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IMPORTANT
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Beginning
Saltwater Flyfishing: Tackling Up: Rods
Our July 2001 contribution from Nigel Haywood
There's an old saying that if you cast well, you can cast with a broomstick: it just isn't so much fun. Well, here's the fun bit. And straight away that cartoon springs to mind from the golden days of Punch, when it was edited by Alan Coren, of a man staggering home with armfuls of fishing tackle. His wife, watching him, remarks to her neighbour "yes, they do say that buying fishing tackle is the single most popular hobby in England".
We're talking about spending money. You've found the fish, now you need to get at them. Time to sort the tackle out. And reach for the cheque book once again.
I nailed my colours to the mast in my last piece by saying that any reasonably salt water proof 7-9 outfit would do. But let's try and refine this. Which weight makes best sense? First point, for fishing the British Coast, unless you're targeting sharks (and I think that's a few articles away), the determining factor is not the weight of the fish you're going to catch. Most of the time your quarry will be one or two pounds, with the biggest unlikely to go much above ten, and most rods can cope with that. No, it's the conditions you're likely to be fishing in, and the fly you're throwing. Sheltered estuaries, fishing small flies for school bass or mullet, will only need a 6 or 7 weight outfit. Big rocks, 2/0 Deceivers or Clousers, strong winds and turbulent water, will need a 9 or 10 weight. Or, probably, just an afternoon in the pub. After all, this is meant to be fun. Anyway, this month let's look at rods.
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cushion sudden lunges |
OK, let's have the $64,000 question. If you only had one rod to fish with, what would it be? Answer: a 9ft rod for a 9 weight. Probably 4 piece, just in case someone invites me bonefishing for the weekend. It has to happen one day. Multi-piece rods these days have actions pretty well indistinguishable from 2 piece. And they fit in overhead lockers in aircraft. A 9 weight will cope with most conditions, and even be ideal for a few. 9 ft is easy to cast for hours on end without tiring. 8 ft does not really give you enough leverage to get the distances you often need. 10ft does, and is useful if there are obstructions behind you, or you're wading: but after a while, the leverage works against you, and your arm can get pretty tired.
Rod actions have been covered extremely well in another article on this site. A fast action is good if your timing is, and you're using smallish flies. Anything bigger than, say, a size 4 tends to cause a fair amount of air turbulence and generally throw you timing out. This is easier to handle with a medium action rod. Flies with weighted heads cause similar problems. Plus they crash into rod tips a lot, resulting in shattering at inconvenient moments. If you're going to use them a lot, look at those rods with lifetime guarantees.
Playing fish is another consideration. If you're fishing for mullet, a through action will help. They tend to lunge suddenly, which causes hooks to pull out if there's inadequate give in the rod. It's probably not critical otherwise, though I'm always happier with a rod that's not too tippy.
I know, I haven't mentioned makes. And nothing gets the forum going like a debate over which manufacturer produces the best rod. To be honest, I don't think it matters a lot. I have in front of me an American magazine which ran a blind test on 58 four-piece 5 weight rods. Tests were on casting performance, including distance and accuracy, and the testers were beginner, intermediate and advanced casters. The one rod to come in the top 15 in each of the 20 categories was a $200 St Croix. Not far behind it was an $80 Cabela's Stowaway. Most rods are far better than any caster can fully exploit anyway. Just look for something with a full wells handle; a short, say one inch, extension butt; two lined stripping rings; and large chrome snake rings with a hay-fork tip. We can have a long debate over whether single leg Fujis are better. I don't think they're so good with shooting heads: the running line sometimes knots itself around their feet. But try them and see.
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uplocking reel seat, short fighting butt |
Yes, try rods. Many good shops will let you try out their rods: after all, if you're going to lay down up to £600, they're going to want you to feel good about it. And, as the American tests showed, there are some surprising bargains to be had if you're prepared to be open minded. I mostly use Thomas and Thomas rods: their Horizon range is very fast, and good for throwing small flies a long way. My favourites are Vectors, which are just a little more forgiving. My 9 weight Vector, a little battered after two summers on the rocks, is wonderful, and throws big flies a considerable distance. But there are plenty of other good rods out there. I'd try a number, including the Sage RPLXi; Scott SAS; the remarkably good value Loomis GL3 and the various offerings of Redington and Orvis. But don't overlook Steve Parton's range, or Alan Brown's rods, very similar to T&T . It's also worth looking at the cheaper ranges of the big manufacturers: Sage DS2, T&T Emerger , Orvis Clearwater and so on. The build's fine, but the graphite's probably a generation or two out of date. Which is to say, state of the art ten years ago. Still better than most people can cope with.
There's another old saying. Only buy the tools of your trade once. This doesn't mean go out and buy the most expensive rod you can afford. At least, not necessarily. But it does mean go and buy the one that suits you best. That means doing some research. As in finding fish, time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
And then it's time to consider reels...
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: First, Find your Fish
If you have any questions or comments regarding this article please visit our Saltwater Flyfishing Forum
Nigel
Haywood was brought up on the Cornish coast, and has fished in the sea
for as long as he can remember. He tied his first saltwater fly over thirty
years ago, and over the last ten years has focused almost exclusively
on the fly rod. He is writing a book, provisionally titled Flyfishing
the British Coast for Merlin Unwin