After reading the story about Thomas & Thomas, I got to thinking about the "feel" of a rod--and how the casting style of the angler really requires a rod with a particular feel. Since I bass fish, I have a pretty good handle on rods for bass fishing. However, I think we bass fisherman (especially here in Texas) we overpower our rods. Most guys wouldn't get caught dead with a medium weight rod (power)--let alone spinning gear.

Anyway, so I was thinking that an article about how to match a rod to an angler. Then I came across the article in the previous issue about Common Cents Frequency. That seems to be the answer, but I don't get it. It's just too technical for me. I need pictures--like the cork article.

How much does feel play in casting and spinning rods? I don't have much opportunity to build fly rods (except for myself), so I'm certain that I would never be able to match an angler to a rod. And of course, none of us can have 100 different rods to test drive beforehand. There seems to be so much more in what a custom rod should provide other than some specific color, guides and a fancy wrap. The rod should match the angler, right? How? It seems the engineering guys get it, but those of us that can't tell a square root from a pi are out of luck.

And it's one feel for casting (many feels actually - different lures and casting/pitching/flipping techniques), another feel for working the lure, another for detecting the bite, then setting the hook, then boating the fish. That's why us bass guys take 6, 8, 10 rods on the boat. I don't need an article, I need a lifetime.

Matching the rod to the angler would probably have more to do with making sure you have the right length and diameter handle, proper size reel seat for the angler's hand, desired balance point, etc.

...................

It's about matching these things to the angler, and also the rod blank to the fishing conditions. When I prefish a walleye tournament, I usually have a minimum of 15 custom rods in the boat with me. Each has a specific fishing use and all are suited to my personal (physical) traits to the best of my abilities with the components available to me at the time... and still learning and building more. The components and the blanks available just keep getting better!
Building that special rod for a customer's need is really a crapshoot that you narrow the odds down with your experience and knowledge.

Putter
Williston, ND

Sean,
To answer your last question, feel comes into play a geat deal with every type of rod. And everything affects the rods feel. The length, stiffness, weight, weight distribution, action , power, and material will all have an affect on how the rod will feel. All of these charqacteristics will also show up in the frequency and that is why Bill Hanneman added CC Frequency to his Common Sense System. But don't let the concept of frequency stump you, it is actually very simple. If you hold the butt of a rod down firmly and deflect the tip and then release it the rod tip will oscillate or vibrate. It is oscillating at the resonant frequency, it is that simple, you do not have to know a square root from a pi.
Frequency is most useful for builders when comparing two blanks or rods with very simular characteristics. If you have two blanks that are the same length, power, action, etc. the one with the highest frequency will be the most sensitive, have the most feel.