I am from Sweden and wright english as i speak it ,sorry.
I am going to build 2 or 3 new rods for flyfishing in tropical water .Planing a trip to
Los Roques and need new rods.Visit Tobago 3 weeks febr-march 2006 and it was difficult to fish in the strong wind who always is there, hade to "press and pump" the line out in the wind.The rods i hade was DC FT wf 7 and 8 and SA Mastery Saltwater-Saltwater.Need rods who loads with shorter line,you cant have to mush line outside .Allso need a new line , was thinking of SA Mastery Salwater
Redfish.
The blanks i am looking on now is Sage Xi2 , CTS Affinity S and S XF, TFO TiCrX . Size wf8 , wf10 , wf12 .
Nedd some input of ideas and tought.
Thanks in advance . kentP

Kent,

Your problem is very easy to solve - take the rods you have now and upline them by one or two line sizes. Then they'll load with less line past the tip.

You may want o read more on the Common Cents System to understand the relationship between line length/weight and rod power. [www.common-cents.info]


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

Tom
I did that all time ,hade wf8 on the wf7 rod - even try wf9 on the 7 rod. Leader i use was 8-10 f, tyed by Lefty Kreh a formula. The rods was great on my backyard but i didint work in the wind.I am over average casting technique.
kentP

Do keep in mind that the rod terms "8-weight" or "9-weight" are very subjective. No two rods with the "8-weight" designation are going to posess the same amount of power. Odd, huh? But that's the way it is. Those numbers end up meaning very little. You need to create a baseline for your rods and then select the lines you need to load them with different amounts of line aerialized.

You would do well to run some CCS measurements on the rods and then relate that to the line you need for the length of line you plan to aerialize on the final cast before the "shoot." I'd suggest you try to match your 8-weight line with a rod with an ERN of around 6.5 to 7. But don't expect to cast long distances. Do expect them to load at short distances, however. Hopefully they'll stll have enough power to handle the fish you intend to catch.

...........

I've CCd the 7wt, it's in the low 10's powerwise. I also always carry a travel spinning backup rod with me for the windy days, sometimes it's the only thing that even closely resembles fishability in the wind.

Kent,

If I were you I would also shorten up the leader, particularly in windy conditions. In my experiance fish arn't sensitive to leader length in windy conditions at all and much easier to get the fly to turnover with a short one. Length say 2 to 5 feet. You may also wish to use a sinking line (if you are not already) where leader length can definitely be shorter as the line takes the fly to the fish and so not relying on leader length to get the fly down. Also sinking flylines have a smaller diameter for same weight of line and so can be more effective in the wind. Sorry if I am telling you stuff you know already or doing already.


I have an FT 9 wt I am taking to Cape York (Northern end of Australia about as far as you can go in that direction) at the end of May. Almost completed building it and I am really looking forward to using it and seeing how it goes.

Cheers
John