Thought this might be of interest to those asking about balancing a fly rod..


[www.thenewflyfisher.com]

Bob,

Glad to find there are other voices of reason out there.

Thanks for posting that link.

Buddy Sanders

Good points made in that article - if you are a distance caster and not wanting to waste energy in the cast. However, for my fishing, which rarely results in a cast longer than 50', all the casting is effortless. Plus, holding the rod and mending line is easier for me if I have an outfit that "wants" to stay roughly parallel with the water when I am holding it. For my fishing, lighter is not always better.

He makes some good points but misses the boat on others. Weight is certainly an enemy, but where that weight occurs along the rod can be a greater enemy. Oh well, not my intent to criticize his point, just that there are other variables that he either didn't consider or chose not to discuss in the same article.

One last thing - the only way to make a rod "dampen" is to drop it in the water.

.........

Interesting article. It seems to me that you can infer from the article that adding weight to the butt of any rod will increase the inertia that must be overcome when casting and, all other things being equal, will result in the rod not casting as far. It makes perfect sense to me unless I am overlooking something.

Yes, interesting article that deserves some thought and consideration. Where are all the physical scientists? Bodies at rest / bodies in motion - weight of line "in play" and if in or on back cast vs weight of reel/line behind the hand .... OUCH! Gee my wrist hurts thinking about it. Besides - I'm overjoyed if I can get the line out 30 feet, where I want it to be and the leader ahead of the fly line.

I think the simplest point to take from such an article is that building a rod that is as light as is practical will reduce fatigue (that's what all that inertia you have to overcome from the extra weight causes, fatigue).

'Balancing' a fly rod isn't possible, and adding additional 'weight' to that end is not productive OR helpful when you consider CASTING the rod. How you 'hold' it while fishing is awefully subjective and there are several variables, but I'd argue with confidence that adding the weight required to 'balance' a nine foot fly rod to horizontal in any 'static' situation would be more destructive to effective casting AND generate more fatigue over a fishing day than having the lightest practical outfit.

Old ideas die hard. Even here, where you'd expect this to be common knowledge.

You should of seen all the trouble I had trying, unsuccessfully I might add, to convince those on a fly fishing site that shortening a blank from either end SLOWS the action of the rod.....You see, they are convinced that cutting some from the tip will make it 'stiffer' and thus, to them, 'faster'.....

Good Luck!

Buddy Sanders

Buddy:
I still think you should be a Politician

Steve,

OUCH!!!!!

My profound apologies!

I'm truly sorry, and I promise to 'try' to never do that again.

I'm going away now....

Buddy

Buddy:
No need to apologize. I love reading you speeches.
It’s one of the great things about living in a free country. Every buddy gets a vote.

There are two separate and distinct applications involved here that are being discussed.

The one in the article (which is very interesting to say the least) is simply casting; distance casting with a fly rod.

The second is fly fishing for fish.

These are two very different activities with different goals based on entirely different desired results.

The first is to see how far one can cast a line, under controlled conditions......period. Nothing else.

The second is to attempt to place a fly on a naturally occurring body of water under non-controlled conditions in such a way that a fish will take the offering.

An attempt to transfer the lessons of the first to the second "in toto" is not realistic nor appropriate. An attempt to learn from the first and apply where applicable in the second is realistic and laudable.