Few experienced anglers would deny that the performance of a fly rod has a greater impact upon fly casting than the performance of a spin rod has upon spin casting. If you disagree, spool up a fly reel with mono and put it on your best (or worst) spin rod.

Although one-piece blanks are generally somewhat superior to their multi-piece counterparts, most fly rod blanks today are four-piece. There is widespread agreement that the action of modern fly rods is not significantly impared by making them in three or four pieces, and they certainly are much easier to pack and to travel with than two or one-piece rods.

I was asked to build a 6 1/2' or 7' fast action medium power spin rod which would be convenient to take on a commercial airplane. Nearly all spin blanks offered today are one-piece, very few are two piece, precious few are three-piece.

Why? Don't spin fishermen travel from their home waters? If fly fishermen can endure the possible loss of action caused by ferrules why don't
spin fishermen? Is the profusion of one-piece spin blanks the result of consumer preference or production ease?

The demographic involved is the main reason for lack of multi-piece casting and spinning gear. The overall demographic for fly fishermen is towards the more affluent and thus, more are able to travel by air to exotic fishing destinations.

This doesn't mean that casting and spin fishermen don't travel and there are some models available for those folks. Mostly in the area of light saltwater rods.

But the number of anglers traveling by air to fish leans heavily towards the fly fishing crowd.

By the way, put a fly reel on a spinning rod and load it with the right line and you'll be shocked at the results. Remember, there is no difference between a fly rod blank and a spinning or casting rod blank - they're all just tubular shafts. The rod never has any idea if it's being loaded by the lure or a line. It reacts to weight and angler input.

..........

I think the answer to your question about why mostly one-piece spin blanks is consumer preference. With the average spinning rod being under 6'6" and the average fly rod being well over 8', I'm not sure why it's confusing.

Robert:

A four-piece nine foot rod fits in a 30" tube. A one piece six foot rod fits in a 75" tube. The 30" tube can go in carry-on luggage, the 75" tube goes in "oversized" baggage, which is unloaded dead last and usually late from a plane. Flying with a 75" rod/tube [or even taking a bus] will cause a lot of missed connections and headaches. Also, you will pay a healthy premium to ship a 75" rod or blank. I am confused why anyone would willingly go through the increased trouble and cost of one-piece blanks when the performance and price of modern ferruled rods is pretty much the same as their one-piece counterparts.

Tom:

I wouldn't be too surprised. I built a fly rod on an 8 1/2' hot shot blank. It will throw 90' of #11 line with ease, and the powerful butt can really put pressure on a fish.

IMO, Tom pretty much nailed it ... traveling fishermen are primarily fly anglers. That being said, my personal preference for all types of rods is WAY toward multi-piece design.

There are some options in the spinning/casting arena - but primarily in the lower modulus grouping. Just the other day, Mud Hole released a handful of MHX blanks in a multi-piece design. Want to see them continue to import them and/or add to the offering? Buy a few.

Here is a link to the Batson Travel Cast & Spin Blanks we carry;
[www.schneidersrods.com]

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

I travel from home very often to fish - as do all tournament bass anglers - but my boat is behind me with rods in a locker that accomodates rods 8'+. I am liable to go to a tournament with 150+ boats which means 300 anglers who are all away from home and have traveled to get there. So I have a hard time believing only fly fishermen are the primary travelers.

I don't want a multipiece rod because the last thing I want when I have $6k this weekend riding on the line is my rod "coming apart". No thanks. Regardless of what you say - that can't happen with a one piece rod. Sure it can break, but that is the case for all rods.

One of the biggest requests I have is for one piece flipping sticks over 7'6". Many guys, who have boats that can accomodate an 8' rod, don't want a telescoping rod. Again, it's one more issue to potentially deal with.

It's all about perspective and circumstances. Fly guys are traveling on a plane and need carry ons - bass guys using casting gear have no problems with oversized luggage in a truck with a 20' boat behind it.

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Phil,
Why would anyone go through the trouble of 2 piece rods if all their fishing is done from a boat or shore they drive their car or truck to and their rods easily fit? I'm not really sure what you're getting at. We should all be fishing 3 piece rods so we can take them on a plane? You can try selling that all you want, but I'm not sure how many buyers you'll find.

I'll add that I've traveled extensively with my rods, up to 7'6", from Alaska to Panama without issue. For reference, I'd estimate I traveled over 50k miles with my rods between 2005 and 2009. Back then I spent more time out of the country than I did at home.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/2010 05:14PM by Robert Russell.

Fly fishermen are the primary travelers to their fishing destination by plane. And quite often those destinations are thousands of miles away.

