How could one build a rod for distance casting only? Not for tournaments...just a local joe kind of thing. I am NOT intending to do so...but might just for the fun of it and the learning of it. What piqued my interest is an aquaintence who appears to want to cast further than anyone. He is an ex tennis player and I notice most of his casts are side arm....go figure huh? Anyway, he is not going to build any rods. He only has a medium slow rod.

In the trout fishing range of my area...I wonder how to build a 5wt or 6wt rod just for distance.
Length of rod?
Action?
Guides on spine?
Guides opposite spine?
Tip section guides off spine, butt section guides ON spine?
Over sized guides?
Single foot spinning guides that stand the line off the rod?
Ceramic?
Weight forward floating line?
Weight forward full sink line"
Double taper fly line?
Cigar grip?
Full wells grip?
Heck e dern....I have no clue......

Now I got my own juices going. Now I think I want to build one. No clue what makes a distance rod though.

Any comments are definitely appreciated.

Jim,
The longer the rod.
The action that casts the longest distance.
The spine of the rod makes no real difference with respect to casting.
Use the smallest and the fewest guides to control the line.
Use the lightest guides
No reason to have a ring in the guide. i.e. snake or stainless guides will work just fine.
Don't worry about the grip, just make it a straight EVA grip and tape the reel on the grip for less weight.

With respect to distance casting - take a look at some of the surf rods. They commonly cast huge distances into the Surf for ocean going fish. Typically very long, very long back grip to get more leverage for casting.

Good luck
Roger

Spine will have no affect on distance, other than that it is the softest axis. If you goal is to build a fly rod for maximum distance, I would think you'd want the most powerful axis in play on the forward cast. This would be neither the spine nor the opposite of the spine, of course.

By and large, the single most important thing you can do is to match the right amount of rod power for the amount of weight (length of line) that you'll be aerializing. You'll never do this with the manufacturer's line number rating. This is where the ERN figure from the Common Cents System really shines. Once you know what line you'll be using you can use the equation ERN = ELN (at 30 feet) to determine how much power you'll need to do what you want to do.

Otherwise, build the rod as light as possible. But nothing is going to be nearly as important as having the right amount of rod power for casting what you plan to cast.

.........

Roger says the action that casts the longest distance? That is part of my question. What is the action that casts the longest distance?
Tom says the softest axis....I was thinking the stiffest axis....

So....assuming an 8' or 9' rod....I would think this would be determined by the arm strength of the caster...a petite person may not have the casting strength to maximize a 9' rod for distance. So length is a question in my mind...and I mean length in the inland trout area...not surf casting. I know Roger was just using this as an example....but perhaps an 8' rod for easier forward cast?

Softest axis?...how about a broomstick? I think stiffer would be better for distance...but it can also be the ability to load the rod...

Nice replies....thanks....but I still a tad not sure......

I guess I would think the largest guides for less friction, fewest lightest guides and grips and rod.....stiffest action available to buy in a blank...and overall the lightest strongest (butt section) blank one can find........?

Whether to be a fast action blank or a full flex confuses me icw distance.....

No, I didn't say to use the "softest axis." I said the spine was the softest axis.

Guide friction is immaterial - on the cast it doesn't exist in sufficient amount to make much difference. Guide weight is far more important.

There is no such thing as a "stiff action." Action is Fast, medium or slow, or by degrees in the Common Cents System.

Stiffer isn't necessarily better - if it's so powerful/stiff that the line you use and your own input isn't sufficient to fully load the rod then it's not going to get you much distance. That's why I said the single most important factor when building for distance is to select a blank that matches the weight (length of line) and your input in order to be fully loaded. No amount of guide placement nor anything else is ever going to have as much impact on distance as having the right amount of rod power to match your casting weight and physical input.

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

Got it Tom. I should have mention Fly Rod....not a casting rod per se.

Tom, little problelm with my account. I try to click on links on the left and response from site is I must be registered to post?
I AM registered. I have looked at my profile and I do not see anything I can change. I am now wondering why I cannot go to a sponsors link. I get the response that I need to register. Not had this problem in the past. Surely does not have anything to do with not being a subscriber to the RodMaker magazine. Which I have been until lately.....

Something is wrong on your end. The links are all working fine and you don't have to be registered to use them. I suspect your browser's indication of where your mouse hand isn't actually where it is. In fact, you wouldn't know it, but the sponsor list isn't even part of this forum - it's just in a template window tagged to the left of this forum so any forum response can't possibly be coming from the sponsor links.

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

Got it again Tom. Thank you for the reply. I posted it here so others could see as well. To me on this end it looks like a board problem. So good of you to reply it's my problem. Think it's due to me changing the pop ups security on my computer.

Sorry to have bothered YOU with it...but now I think I can fix it. Had me totally fooled.

Thank you for the reply.

Jim

Here's a starting point.

[www.americancastingassoc.org]

I'm sure that a couple of phone calls will launch you on an appropriate path.

Don