How about some new terms to describe rods and blanks. The present terms fast, moderate and slow lead to confusion among many.
How about tip flex, mid flex and deep flex. Don’t like this? Present your own terms.

All rods will flex deeply if you apply enough load to them. Action isn't how deep a rod will flex, but where it initially flexes. It's also been the standard terminology among rod manufactures for about 60 to 70 years now.

In the meantime - [www.rodbuilding.org]

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Gary,
You make a good point on how vague terminology can be when attempting to describe an aspect of a blank in which so many “split-hairs”. At the risk of seeming to have my head stuck in the sand, old-school blank action terminology such as slow, medium, fast, is quite descriptive and has been widely accepted for many years as Tom stated. Even so, there were / are many who require a more precise method and Dr. Hannerman provided such with his CCS, AA and CCF. Recently, a member of this site has been working on a system to measure a blank even more precisely than Dr. Hannerman’s.
With all due respect, consider developing your own blank terminology which would satisfy the masses and be accepted by the whole industry rather than relying / expecting someone else to do it for you. We are all here to learn.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

In order to have any meaning at all a word must have a referent: a comprehensible thing or action. If the word refers to a motion then its definition will include time, distance, or both expressed in numbers, not with words like "medium" or "soulful" or "crisp" or "smooth". Would you by a fishing line because the box promised it was "strong" - but not how strong, or "thin" - but not how thin? How about a rod blank?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2021 04:09PM by Phil Ewanicki.

These are the terms that I'm very comfortable with .


Extra Fast - Fast - Moderate Fast - Moderate - Slow


Power ratings - X Heavy- Heavy - Medium Heavy - Medium - Medium Light - Light - Ultra Light .



I don't like things changed around , Supermarkets like to do that to me , just when I memorized where everything I prefer is located they change it up and I have to start over. The above explanations is what has been used forever and it's shown in every fishing tackle related book on the planet .

It's so simple that even a caveman could figure it out , actually I think a caveman initially came up with it .

Only one problem and it relates to the power nomenclature - A "medium heavy" surf rod does not possess the same power as a "medium heavy" bass rod. Same terms, different power. And two "medium" bass blanks from two different manufacturers don't possess the same power.

We also don't except "long, medium and short" for describing rod length and we shouldn't accept it for any other characteristic of rods either.

But in the interim, we have these long standing subjective terms and the objective measurements of the CCS. So we make do.

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What in blazes are the parameters of a "medium heavy" rod action? Compared to what? Or is this a matter of faith? Or advertising? Do tell.

If you understand CCS and the normal nomenclature of blanks/rods "medium heavy" is a description of power, not action, and with CCS power is measured and has a single objecitve value. Once that value is determined, the tem "medium heavy" has no more value. Even in a subjective sense. Similarly, action is measured by CCS and has a single objective value

I myself have found all the terms used to describe power and action very accurate especially when dealing with only a select few manufacturers . I can tell right away if a blank is what I consider medium heavy, heavy , moderate etc... just by picking it up and getting a feel for it and where most of it's power is concentrated . I don't need to cast or fish it beforehand and I don't need to flex the tip on the floor or ceiling . As Tom said every manufacturer is different so don't be surprised when one manufacturer's medium heavy power rating is not the same as another manufacturers medium heavy power rating . More on that in a second.


Since I stick to a very select few blank manufacturers that I'm quite familiar with, when I choose a power rating I typically get what I ordered . I took a chance and ordered a Rainshadow in the past which really had me baffled, their Immortal series popping rods were not what I expected at all . They were like freshwater crappie blanks I was familiar with and their medium heavy felt & fished like an UL to me. I would bet the people familiar with those blanks would consider the blanks I like to be along the lines of offshore tuna blanks .

I think it's obvious to most that a MH surf blank will be quite different than a MH bass blank , a bass rod blank will typically be much smaller in diameter than a surf rod blank and in 99% of cases be lower powered . Not in every case because there are some very robust bass blanks out there that are quite large in diameter especially at the butt but they are still rated for fish not much larger than freshwater bass .

Maybe I'm an anomaly but except for that Rainshadow blank I've never had trouble finding blanks that fit exactly what I'm looking for until a few years ago when I wasn't happy with any of the surf rods on the market by any of the manufacturers so I had CTS build me exactly what I wanted .

With CCS I'm not limited to a very select few blank manufacturers. Every rod I measure from every manufacturer I use adds to my understanding ot the whole "enchilada."

That's a good thing, nothing wrong with that at all . If I was starting out and had interest in many different manufacturers blanks I might become more interested in the CCS information but that's not the case as I only build a very select few for myself which are 100% surf rods . If I was into freshwater fishing which I was a long long time ago or fly rod building I would surely be more interested in it but slight power and action differences don't concern me at all with the kind of rods I build . I have been exceptionally pleased with the select few manufacturers I have chosen to deal with and it was based on trying many other manufacturers offerings to weed out the ones I felt weren't on the level I was looking for .

Everyone has their favorites .

The current terms used for fly rod actions are quite descriptive to the experienced fly fishermen, less so for the inexperienced. The custom rod builder thus needs to know a lot about the clients experience. It may include watching the client cast.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2021 06:45PM by Phil Erickson.

How about "board," "noodle," "telephone pole" and "just right?"