Tracking ... tracking ... tracking

[Lasse Karlsson]

It most certainly wasn’t! And we haven’t debunked that theory!

Cheers, Paul

Yes we have, TCR 590 used more than heavily, measured as brand new, remeasured after 5 years and 10 years, and no difference measured...

And if only we still had a database of measured rods, we wpuld find numbers for the STS to prove me wrong... alas, we havent the STS 490 end up with a 5,1 ERN and a AA of 68... noodle territory

Cheers
Lasse

[Lasse Karlsson]

It still makes me laugh

And its tradition, and a damn good one! They deserve it for that stunt they pulled, even if the company have bew owners!

[Paul Arden]

Did you also measure the frequency? And yes I’ll need to migrate the CCS table over. It probably will mean doing it by hand. I haven’t had the time

I’m not sure I would call +1ERN a “noodle”

Mind you this was 25 years ago. Technology has changed a little and perceptions a lot. And fly lines are all over the place!

Cheers, Paul

[Paul Arden]

And yeah it’s like there is no number 4. Or sheepgirl rings...

[Phil Blackmar]

Gary and Paul-

Awesome suggestions. Thank you...I was using a true 10wt line. New out of the box, it is an older line I've had for quite a while so it may not be overweight.

Paul-I would be interested in fishing distance stroke changes to fit combinations or situations. For me when throwing any of these three flies, I have to get more compact and maintain a slow smooth change of direction on the forward cast.

Gary-I've never thrown a specialty line such as you suggest, I look forward to trying them out. Nice suggestion on the big streamer too, thanks.

[Paul Arden]

I’ll have a think about how to video this, Phil. I do have a 12 set up on the boat but the rod is 7’6 and my 9’ HT12 proto is with Gary – and will be until such time that guests can fly into Malaysia again! I’ll start a topic. I’d be very interested to hear what Gary writes on this.

Cheers, Paul

[Lasse Karlsson]

Did you also measure the frequency? And yes I’ll need to migrate the CCS table over. It probably will mean doing it by hand. I haven’t had the time

I’m not sure I would call +1ERN a “noodle”

Mind you this was 25 years ago. Technology has changed a little and perceptions a lot. And fly lines are all over the place!

Cheers, Paul

Na, unfortunatly, never got much into the frequency stuff. And that would be awesome

True ERN according to Bill would be 4,5 for a rod named 4 on the blank, so more like 0,5 ERN in Bill's favor. Rods with higher AA tend to have at least a ERN +1,5 to make them not feel noodly And yeah, technology have gotten slightly better (still have a rod from the mid 90's that is as nice as a comparable rod from the same manufacturer done today ) And yes, perceptions have changed alot more! mind you, the STS was said to be the bees knees back then, and I didn't like them back then either, thought they where tip heavy and a bit noodly....

And yes! The most important bit of kit for a flyfisher, and the industry have made sure it's all over the place and more difficult than neccessary ....

Cheers
Lasse

[Lasse Karlsson]

Lasse-

Impressive tracking with the chicken to avoid hitting yourself in the back of the head. I'm afraid I had to revert to more of a tilted rod to avoid a trip to the emergency room when casting my epoxy shrimp fly. Paul, I have not tried a shooting head yet.

Here is a pic of a couple flies... The epoxy shrimp looks very "shrimpy" in the water. The straw shrimp is an attempt to lighten the fly and it looks ok in the water. The third fly is a large streamer made of craft fur. It's a very effective fly but it presents the same heavy problem when wet because the craft fur holds so much water.

Cheers
Phil

Hi Phil

Thanks! do you have any idea about how much they weigh?

And how is your leader setup? length and thinkness

I'll dig out some of my pike flies, they're same ballpark as yours, but I guess much lighter.

Cheers
Lasse

[Phil Blackmar]

Hi Nick, Paul, John, Lasse

Lasse, I'm working on getting a weight on the flies....

Everyone-If you follow this thread, you'll know Paul had me start working on accuracy casting and a closed to square alignment to improve my tracking and generate a 12/6 oriented loop rather than one tilted sideways.I also used to rotate my hand and rod early in the stroke as a way of narrowing the loop. After several weeks of practice, I have fallen in love with leading with the butt of the rod. It has totally changed my stroke but I've now run into another problem. I have been experimenting with what is probably an old idea which feels really good to me.

I track best and get a purer feeling pull of the line on the forward cast when I have my thumb under the rod and the reel pointing straight to the sky. I envision the reel staying in this orientation throughout the forward stroke. It feels really good out to 80-90 ft. But, when I start to go a little harder at it, the line feels sticky in the guides and the rod doesn't feel like it flexes correctly. The rod gets clunky feeling. I even get some odd vibration and it really hampers the cast. I am using Loomis GLX rods.

The part I am experimenting with is shown in this video.

For my distance cast, after the end of my back cast, I drift by taking my casting elbow up so it is pointed at the horizon. In the video I let the rod drop a little too far, but I feel a very powerful connection and better tracking throwing this way. John-you may not like this because I am not using body rotation to drive speed. But, I am using linear sequential motion to create leverage and with a little work can add a ground up force at the last moment for more explosiveness. This orientation allows my forearm to layback which I can't get to happen when my upper arm is pointing out to the side of my body. After a lateral body movement to take out slack and start the line tracking, I now have levers in my shoulder (driving elbow down which keeps tip level as rod comes up), elbow (after upper arm comes down, the elbow lever begins to drive), and wrist (the last joint to drive). A well tined upward thrust with the front leg at this point would provide a posting effect as well as an upward force from the ground.

I have picked up some distance already with this cast and it feels like there is potential for much more to come

Thanks everyone for your thoughts...

Cheers
Phil

[Paul Arden]

Hi Phil,

I’m guessing that the line is running along the blank and it’s not being sticky in the rings. With four piece rods I (usually) twist the top three sections out by 45 degrees (and yes I use this orientation when fishing!)

This is my HT6 - it’s currently at 60 degrees I can see, but 45 is fine. (All my rods are like this apart from the HT10 which is more complicated because the stripping guide frame gets in the way of hauling when twisted outwards. With this particular rod, I twist the second section in by 60, the tip out to 45 and dissect the two with the third section.)

Also are you cleaning or lubricating your lines? You can wash them with mild soap and water and then coat them in 100% silicone.

https://www.sexyloops.com/manufacturers ... ucts.shtml

https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/ps/ ... lean-lines

Cheers, Paul