Hi Gang,

Went to the Fly Tying show in Marlbourgh, MA. today and saw a new rod that was interesting. The blank was internaly wrapped with Titaniam wire. Graphite was IM8. Rod was very light and extremely flexable, could flex the rod so the tip touched the reel and then some (about 200 degrees) My son-in-law cast the rods and said loaded very easy. Has anyone else seen these rods?

Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

I doub the titanium wire is anything more than a gimmick. Would bet if you could break it down and see how it's made you'd find it to have a lot of fiberglass in it.

I suppose if the wire were small enough with the exact same elasticity and flexibility as the rod, it would be alright. Anything else though, and I can picture some cracking. For such a reputedly small segment of fishing market, as I have read on this site, fly fishing gets alot of cool stuff. Fly reel seats ( I just visited Inserts by Les) can be like Faberge eggs, or titanium milled art peices. How come us spinners get shafted with so much plastic? Respectfully, Levi

Levi,
Check out the stuff at REC if you want some spinning reel seats that are a little different.

Levi,
Check out the stuff at REC if you want some spinning reel seats that are a little different.

You got me Spencer. But still, How many fly reel seats on that page?

I think Fly Anglers spend a LOT more for their equipment than most (Don't all jump on me at once!!)

Mike

Mike , I agree , they have no choice. It must be the fly fishing mystique. My dad let me mess with his fly rods when I was a kid, I got pretty good at it I guess, I mean I could cast and whip it back and forth without ripping out an eyeball, and do some rolls, and sortof flick the line back and forth at the tip. I like spinning reels, dont really know why. You can make a ball of line around both. (I can.) I have a 300 dollar spinning reel, and I will buy the Daiwa saltiga after I get a few projects out of the way. So us spinning fans can spend money too. Im putting fly reel seats on my spinning rods because they are so much better looking. I dont know. I had a 3000 dollar mountain bike when I was racing, and a carbon fiber bike just to play on. My wife will never understand, but you do get what you pay for. I dont wanna pay for a plastic reel seat, or a junk reel. But I should probably invest in some equipment, and I wish I could make charlotte to see some of the instructional seminars. Hard to justify it, when I just want to make for me and my freinds. Ah well, maybe another year. Respectfully, Levi

Although I have been fishing and build rods for more years than I care to admit, I have only been fishing and building fly rods for 3 or 4 seasons. I can only speculate that it might be due that market forces place far more demands for innovation on fly fishing equipment than the demands for innovative spinning and baitcasting components. I too, own some pretty spendy spinning gear. I don't do any fishing for Coho without my trusty Shimano Sustain 2000's. With few exceptions 90% of the reel seats available for spinning and casting look the same and are ugly, or at the worse, just too plain. I use them because I don't have a choice, or I build my spinning and baitcasting rods with flyrod seats or a recycled Wiebe. Tom Kirkman's article on marblizing breathes life into making a reel seat more palatible, and has even opened my mind up to other changes. And once I finally hunker down and buy that Jet mini-lathe, I be able to make some of those ideas happen. In my humble opinion, the most innovative manufacturer supplying upscale spinning and baitcasting reelseats was Wiebe. And he is gone or at least difficult to find.
Patrick Vernacchio

Hank,

I saw those rods at the Denver fly fishing show and i took a few minutes too look at them and shake one. Actually felt prety nice too, although not as nice as that Winston LT on the next isle. They had a small section of blank that you could look at to see how it works. They have several titanium wires running the length of the rod and one spiral wrapped up the blank.

From an engineering standpoint the titanium actually does more harm than good. Titanium is known for having a very low modulus of elasticity. (Which by the way combined with its very high hardness is the reason its very difficult to machine.) It has a much higher density, and lower strength than standard graphite. Not to mention that the design essentially just 'throws in' some titanium wire. The wire doesn't actually displace any graphite so what you have in effect is nothing but excess weight. The one and only benefit to titanium in some kind of application like this is that its increadibly tough and durable, however you get almost no benefit from that material property in the given implementation.

Cool gimmick, but in the end is pointless.

Mark