Now, since Paul sells rods that are for old folks and he can't make up his mind if a rod is a 5 or a 10 or a 6 above the cork, we know he is a bit off there. But having been throwing clotheslines around for the better part of three decades myself, I do remember when a certain British company started selling overweight lines back in the early 90's... rods didn't really start to get stiffer in the main market until slightly later, even though I do remember the RPL and the IMX being said to be underclassed and really should have a heavier line on them, back then... So what is it, did the trend really be stiffer rods and the line manufacturers responded? Or did some brands and manufacturers start to make heavier lines because, you know, mass is king and a heavier line does go further than a lighter one and rod manufacturers just repsonded to the "I fish a 5 in the salt because it says so above the handle (but my line is a 9 weight if you measure, so don't do that!) and that makes me a badass" crowd....Paul Arden wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 1:00 pm
Personally while I like and prefer the lighter faster rods that are available nowadays, I think that the trend has been to go too stiff and lifeless for some reason. It’s partly as a consequence of this that lines are being made heavier than standard. I really can’t explain this.
Cheers, Paul
Me thinks it boils down to the arms race of wanting to buy stuff that makes you cast further/better/easier/notacompletemesseverycast, and the snake oil sellers respond in spades by claiming their lines are going further than the other guys, by weighing them up, and claiming the standard doesn't work and stuff, rather than the rod manufacturers thinking their rods are springs and a stiffer spring works better at propelling a line far.
Anybody here has a different take on it?
Cheers
Lasse