hey,
getting some gear together and being new to this i dont know a great deal. my problem is i have a tfo ticrx 10weight blank im building up atm but i know sh1t all about choosing the right weight line for the rod. now these tfo's are a pretty brute like stick and probably have a true line rating much higher that what is stated on the blank, thats my dilema. should i over-line and if so by how much??

does anyone own a TFO TiCrx 10 weight that you have played around with lines on etc as i have a pretty tight budget and cant afford to buy a few lines to try!! btw looking at getting an inter tarpon taper

thanks for your help!

Ben

Ben, I built up that same blank last year. It casts the newer Cortland Tarpon 10 wt. intermediate tip line line like a dream. That is, for me, in the situation I was using it, casting to tarpon down in the Keys. I could carry 50 feet of line plus an awkward leader and big fly, in the air and shoot a bunch more. If you go by the common cents method, the rod is significantly under rated by the manufacturer. It casts my 12 wt Cortland 444 saltwater floater nicely too. Try also the Dan Blanton and flyfisherman.com forums (esp. the florida/caribbean section) for a lot more feedback on lines for that rod.

Any rod will cast any line, at some distance. Whether or not that rod will cast a 10-weight line nicely for you depends on the power of the rod and how much line you intend to carry past the rod tip most of the time.

If you can run the Common Cents System ERN number on the rod, I can pretty much tell you what lines at what distances are going to work best for you. But I would need that relative power number before I could comment on which lines would be best.

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Tom,
ERN 14.55, AA 76 degrees.

Going by that number, that rod will certainly cast a 10-weight line, but will do it best at longer distances (which is what it was likely designed for). If you wanted to upline by 1 or even 2 line sizes to ease your casting at average distances of say, 30 to 60 feet by all means do so. If you're punching out very long distances, then I'd stick with a 10 or perhaps an 11-weight line.

The very fast taper means that you won't be out of luck with a 10-weight line even in a little closer, because you'll be able to cast off the tip, so to speak. But if I were you, and I'm only assuming what you're going to be doing with this rod, I'd go with an 11 or 12-weight line and I think you'll be quite happy.

One thing that tends to throw monkey wrench in things nowadays, is that many of these lines no longer hold to the AFTMA line rating specifications. Many lines labeled "10-weight" now weigh as much over their forward area as older 11-weight lines used to. Many are also built around "half weights" and are actually heavier than what their AFTMA number would indicate.

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