An Introduction to Grinder Fishing

[Half-Pint]

With rock and surf undergoing somewhat of a revolution in  terms of people moving away from the traditional multipliers and mono to the  new age grinders and braid, I thought I would do a short write up in order to  explain some of the questions that have come up time and time again.
The reason for this change lies in the fact that technology  has developed hugely in the last few years. Grinders have always been held back  by two main flaws 1) Strength and durability and 2) Line capacity. Grinders  have now developed to such an extent that the internals are now as strong as  any multiplier and the drags are even stronger than most multipliers. The line  capacity is taken care of by the advent of the new braids which come in at  about 1/3 of the diameter of the equivalent mono.
The main upshot of the new rigs is that you can now easily  throw 150m and the setups are still strong enough to pull huge fish. By huge I  mean spinner sharks of 70kg and even Sandies of 90kg. In order to reach these prodigious  distances a number of factors have to be applied when building your new setup.

Rods
There are a number of design features that need to be taken  into account when looking at rods. Firstly full HMG is out. The action on these  rods is too quick which means that when throwing a big bait on braid the tip  will either snap or will cause the braid to snap. When fighting a fish on braid  you will also need some give in the tip to absorb sudden runs and head shakes  to stop not only the braid snapping but also tearing the hooks out. There are a  number of great graphite rods that can be built up to take a grinder from the  Assassin Beachmaster to the Poseidon 4 but the real winner seems to be the T  Flex blanks which are an HMG butt and middle section with a graphite tip. This  gives great back bone and keeps the rod light but still gives great flexibility  in the tip for long casts and absorbing head shakes. In the T flex range there  are a number of different options ranging from a one piece 420/6 to some great  3 piece rods from Gremlins. I can’t comment on the 1 pieces but I have had a  look at the 3 pieces and eventually bought one for myself. There are two  options called the P5 and P6. The P5 is more of a medium rod aimed at edibles;  it throws best with a 5oz sinker and is 4m long. The other option called the P6  is aimed more at large eds and in-eds, it throws best with a 6oz sinker and is  also slightly longer coming in at 4.2m. This is the rod I own and is truly a  beautiful rod.

A number of design features come together to make these rods  what they are. Firstly length, a 4.2m rod will obviously have an enormous arc  allowing the tip to generate massive tip speed allowing the sinker to really  fly! Secondly that nice flexible tip I told you about? Well that allows the rod  to store a massive amount of potential energy and when you "hit it"  at the end of the cast the tip flicks out. This will send the sinker even  further. The rods also come standard with monstrous eyes! This means that the  line coming off the spool has almost no resistance through the eyes leading to ...  You guessed it....More distance!

Now there has been a lot of confusion about the butts on the  new rods. Traditionally grinder rods have had a long butt section with the reel  seat mounted where your right hand sits. You therefore grip the line with your  right hand and cast that way. The problem with this setup comes when fighting a  fish. Option A is put the butt in your bucket; unfortunately the reel is now at  chest or even neck height! Not a great way to fight a fish I'm sure you will  agree. Option B and what the carp fishermen in particular do is to put the butt  under their left arm, unfortunately you will find that tucking a 14foot rod  under your arm is not comfortable never mind doing it for an hour with a fish  on the end! You can see now why we have the reel low down on the rod. It sounds  very difficult to master but believe me it’s much easier than you think. A  grinder rod should come fitted with a Bionic finger. This little device allows  you to wrap the line around it and not your finger to really put some back into  the cast. Believe me when I say that it makes all the difference, it is not  possible to throw a 6oz sinker with bait on braid from your finger! I would  recommend you order the rod and cable tie the finger on, this allows you to  move it around to see where it feels best. Once you are happy send it back and  have it mounted properly.

Reels
This is what is making all the difference! When selecting  your reel there are a relatively small number of reels to look at due to the  fact that very few have incorporated all of the design features required such  as long cast spool, some form of anti line twist, good drag, line capacity etc.  I would recommend looking at the following:

Daiwa Saltiga Surf 6000. A good quality reel with an  excellent long cast spool and decent drag. Against this reel I have issues with  the price (Almost R6k if I'm not mistaken), a drag that sticks when wet and a major  issue with a retainer plate that bends under pressure. This costs almost R1200  to replace so not something you want to have to fix.

Mitchell Aerocast 8000. I have not personally seen or used  this reel so I can’t give too much enough other than some good fish have been  taken and it seems quite durable.

Shimano Ultegra 14000. There are 2 options with this reel  the standard version and the CI4. If you shop around they retail at about R1700  and R1900 respectively the main differences are that the CI4 is made from a  lighter form of carbon and has an extra bearing making it smoother. Both come  with an extra spool which is another plus to grinder fishing. When packing you don’t  need to take reels with different diameter lines but simply the extra spools.  This reel seems to be at the forefront of grinder fishing, it has an excellent  long cast spool, anti-line twist mechanism, strong drag and a solid  construction. It takes 600m of 50lb x8 braid and so far has not presented any  major design flaws that I am aware of.

