It can be a challenge to figure out what rods are better than others... In the past I've tried things from putting the rod up to a high speed fan, to making a weight bounce at the end of the line, and to tapping on the ground. The problem with each of these tests is that it's difficult to recreate.

The other day I tried something different. I used the stop watch on my cell phone to make it vibrate while the phone was either at the end of the line or on a swivel attached to the rod tip. The results of the test were interesting. The poles I've had the most luck with out at the lake picked up the vibration of the cell the best. Conversely some poles where I was missing bites the vibration of the phone was barely detectible. Yep, a slick looking 24 ton graphite rod with the fancy reel seat was rather comparable to my daughter's pink 9 dollar combo, at least when it comes to detecting a cell phone.

Well, I thought I'd throw it out there. I'm curious if anyone has come up with a better way to test a rod's sensitivity that was somewhat automatic and reproducible?

put the tip without reel then with it against your adams apple and speak, let someone hold the other end, it works.

The type of line being used and what pound test will also make a difference. Also, the size of guides, number of guides and what the guides are made of. Too many things to think about. Just go fish!

Lenahorse, that's a good suggestion! However I don't have any friends or family that eager to help me lol. I can still do the voice vibration test grabbing a few feet down the rod at least.

Bassfishindude, you bring up a lot of good points. Really it is as simple as reading reviews and/or buying equipment from good companies and you'll get the sort of performance that you need and the rest of the time can be spent fishing. However, I am prolly a little OCD or something, especially when I know I'm missing bites from those lazy winter crappie and I'm trying to figure out what old gear to keep or discard while I'm watching TV.

When I was cutting some flooring on the jigsaw the other day it occurred to me that the jigsaw itself would make a good bite tester if I run it as slow as it will go by putting something over the blade (used a straw with a bobber at the end). This gives me what I was after, a "bite" light enough where only a fraction of my setups can feel the bobber at the end of the saw blade bumping the crappie jig. I've got more rods to test, but so far a 6' Diawa Triforce and a 7.5' B&M Crappie Wizard pick up the "bite" pretty well. Other rods that one might assume are sensitive like the ultralight Shakespeare Micro Spin didn't sense the test at all. All and all the most sensitive rods with the cell phone test also worked best with this one. I know which setups I'll be taking with me next time I tackle crappie this winter.

Tony, this is good stuff. I'm like you, details matter. I deadstick for hybrids around 30 feet deep. Learned to hold my rod/baitcasters upside down with my index finger on the line to maximize the feel of the bite. After all, detecting the bite is a large part of the game of fishing.

Having a well balanced rod and reel makes a huge difference. I once bought one of those gadgets that you put the on the butt of the rod but it made the rod too heavy to fish all day.

My current set up for soft plastics is a Lamiglas Excel Rod and a Revo Premier. Love the Rod but they discontinued that model several years ago. I would love to find one in a heavier power for bigger plastics.

GoFishNow, that's a good tip regarding keeping the finger on the line.

Bassfishindude, sounds like a good setup. I've heard a lot of good things about lamiglas.

Given the cold rainy weather I've had more time to fool around with testing rod sensitivity. I've found that how well a fishing rod relays a vibrating cell phone or any other similar things does not really amount to any sort of reliable relationship to how sensitive a rod is to a fish bite.

However after digging around I found a smart phone app for Andriod called Vibrometer. It's meant to detect earthquakes but it also seems to do a pretty good job detecting fish bites when balanced on a fishing rod. I used some braided line marked at one inch increments with a small swivel as a weight at one end and an even lighter piece of wire as a weight on the other end. By carefully dropped the weights a specific distances while setting the "earthquake" alarm at various levels I got good tests on a lot of different rods. Pasting some pics of the testing to help show what I was doing.

The biggest difference that I've been able to tell in the rods is what it's made of and the eyes. Microguides will give you better sesnativity and so will solid eyes that don't have the little plastic inserts. In my testing, I've started to look for rods that are solid one piece and have either microguides, or solid piece guides.