long.

Thanks for all the info. I had never even thought about the potential problems of landing a fish with the longer rod when fishing alone. Makes sense though. Heading to Neah Bay on August 18th for 4 days so I'm hoping to give it the ultimate test. I just hope there's still a few kings around.

Most people do not true mooch anymore they motor mooch which is really a form of trolling. Since the action on the bait is imparted by the troll they can use shorter rods. True moochin ie hovering over the fish with your line suspended below the boat a longer rod imparts more action to the bait. I use a 12 foot Canadian style moocher . All rods have mooching reels levels winds have no business being on a mooching set up. Netting fish with a long rod is no problem unless you prefer to horse fish to the boat if the Canadians can do it so can we:-)

Calelas has 2 rods that just might "fill the bill"..........both 10 ' ..... one is 10 -20# and the other is 8 - 15#, both under a $100.00.

More and more people are going to long rods for all kinds of fishing....

I will be getting a TFO moocher in a few days and will let you know after the test drive. My advice at this point though is to go with the knuckle buster