I just delivered a 9' 4pc 8wgt flyrod using a Forecast 908-4. Guy loved it. Did a feather inlay. Inch markers as wanted. Turned out nice. I posted a pic of the inlay, earlier.

Guy hits the river with it. Calls me and says it fishes great. But the problem is he and his buddies got comparing their rods and they came to the conclusion that there is no way it can be an 8wgt due to the fact that the diameters of the rods are the same. And the other guys are using 6 weight St. Croix's.

And there is a weight difference. The 8 weight is lighter than their 6 weights. I'm sitting here thinking all these things are a good thing.

I've got him coming over tonight to compare the 8 weight to the matching 6 weight I was just getting started to mock up.

I mean I'm fairly new to rodbuilding but how do you deal with this......

What type St. Croix were they using? A 6 wt St. Croix triumph is much heavier than a 6 wt St. Croix Avid. But both are the same 6 wt fly rod. I have a 9' ft 8wt and my buddy has a 9 foot 10wt. His is high end mine is low end. His is lighter and better but is the same diameter as mine. Does that mean he has a 8wt and I have a 10wt because the diameters are the same? I think not!!!

I think maybe a trimmed down common cents lesson may be in order....or at least what I'd do is set it up so you can hold the rod horizontal in a rig, then weight it with pennies to show them.....you might just have another sale comming your way with a good explanation on why his 8wt is lighter and it's still an 8wt.....

Power comes from various places - material, diameter and wall thickness. You can't put a number on a rod just because it appears to be of the same diameter as another rod.

Nor is there any standard behind what constitutes an "8-weight." Ask these guys what makes one rod an 8-weight and another a 6-weight. They won't be able to tell you, other than to say something like "if it casts and 8-weight rod then it's an 8-weight." Trouble is, any rod will cast an 8-weight line.

Remember, those numbers are AFTA fly line numbers and there are standards behind those. But there are no such standards for rods. One company's 8-weight may well indeed be another company's 6-weight. And both are correct.

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

Tell him that's like saying a car can't be 300hp while the other is 150 hp because they have the same size tires. No direct correlation. Should be easy to deal with....

Mo

Mike,
You know the folks on the river must have some pretty sensitive scales in their bags.

[www.batsonenterprises.com]

When you look at the specs on the forecast 6 weight and the 8 weight rods, you are looking at a blank weight difference of 3/10ths of an oz, and you are looking at a butt size difference of .03 inches - which is covered with a handle.

The tip diameters are the same.

Unless a person is a pretty good fisherman with lots and lots of rods under his belt, it might be very very difficult to tell the rating of either rod.

It sounds like you are building wonderful rods. Keep it up.

Just give the folks who are arguing a copy of the batson spec sheet and have them come up with their own caliper and digital scale.

Take care

Roger

Well the guy came over last night with his two buddies. LOL! I had printed out the spec sheets for both the 6 weight and the 8 weight off of Batsons website. I also had my builders spec sheet along with photos of the blank before building. I had started taking pictures of the manufacutures label and attaching it to my files just for reference.

I think I made a believers out of all three on custom built rods now! LOL! Not only did I have the matching 6 weight blank for them to look at in it's raw form. But amazingly, I had several other completed spinning rods for them to look at. Including my wifes 7' spinning rod with a split grip, guides were done in purple with metallic silver accents. With crosswraps done in mettallic purple, black and silver. It really shimmers and shines. It's an eye catcher!

I guess my point here is that is sure was nice to be able to print off a spec sheet from the manufacturers website. Made my job a lot easier. Thanks for the replies guys!!

P.S. I got a text this morning from the guy! Caught his first steelhead with his rod this a.m. Loves it!!