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

Robert:

I did not mean to imply everyone should abandon their cherished one-piece rods. I was only unhappy with and curious about the very real shortage of two and especially three-piece spin rod blanks that would be convenient to take on vacation or to a fishing destination by air. Previous posts have alerted me to some new sources. Thanks, guys.

I own several one-piece rods, including two 10' surf rods. I no longer drive a pick up truck. Like the majority of Americans, I have switched to smaller vehicles. Those 10' one-piece rods will just fit in my sedan and small suv, but my wife is not pleased by their presence. This is not good, if you get my drift. I don't know how I would transport those rods if I still had to travel with my children.

BTW: I have never broken a rod I was carring in a tube by slamming it in a door, bending it, or dropping something on it.

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fly fishermen are the primary travelers to their
> fishing destination by plane. And quite often
> those destinations are thousands of miles away.
>
> ................
Tom,
Any numbers to back this up? I'd think the largest group of fishermen that travel is salt water and with few exceptions, they're not fly fishing.

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Robert:
>
> I did not mean to imply everyone should abandon
> their cherished one-piece rods. I was only unhappy
> with and curious about the very real shortage of
> two and especially three-piece spin rod blanks
> that would be convenient to take on vacation or
> to a fishing destination by air. Previous posts
> have alerted me to some new sources. Thanks,
> guys.
>
> I own several one-piece rods, including two 10'
> surf rods. I no longer drive a pick up truck.
> Like the majority of Americans, I have switched to
> smaller vehicles. Those 10' one-piece rods will
> just fit in my sedan and small suv, but my wife is
> not pleased by their presence. This is not good,
> if you get my drift. I don't know how I would
> transport those rods if I still had to travel with
> my children.
>
> BTW: I have never broken a rod I was carring in a
> tube by slamming it in a door, bending it, or
> dropping something on it.

Phil,
You can find your cherished 2 piece blanks from St. Croix. They seem to have most of their SCIII Spin Jig blanks offered in both one and two piece.

There was a large scale study done on all aspects of fishing a few years back. I think the ASA undertook it. Fly Fishermen were the most prolific fishing travelers by far.

If you were to contact a good many of the exotic fishing lodges - Alaska, Patagonia, Bahamas, East Russia, etc., I'm sure they'd tell you that the majority of their customers are fly fishermen.

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

A lot of surf guys won't give up their 10 and 11 foot 1 piece Lamis until they are pried from their cold dead hands. They sure don't trust multi piece designs.

For my fishing, the preception is they are not strong enough. I don't remember seeing anything over about 20# class spinning and certainly never a trolling outfit.

I could see a market for the west coast tuna fishery if someone offered 8' and 9" ones that could fish up to 60#.

The most popular fishing destination in the US is Lake Fork, Texas. The most popular fishing destination for Americans that leave the country to fish is Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. I'll wager neither has many fly fishermen.

I bet you can ask the guys at the lodges in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil and any island in the Caribbean and they'll tell you fly fishermen are few and far between for the most part. I've been to and fished all of those places and I can tell you the only place I have seen fly fishermen was the flats in the Bahamas.

Lamiglas sells 10'0" four-piece surf blanks and 8'6" three-piece steelhead blanks ... among others. St Croix sells heavy inshore permit blanks in a three-piece design.

When I still had my skiff, I used an 18'0" three-piece push pole and did absolutely terrible stuff with it ... no problems.

It isn't a design issue AT ALL, it is a demand issue. The manufacturers can only afford to build what sells. WHEN more folks start purchasing multi-piece rods for spinning/casting use - more will be offered.

I really do not understand all the stuff posted on this thread - my customers do not worry with multi piece rods at all for air travel - many of my customers are fly boyz too - they just buy a Gulfstream II instead of a Lear!

Gon Fishn

Not that it matters, but an awful lot of people fly to Canada to fish walleyes.

There is only one reason I want a two-piece blank. I want to have a rod hiding in the car for "emergency" situations.

I wonder what you bass guys do when you go to those big lakes in Mexico's inland areas to fish for those giant LM's. Do you take your one piece baitcasters on the plane with you? I know if I went, I'd go during the time of year when flyfishing with deer-hair surface patterns is at its' best. Conventional gear would be a "backup" for me anyway. It seems like it's that way with what's offered in the vast majority of travel spin tackle. Sage used to even list their travel spin rods as (the only spin rods they used to offer) "for those times when conditions are just too dificult for flyfishing." I think it's like Tom stated in that it's the most prevalent of long distance travelers - the fly fishermen (and women) - that influence the supply/demand thing.