When fishing bait from the beach I usually use more weight than the blank is rated for and I lob-cast. When fishing lures from the beach I usually use lures lighter than the recommended weight and snap-cast. Is this a common practice, and which style of casting is assumed in the manufacturer's recommended casting weights?

There is a lure or casting weight provided precisely because different weight amounts require different casting input. Figure that the sweet spot is squarely in the middle, but with a bit of judicious use, the blank will handle upper end of the weight range, and with a bit more power or snap from the caster, the blank will handle the lower end of the weight range.

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Phil Ewanicki:


" Is this a common practice, and which style of casting is assumed in the manufacturer's recommended casting weights"



Unfortunately i do think it's quite common but it shouldn't be as throwing weight ranges outside the blanks " Sweet spot" doesn't provide the best results at either the high or low end of it's ratings . If you know that 98% of the stuff you throw is in the 3 to 5 ounce range a blank rated 2-6 oz would be ideal . Most blank manufacturers consider a standard over the shoulder cast as a cast that most will be utilizing not any of the advanced maximum distance power casts .

Fly rod blank ratings are even more misleading, especially if you need to cast more than 30 feet. Rods and blanks advertised as, say, "the most powerful 6 wt blank/rod made" are as silly as "the strongest ten-pound test line made". A solid double-haul enables a fly angler not only to double his casting distance but to make effective casts with rods which are WAY underlined.

The rod manufacturers do the best they can to identify their products but they have no control of how the user uses their products.

The user of any product from hammers to rod blanks will eventually figure out the limitations of he item and works within these limits. They may break a few in the process or the item just dose not work but at the end of the day limits are established, the item is utilized to the content of the user and life goes on.

If what you are doing works for you then you are good to go.

Have fun

John

If we are to share information we must agree upon what terms mean. Does the first 30 feet of a six weight fly line weigh 160 grains or 218 grains? Does ten pound test line test at 10 pounds or 23 pounds? Is a surf rod built to fish in the ocean or in a creek? Sooner or later we have to agree about what common terms mean or we just babble at one another.

About 10 years ago a rod company made a line of blanks and they only offered a line test suggestion, when asked why they didn't put out all the other specs, they said they figured anyone that was interested in using this high end product would know enough to figure the rest out themselves. I kind of liked that approach, and had no problems figuring out what I could and could not do with the finished rods after I built them.