Technology, hype, commercialism, progress and combinations of letters that have a Greek sound. What do they all have in common with fly rods? The answer is quite simple when you consider that it all translates into money for the company that can put the right combination together. Of course, there's one more part of the equation necessary to make it all profitable. That's enough gullible customers to buy into the package.
Over the past fifty years, I've seen unbelievable advances in fishing equipment. In rods, we went from bamboo to tonkin cane, to fiberglass, metal, boron, graphite and a whole range of new combinations to produce the ultimate in rods that would hopefully make experts of us all.
How far have we really progressed and just how gullible are we?
In fly lines, we progressed from braided horsehair to braided silk, to rayon dacron combinations to air infiltrate lines with specific gravity lighter than water and so on and so on. The fly leaders have gone from silk worm gut to various types of nylon and now to braided kevlar filaments. How far will we go and what will be the end result on the survival of the fish and on the human ability to use his or her own skill and ingenuity in pursuit of the wary trout?
Many of the new products and materials that have gone into their manufacture have been the result of space age technology. Some have been an outright blessing to the comfort and enjoyment of the sport. But much is hype and designed to confuse us and make a heavy profit off products equal to those a fraction of their cost.
Let's take fly rods for example. In my forty years of teaching fly fishing and operating the largest fly shop on the AuSable River, I've seen and fished with just about every type of rod made. Some were very good and others very bad and a lot of mediocre ones inbetween. If there's one thing I have learned and something that any good fly fisherman can tell you, it's that the weight or lack of weight of the rod has little to do with its casting proficiency. We've seen graphite composite, IM6 graphite, IM6 Hi-Modulus and a whole range of Is, Xs, etc. To the buyer, they all mean absolutely nothing except to confuse and to encourage the inexperienced fly fisherman to buy their product. Many large dealers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to hype their products and convince you theirs are the best and that their rods alone will make you an expert. To be quite honest, only about 10% of all the fly rods I've seen and fished cast with the degree of accuracy and power that a good fly fisherman recognizes.
How do you know if a rod is good? The best way is to have an experienced fly fisherman cast it and show you, then cast it yourself and compare it with a couple other rods. A good casting fly rod will hold line in the air and not wobble or vibrate when you cast forty or fifty feet of line. A large majority of the rods, (yes, even the expensive ones) have tips that are too soft. Manufacturers have a stubborn and unwarranted tendency to go for lightness beyond reason and unfortunately, those who buy rods wrongfully perceive this lack of weight to mean a better quality rod. This is not necessarily the case. A rod has to have a good amount of power in the tip to cast a line straight and for any distance, and making the rods light to the extreme sacrifices both power and casting ability. Another gimmick today is giving a lifetime warranty on a rod. If you charge three times what the rod is worth, anyone will give a lifetime guarantee. Don't forget, any reputable maker or manufacturer will stand behind their product. Don't fall for the gimmicks and always remember, a rod that weighs practically nothing will not necessarily cast better and the chances are it won't cast nearly as well. There is a limit to how light a rod should be. Most experienced fly fishermen will tell you that they like to feel some weight in their hand and feel the power of the rod as it begins to load up after the first forty feet or more of line is in the air. What is important in a good rod? Put simply, it is power, accuracy and sensitivity; and a good balance of these three ingredients will produce a well performing cast that will play well on any stream.
There is one question that I am frequently asked when I hold fly casting clinics and a potential customer is trying out a rod. "What is the difference in buying a custom rod as opposed to a commercial rod?" I answer this by explaining how fly rods are built and then demonstrate how the blanks are aligned to utilize their maximum efficiency. I then show how the spacing of the guides is critical to the casting ability and smoothness in laying out line. This is perhaps the most critical of all since each blank is slightly different. The wrong guide spacing can not only cause the rod to break but will interfere with the rods ability to cast smoothly without wobble or line slap. This is where a good rod builder excels since he understands the dynamics of casting and understands what a rod should do. If you put the same quality blank in the hands of an experienced rod builder, his rods will outperform the "off the shelf" rods nearly every time.
There is one more fact of which many are not aware. The individual rod builder does not spend thousands of dollars on advertising; therefore, he can make a better rod at less money than you would pay for a rod that has been hyped with full page ads in just about every fly fishing magazine in the country.
Remember, it shouldn't be necessary to make more than one or two false casts in order to place the line out where you want it. If a rod won't pick up forty or fifty feet of line and put it back in the same place with one cast, then that rod doesn't have sufficient power to set the hook properly or to cast accurately.
It pleases me very much to see the reaction of those who attend my free clinics when they cast my custom rods and compare them with rods selling at much higher prices. Even beginners have no trouble picking up on this difference.
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