Greetings,

I've read about this somewhere. Was just thinking today about the first rod I built in high school, many years ago. A fiberglass UL rebuilt. That thing would NEVER cast straight. The lure would always go one side towards the left. The blank was straight and the guides were straight. To this day, I'm not sure why.

Anyone know? Is it because the blank was really bent? Does the spine misorientation cause this? (Probably not.)

Thanks,
Mo

Straight blank, straight guides, then I don't think it was the blank.....!
Release too late when casting sidearm, plus the release of energy causing the rod tip to "kick" left. To overcome, you'd compensate by trying to throw slightly right. If over head, any diversion from vertical and straight down will send your cast off, because you also have the pendulum motion of the lure on a length of line.

Spine won't cause that, and only a badly bent blank would affect your casting to that degree, IMHO.

The lure is going to go in the same direction the tip is going at the moment of release. A badly warped or curved blank can create a situation where the tip is traveling in just a bit of an arc, meaning that at the moment of release the tip is not traveling along the exact same plane as your casting motion is. If the rod was straight (guides could be crooked and that wouldn't matter) then this isn't likely it.

If the action or power of the rod doesn't suit your casting motion for some reason, then the tip may not be where you think it is at the moment of release.

Frankly, I've done a lot of casting with a lot of rods rods over the years and anytime I've missed my target, as much as I might like to blame it on the rod, it was most likely my own fault.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2008 08:19AM by Tom Kirkman.

I always blame it on the rod!

Rods that are straight do what you tell them to do, but sometimes we don't tell the rods what we think we're telling them. When I switched from 6 and 6.5' rods to mostly 7' rods, my accuracy was lousy until I learned to adjust my casting stroke a little. For awhile there, I could hardly cast without catching a sycamore or river maple. It was embarrassing.

I agree. It's easy to think you are casting in one direction but the tip is really traveling in a different direction than you think.

Have someone watch you cast in a couple of different angles. If you are right handed and the lure is off to the left, then my suspicion is that you are dropping the tip down to the right and the rod is affecting your release point. So, the rod may affect your casting style compared to other rods but the others are right, it's doing exactly what you tell it to do.

Good luck!

Terry

ive gotta agree and say it's the fisherman, not the rod

Wind. It's not the rod or the fisherman. It's the wind. ha ha ha

Some lures will change plane when being cast. for example on an inline spinner, the blade will stay tucked until the velocity is reduced, then the blade will fall. Which every direction the blade falls, the line will follow.

The correct answer to this question can be found at some point between E=mc squared and a point on the curve representing the "angle of the dangle"!

Mo when MJ comes out of the New England tunnel he is installing this week your chosen subject for the weekend will save him some time conjuring his latest version of the Friday Funnies!

Mo's topic for this Friday - Zero Mass Deflection of Spineless Lure Arc!

}> Gon Fishn )>

I always miss left when I try to cast a very light weight, one on the low side for the blank.l Maybe because the tip doesn't load up. I mean, it COULDN'T be me, right!?!? lol
Chuck Horan

LOL. All the funny answers.

Actually the rod is a VERY lightweight UL rod, I think 4' 6" or 5'. Fiberglass. Much lighter power than the likes of Kencor and such that we have today. All I can say is that every other rod I had/have cast straight, and with the same reel/line/lure, this one rod would always cast to one side. And I mean always.

So operator error heh? Perhaps it's the nature of the rod that magnified my errors....

Thanks,
Mo

Your last sentence is probably more true than you might thing - for whatever reason, your particular casting stroke does something with that rod that causes your lure to go to one side. And if it does, the tip of the rod must be traveling in that direction at the moment of release.

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

it really depends on who built the rod and who is doing the casting before I put the blame anywhere.

bill

Ohio Rod Builders

Canton, Ohio

LOL Bill. I rebuilt the rod (in high school, my first attempt) and I'm the one doing the casting.

So the question is settled....:)

Mo

Mo,
Rotate your reel 180 degrees and tape it on so the guides are facing up. Repeat your test casts. If the result is the same, the problem is in your casting stroke. If it's opposite, it's in the rod.
Cheers, Bill Beall

How does that one work Bill?