Hi all. I am about to put together a 5 weight fly rod which will primarily be used for indicator fishing. I saw some reviews for a Sage rod which was supposed to be designed for indicator fishing which mentioned the model had larger guides to help facilitate mending.

Does anyone use larger guides than usual to make mending easier and is so, how much larger do you use?

thanks
Tom.

Not sure how it makes mending easier. Can you elaborate?

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Cannot figure out how guide size any effect at all in mending! Maybe more marketing hype. A fly line only touches a small portion of the guide ring, so ring size shouldn't make any difference.

Where are you getting this info -- What is a Indicator Rod -- What does it - Indicate ??
Build a 5wt fly rod according to loop to loop that fit the guides or knots Static test for spacing

What else could one look for ???? OK make sure it will cast the line -- Indicated

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2015 12:34AM by bill boettcher.

Bill,

An "Indicator" can be anything from a fly to a small piece or yarn or tiny float, which you watch in order to detect a strike. Sometimes a "dropper fly" rig can used as an indicator.

No idea why this would require a special rod or what on earth guide size would have to do with anything. Particularly when mending line since the guides really aren't in play at that point. The only thing I can even remotely think of, is that larger guides mean heavier guides, which might help the angler flip the rod tip over and around while mending, although I have never found this a problem. The tension of the line on the water is more than enough to give the rod that little bit of flex during the process.

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The line you choose is going to be a much bigger deal than the rod. Get something with a short head meant for turning over indicator rigs, and weighted flies. These lines also mend really nicely. I own Rio's Xtreme Indicator line, and the Indicator 2 line. Both are very nice.

I sell the entire Sage line, and they don't make an indicator specific rod. They do make a tight line nymph rod though (the ESN).

If you want a Sage, my suggestion would be go with a Sage One 590.

Perhaps the larger guides allow the angler to reel the indicator through the guide train for transport or to land fish? This technique-specific rod claim is as credible as any species-specific rod claim.

It was a video for the Sage 99 series. The question about the guide size comes up at about the 1:50 mark. The Sage rep says larger guides help with the mending and making roll casts. I hadn't heard about this before, hence the question.

Here is the video. [www.youtube.com]

Other than perhaps adding additional weight to help load the rod at short distances, they wouldn't have anything to do with making roll casting or mending easier.

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I would have to cast my eyes askance when a rep makes a claim like that...by the way, red cars get better mileage than black cars due to reduced drag.

I do a lot of indicator style nymphing, both with a "float" for the indicator and dry dropper combos. Larger guides are not going to help anything out except put more weight on the blank.

Now my personal experience for the best rod for using a "float" as an indicator with several nymphs under it is a CTS Affinity X 905-4 or the 906-4. I'll go with the 5wt most of the time, but the 6 comes out when I am fishing in heavier currents and I know that I stand a good chance of hooking into trout over 20 inches. I also like Double Taper lines for this work, they mend better than any WF line. I also think the lines that advertise "indicator" line are garbage when it comes to using a float as an indicator. The heads are not long enough to turn the rig over and the running line sections are too thin for effective mending. If you are going to use the "high stick" style of nymphing without a float, that is where an indicator line will work very well.

If I were to build out another nymphing specific rod, a CTS Affinity X in 9'-6" 5wt would be my choice. The extra 6 inches of length will mend line much better than a 9ft rod will.

Tom,
Sage publishes guide placement and sizes
[www.sageflyfish.com]
If you know which blank follow their direction.


Gene

All the indicator is is some thing on the line to help you see if a fish is biting at your bait

If trout fishing If you have the correct fly for that time of the year and know how to read the water have it at the correct depth of water and have Patience you should do good without any I keep my line clean and lubed every several hours so it will stay afloat and use a bright line

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks for all of the feedback and opinions.

Gene: I did take a look at the Sage site for curiosity's sake and noticed that the 99 series rods used a size 1 guide towards the tip. When I looked at some other guide charts they also recommended a size 1 for the same weight rod. So I'm not sure if these guides would be any larger than normal?

Tom, FWIW, I've done this to flyrods and it offers no benefit I can speak off, unless you like re-dos with smaller guides. Idea has been around since L.A. Garcia wrote a book, it's always touted to have some type of benefit, but I did not see any. Line shakes and rattles within the big guides slightly more if that's a plus. To little weight difference to make rolls/mends any easier once off the advertising page and on the water.

Some claim it's easier to pull/shoot shooting head linkages through, truth is those are annoying through most any guide.