OK... Rod configuration effect on the line?

[Paul Arden]

Hi George,

Yes I totally agree with that too. We can certainly manipulate the rod leg after the loop has formed. We can tighten the loop, open the loop, sharpen the loop and so on.

Hi Gary,

It’s very much easier to manipulate the loop with some rods than others. If the rod is completely rigid, it’s very difficult indeed to make these things happen, because we then have to do it all with body movement.
Of course at the other extreme a very slow and particularly soft rod makes loop manipulation also quite difficult too.

My preference is for a rod that bends progressively all the way to the butt, and recovers fairly quickly. And damps well in the hand.

It’s always an interesting exercise to underline and overline a rod. Underlining makes tighter sharper loops. I do find things like curve casts and curve mends easier to make with relatively softer rods. Pull-back is also easier to time with a slower rod.

My preference is certainly for slightly softer, more forgiving and deeper bending rod than many of the rods being currently produced. But I think some are being labelled for overweight lines nowadays. If Sage design SW rods with RÍO flylines, which one would assume to be the case, then they are all at least one line rating underrated.

It does appear that we have the extremes at both ends in the market making life more difficult.

Cheers, Paul

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

Paul,

Curiously, this past weekend I attended a small gathering and someone put one of the new Sage Core8 Salt (or whatever) models into my hand. The group was all gushing about how great it was, and how expensive it was, and how anyone could be a great caster if they could afford the now higher than $1K pricetag.

And, it was quite possible that it was carrying a Rio line as it was multi-colored and unfamiliar to me.

I have to say it did not suck.

And I still find their "bent" stripping guides curious.

But what really shocked me was when I looked at the label and saw it was a 9wt!

I had thought, surely, I was casting an 8, by the feel of it.

And the diameter of the blank looked to be a 7!

I actually challenged the butt section with my hands and it did seem to have the strength of a 9. And after I did that, a guy standing next to me commented that, by the looks of it, it would surely break if someone tried to "put the wood" to a bigger fish.

If that rod is under-labeled and is really more of a 10wt... wow!

But I think I would have noticed the weight of the line. It was only throwing a fluff, and I cast 10wt (labelled) lines a lot.

Maybe Sage is calming down or going in the opposite direction? Which when you think about it, may be another marketing ploy!

Gary

[Paul Arden]

Well they certainly went the other way with the One, but too far IMO. It’s an interesting company. It’s driven by marketing really and the necessity of bringing out a new rod every 5 years or so, and then trying to find ways to justify it.

It’s not possible to make a better rod every five years, if you’ve truly made your best. You can only make a different rod.

Of course when you keep changing the fly line specs you can keep changing the rod.

Cheers, Paul