Line
One of the main reasons that grinders are now so popular is  that the line capacity issue has almost been done away with by the new breed of  braided lines. Not only do these new thin diameter lines allow you to fill the  reel with 600m of line but the thinner line allows for much longer casts due to  a decrease in drag as the line moves through the air. Another advantage to braid  is that when fishing in strong winds the thinner line will make less of a bow  in the wind which is great for bite detection. The same also holds true for  fishing in strong currents. Lastly braid has almost no stretch which means you  can feel every bite and every headshake during the fight. Some issues do  present themselves with braid however. Firstly the lack of stretch means that  if a fish turns or shakes its head and your drag doesn't release smoothly you  will snap the line. To overcome this it is a good idea to leave your drag  slightly looser than you would with mono. The flexible tip on your rod will  also help, you should also keep the tip up so that it can bend and absorb any  sudden lunges from your fish. The other problem with braid is that the extremely  thin diameter will mean less abrasion resistance. This is why you need to fish  a slightly heavier line class than you normally would. For instance with normal  mono one would generally fish approximately 30-40lb line however, most people  fishing with braid will use 50lb. There are a number of good quality casting  braids to look at, a few names include the jigman braid which is top quality  but rather pricy, saltiga casting braid, and the real winner at the moment HMP  braid. HMP is a locally made product and so is much cheaper than other braids  but with all the same quality. Contact either Gremlins in Margate or Homie on  the site. You need to look at the x8 braid which is slightly thicker being  woven from 8 strands but is obviously more abrasion resistant.

Leader
The diameter is not too important since this will depend on  target species and structure in the water. What most anglers are doing is to  join a short 1.5m to 2m leader with the knot OUTSIDE the eyes. Some anglers  have used a 150lb - 200lb braid leader that takes a few wraps around the reel.  In my opinion this is not necessary. Many many big fish have been taken on  straight 50lb to 1.5m leader and the 150lb braid is just another potential weak  link in the setup. My current method is a 50turn bimini in the braid looped to  a small power swivel and a 3 turn figure 8 knot from a .80mm leader to the  other end of the swivel.  The swivel  means that you don’t have to chop a meter of braid off for every new trace.

Conclusion
So there we have it, a short introduction into the grinder  craze. Just remember that this is an almost entirely new facet so feel free to  try anything that you feel will work. Who knows you may just pioneer the next  big thing. Another  thing to bear in mind is that this method is meant for throw baits and throw  baits only! Sliding with this setup can only result in tears

[Homie]

 
Nice write-up !
 

[WalkersKiller]

Superb article Brad +cred 

Just to add 1 reel to that list... The Daiwa Opus 6000 + long casting reel with good drag and line capacity and comes in a lot cheaper than the top of the range reels and does the work sufficiently for those without the budget...

[MIKE PIKE]

   Excellent description Bradley , tempted to move some "items" and get a grinder set up as well...

[Fritz]

Very nice intro you did Bradley. Have not forgottin your photos. Have spoken to the guys and will send on to you as soon as I get them.

[Half-Pint]

Thanks Fritz I will add them later if I didn't write it up now and post it its one of those things that will get pushed aside by a hundred other things

[Kumz]

  Nice one Brad ... 
 
 
Nb : please don't take grinder casting lessons from Brad t ??? 

[krissi]

Nice one Brad ... 
 
 
Nb : please don't take grinder casting lessons from Brad t ??? 

          
 
Well done Brad, excellent write up - and thank you for all your help with getting my grinder set-up.   
How does one nominate this for the Sept write-up comp?
 

[Half-Pint]

Thanks Krissi just post a link in the comp to this article.

[REEFMAN]

  Brad...! +cred

[Half-Pint]

Thanx Reefz

[PH]

Seems that Krissi beat me to it !!
Thanks Brad. +cred.

[Manuel Junior]

    Excellent Topic   

[Naruto]

Great stuff Brad! +cred.

One question, does a longer butt section really hamper reeling in a fish or does it depend on the length of the angler?

[Half-Pint]

On my rod if I had to mount the reel where my right hand goes it would be about in line with my eyes! I don't think anyone is tall enough to have the reel at a comfortable height, if you could build them that way I'm sure at least a couple of anglers would do it that way

[mukiwa]

half pint have you had a look at the ELS system from blue marlin,that will give u the set up you are looking for and you will be able to cast your rod the same way that you would for carp fishing with the but extended and fishing with the but in for better control for fighting.i have 3 blue marlin 1piece carbon blanks that i am going rebuild with the ELS system.

[Half-Pint]

I don't need to change my rod at all. Casting this way has worked for many top anglers and is working just fine for me. It takes a few casts to get the hang of it but once you do you will be throwing to the horizon and beyond

[Naruto]

This still gonna become a hot topic hehe!

[PH]

half pint have you had a look at the ELS system from blue marlin,that will give u the set up you are looking for and you will be able to cast your rod the same way that you would for carp fishing with the but extended and fishing with the but in for better control for fighting.i have 3 blue marlin 1piece carbon blanks that i am going rebuild with the ELS system.

Any chance for posting pics of the "ELS" system?

[mukiwa]

only picture of the ELS system i have found is on blue marlin fishing rods website,try check it out