One piece rod vs two

[Hodgey1]

Does a one piece rod improve the sensitivity/ability to feel the bite, vs a two piece? I've never used a 7' one piece and now wondering the virtues? Now that I am getting older/less ability to feel the lite bite, if that might be an upgrade for me?

[Jay Thomas]

Hi Hodgey1,

I don?t have any evidence that 1 piece graphite rods are more sensitive than 2 piece graphite rods. Nor did I read any compelling arguments one way or the other during a Google search on the topic. However, that being said, my own personal preference for vertically jigging walleye is a one piece graphite rod. My current vertical jigging rod is a St. Croix 6 foot medium light fast action rod (a Premier PS60MLF). I have liked this rod so much that I bought a second one as a spare.

One of the best posts I came across on the sensitivity of 1 piece rods versus 2 piece rods is referenced below.

Excerpt from http://www.tackletour.net/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=80277

Premise 1: The greater the mass of a given material through which vibrations must travel, the more they will be diminished.
Premise 2: Some 2-piece rods have less total blank mass than their one-piece counterparts.

Conclusion: At least in such rods, the 2-piece version could be more sensitive.

I used to be baffled by this, wondering how a rod with an overlapped joint could weigh less than, or the same as, one without it. Then I looked at two-piece rods of mine and noticed that they tend to have thinner butt sections than the one-piece rods with similar tip actions. I realized that in order to maintain a continuously progressive bend under load, the one-piece rods have to keep increasing in diameter to at least the reel seat area. In two-piece rods, there is a more rapid swelling of the diameter as one moves from the tip to the joint, but then a reset to a smaller diameter in the butt section (which must slide into the tip section). So the presumption that one-piece rods must be more sensitive appears to be (if I may) re-buttable.

In most of the Avid and LE spin rods, the result is a wash in terms of total blank mass--the one-piece and two-piece end up weighing the same. So the theoretical issue in comparing vibration transfer seems to me to be this: Is vibration transfer more attenuated through a tightly fitting overlap of rod-making materials than it is through a greater distribution of those materials between that point and the sensing hand?

If carbon fibers were like steel pipe, one might expect better vibration transmission if all the fibers ran continuously from tip to butt. But rods aren't steel pipe; new fibers are added as one proceeds tip to butt, and some of that is cross-woven scrim and sometimes hoop wrapping; most such added materials don't run butt to tip. All of that is bonded together with resin. To me, it is not intuitively obvious that the one-piece rod should be more sensitive than the two-piece, especially in the cases where the two-piece version ends up with less total blank mass.

Jay

[T-Bone]

One.

[NortonJoe]

I would imagine a one piece is more sensitive.  However, I opt for two piece for ease of transport.

[puckster_guy]

All my trolling rods are two piece, mostly Ugly Stiks. My jigging rod is a one piece. Only because It stays in my boat. Otherwise I don't think it makes much difference to me. It's more about ability to fit it into a car to go fishing. Or just leave it in the boat which was not an option when I rented a slip on G Bay. It might not be there when you got back, lol.

[Lizard King]

Been using 2-piece Ugly Sticks for well over two decades.  7 ft for both trolling and jigging.
Son uses same except 6 ft for jigging.  2-piece makes for easy storage on trips or at the home front.
Zero complaints.  I can feel everything down there.  Even with 100ft of line out trolling (obviously as long as not Bering Sea waves). 
Great rods for like $30-40.  Well, back when I bought my backups they cost $30-$40 lol.

Rods are like lures.  Many constructed to catch the fisherman.

My $0.02, if someone cannot feel a faint nibble or even their leech down there screwing around, I would recommend checking the line being used first before switching to a 1-piece (or vice versa) or upgrading their rod.
Proper line is the key.

[Kyle Skelding]

I've used both one piece and two piece rods for a few years now. Started using one piece rods for bass and now have one (st Croix bass x ml xfast) for jigging eyes. I'd say rod action, rod material and line are your main factors for sensitivity. You can buy one or two piece rods that are equally sensitive. When I shop for rods I take the rod tip and gently move it over a crack or something on the floor to get a sense of the vibration and how well it travels through the rod. Medium light power, fast or extra fast is my go to for jigging. 

[RHYBAK]

How did we ever catch anything 20 years ago without one piece rods the way they build them now.

I always say that it's the fisherman that catches the fish and not the rod.

Oh oh
I just realized I'm getting grouchy.
This always happens during transition time between ice out and open water.
Time to pull the boat out of storage to get it cleaned up.