I found this article on the Clan Rods website and really enjoyed the thoughts that it shared. It gives a very traditional take on the incredibly popular use of "short" spey/switch rods as well as short lines that have taken over the 2-handed market. It's interesting to read the perspective of a master rod builder who speaks only of rods above 15' all the way to 22' in length.
Being as that I'm really on a "traditional" trip and really enjoying casting longer rods (13-15') with lines of 55-100' in length, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
Follow the link for the reading:
http://www.clanofsweden.com/documents/Thoughts%20about%20the%20rod.pdf
Cheers,
Adam
I started with a 14' and have only gone down in size, most recently with a 10.5' switch. I have even looked at some older 9' rods that can have a bottom grip added to them.
ReplyDeleteThe point about shorter rods being stiffer is valid, all things being equal, but in my opinion river width dictates rod length. A lot of rivers around here are pretty tight and that's where the shortest rods excel. Given all this, ideally, I'd only fish big water with my 14'. The big water gives fish lots of room to run.
I agree with you completely about the length of the rod being suited to the water. Here in the midwest a 17' rod would be over kill unless you were fishing Tenkara which then I suppose it would be appropriate. I wrapped an 11'-6" rod a couple years ago and use it when the water is way to small but big enough to swing. I'm not sure if I could see myself going any shorter though.
ReplyDeleteWhere I do see the long rod/line combo being true on the larger rivers is its comparison to the shorter lines that are always associated with the short rods. Larger parts of our rivers can facilitate the long rod and to me, it is hands down the better method. Using a short rod will make the casts but the amount of stripping and work that goes into casting that line the say 75' is astronomically more than the long rod/line belting out that length with one stroke.
I suppose I'm thankful that there is some larger water near us because if there wasn't, I would probably be tempted to go for a very short spey/switch rod just to be able to continue swinging flies.