SL Rods ERN ????

[Lasse Karlsson]

Didn't know AFFTA had a rod standard....

But nice that the IP and AA now looks like I said casting the first one 10 years ago

Cheers
Lasse

[Mangrove Cuckoo]

George,

I have tried a number of lines on my HT 6, and for saltwater use in particular.

I would not suggest putting a 7 line on it. I tried it. It worked OK for short casts, but it definitely hid the special characteristics of the rod.

Very recently I used it for casting small streamers and lined it with a SA MPX 6wt line. One of those lines that admits to being, supposedly, a half-line heavy. While it works OK again, I will continue to keep looking.

Not surprisingly, Paul's 6 wt line works about the best so far, but a 6 line is just a bit too light to throw the "small" streamers that I occasionally fish. The other line I liked a lot on my HT 6 was the Barrio, but apparently COVID has caused much problems for them and almost all of their lines are out of stock until who knows?

[Paul Arden]

Incidentally if you’re thinking of using a 7 line I can thoroughly recommend the HT7 We didn’t have this one when Gary bought his 6. The HT7 is a machine and our latest finished rod. It was originally put together because I kept getting asked for a 7WT HT for the MCI exam.

It was the rod I was using for long carry practise with the lumiline 6 (full line carry) and is spot on (for me) with the MED7 throughout the fishing ranges. I was having a great deal of fun with this rod until I spectacularly broke the tip by hitting the breather pipe for the battleship’s septic tank on a backcast in the dark I’ve since moved the offending pipe to the back of the boat and haven’t broken a rod since

Compared to the HT6 it might be a tad faster although we try very hard to make them all feel and perform the same when correctly (AFFTA) aligned.

Cheers, Paul

[Merlin]

Hi Lasse

Didn't know AFFTA had a rod standard....

The graphics just illustrate the scales defined by Bill, and there is a line number reference which I name "AFFTA" in ordinate. Although AFFTA is a line weight standard for line numbers, it is correlated with stiffness scales otherwise there is no way to define a "new line number" after testing a rod, that line number may be different or not from the label on the butt section of the tested rod.

The link between line number (or weight) has been technically proven more than 20 years ago.

Merlin

[Paul Arden]

I was having a conversation with Jerry quite some time ago now and I asked what lines he was using to test/design rods and I was surprised to learn that he was keen on the GPX. It makes me wonder if one reason many rods are becoming stiffer is because designers/testers are using heavier lines.

The 1/2WT is interesting. Most anglers using lines that are “mid-AFFTA-weight” will invariably use 1/2WT heavier. When I look at the HT range I would go 1/2WT lighter on HT4, 6 and 10. And 1/2WT heavier on 7 and 8. 703 for fishing I’m quite comfortable with either 3 or 4 which is interesting. I don’t know if that’s a length phenomenon or just this rod.

I really have to go out of my way nowadays to explain about line weights! Of course the rod should be matched to the line and not the other way around. Unfortunately many anglers have only basic casting skills and of course many anglers are beginners. Life is currently very complicated for both groups. The trend to use super heavy lines to compensate for either overly stiff rods or poor casting technique has two effects IMO: 1) it holds back the development of flycasting skills and 2) it results in using rather clumsy fishing tackle that is too heavy for the fly size and tippet strengths that would ideally be used.

Trout reservoir fishing for example. When I started I used a genuine 7WT line. I moved to a 6WT about 30 years ago. Nowadays I use a 4WT. Most reservoir anglers are using 8WT lines or possibly even heavier if the rod has an 8WT label. How can you fish a team of buzzers or dries on such tackle with finesse? Impossible!

Cheers, Paul

[ACW]

Trout reservoir fishing for example. When I started I used a genuine 7WT line. I moved to a 6WT about 30 years ago. Nowadays I use a 4WT. Most reservoir anglers are using 8WT lines or possibly even heavier if the rod has an 8WT label. How can you fish a team of buzzers or dries on such tackle with finesse? Impossible!

Been there myself ,somewhere in the vault there is a selfbuild fibatube 10ft#9 rod that was my starter outfit ,blame bob Church and dick walker .
now my HT4 has replaced my 5/6 rated outfits at least from the bank .
Much more delicate and easily handles 3/4 fly 20ft+ leaders,best of all it requires less effort, gets some stick from the "modern" chuck it out as far as is possible and heave it back boys.

[Merlin]

I don’t know if that’s a length phenomenon or just this rod.

I do not know either Paul, on the paper long (heavier) rods are less sensitive, short (light) are more sensitive but more non linear, many things can happen in reality I guess.

I learned recently that CTS in New Zealand does nor use CCS as such since a few years (they realized the problem with short and long rods). Their web site has not been updated yet.

Merlin