The length of a drift rod wasn't chosen because it is more sensitive - the increased sensitivity is just by-product of the additional length.

Emory Harry was a very astute custom rod builder. An electrical engineer by trade, he wrote several good articles for the magazine. Two of them were on rod sensitivity. The first was published as he wrote it (and which I disagreed that stiffness to weight ratio was the major factor in rod sensitivity) and once he tried the practical test on rod length he conceded he had been wrong and asked me not to run the second article. I didn't.

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

Numbers behindr any of these claims?

Or are we gonna dance all night with who 'we think' is the prettiest girl? (It is MY girl if you want to know. Just ask me.)

I don't doubt anyone's claim or opinion....but can we agree that opinions and preferences are all we really have until we can agree on a definition and put some data behind it?

Just askin'.

I like to dance.

A lever arm force calculator applied to the different rod lengths of similar rods could show the relative forces involved. (However, I flunked both physics and dancing with the prettiest girls). Physicist's responses?

Ross,

You are correct and we have provided those numbers in the magazine over the years in at least 3 articles. But the difference is so marked, that you really don't need such numbers. Which hurts worse - to drop a marble on your foot, or a bowling ball? I cannot see needing numbers to realize the practical difference between the two.

And, of course, we still need a definition of what somebody means by "sensitivity" before we can really discuss the issue. As long as people think that a fish bite, the cadence of a spinnerbait blade or the resistance of water against a retrieved jig is akin to an electrical impulse through a wire, the conversation can't even start.

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

As far as the longer the lever the less force it takes to move an object at its' opposite end goes, and I'm sure you know this Les <wink> , .... it's not a claim. The numbers are in the formula to calculate the mechanical advantage of a lever.

Length of the effort arm divided by the length of the load arm.

7' rod, 1' from butt to center of reel seat. Center of the reel seat is the fulcrum. Effort arm is 6'. Load arm is 1'. 6 divided by 1 equals 6. The mechanical advantage of that lever is 6 which means if you were to place a 12 oz weight on the end of the load arm, it would only take 2 oz added to the end of the effort arm to counter act the 12 oz on the load arm. If you added 3 oz to the end of the effort arm, it would lift the 12 oz weight at the end of the load arm.

From a fish fighting perspective, a reeling in a water resistant bait perspective, or dragging a bait across the bottom, the formula stays the same, but the effort arm and load arm positions are switched. You'd have to exert 6 times the force to equal that of the load force.applied to it. If a fish is putting 5 lbs of force on the rod tip, you have to apply 30 lbs of force to equal that of the fish.

So yeah, a longer rod is more sensitive to load, but that doesn't mean its' necessarily more "sensitive" in other aspects of detecting a bite. The mechanical advantage of a longer lever doesn't just apply to the forces applied to it. It also applies to the weight of the lever itself. You have to hold up that longer rod. And that's where holding up that longer rod can work against you in detecting a bite.

Wire hooked to an electrical impulse generator . Impulse generator generates an electrical impulse that travels to the other end of the wire. A device on the end of the wire measures the impulse.

Spinnerbait tied to the end of a fishing line. Angler begins to reel. Spinnerbait generates impulses that travel to the other end of the line. Fishing rod the line is connected to measures those impulses.

Fisherman call them vibrations because that is exactly what they are.When a wave propagates through a medium, the particles of the medium start vibrating.. The line has been put into a state of osculation as it tries to return to its' state of equilibrium. The line is vibrating and the rod is sensing those vibrations

1+1 = 2 it's just that simple

The load times its effort from the fulcrum is equal to the effort times its distance from the fulcrum. That's your equation. Subsequent issues of the magazine showed how to figure it on the basis of a flexed lever.

An electrical impulse will travel across a non-taut wire. Try measuring "vibrations" across a limp fishing line. Unless the line is taut (water pressure counts) you won't feel anything. The only thing you can feel via a fishing rod is resistance against your effort.

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

X2 Dave. Most sensitive would would be a reel taped to the blank with the fewest, lightest guides. If you're touching the blank you have reached the pinnacle. No matter who says what. Of course this only applies to lines under tension, would hardly apply otherwise. LOL once again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2023 08:52PM by Lynn Behler.

Tom Kirkman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The load times its effort from the fulcrum is
> equal to the effort times its distance from the
> fulcrum. That's your equation. Subsequent issues
> of the magazine showed how to figure it on the
> basis of a flexed lever.
>
> An electrical impulse will travel across a
> non-taut wire. Try measuring "vibrations" across a
> limp fishing line. Unless the line is taut (water
> pressure counts) you won't feel anything. The only
> thing you can feel via a fishing rod is resistance
> against your effort.
>
> ............


Very true. If the line is not under tension you cannot feel anything going on at the other end. I often tell my clients to do more than just try to feel for strikes. WATCH the line. Sometimes you will not feel anything but if you are watching you will see the line kick over or move towards you. You did not feel it but a fish has picked up your lure and is swimming with it. This is especially true when fish swims toward you because the line is not under tension. Nothing to feel.

It's a different kind of impulse. The example I laid out is "akin" (akin: essentially similar, related, or compatible) to the example of an electrical impulse in that they are both impulses. The impulses coming from the spinnerbait, or dragging your bait across gravel, or a number of other things that take place at the lure, are causing a wave. When a wave propagates through a medium, the particles of the medium start vibrating.. The line has been put into a state of osculation as it tries to return to its' state of equilibrium. The line is vibrating and the rod is sensing those vibrations .

I don't care if the wire doesn't have to be taught for an electrical impulse to travel through it. . We aren't talking about electricity traveling through a wire. We're talking about what happens when you use a fishing rod. We're talking about what happens when you reel a bait that wiggles or vibrates, back to the boat. We're talking about what happens when you drag your bait over gravel, or when it slides down the bark of a tree that's in the water.

As far as you can't feel anything when the line is slack. Ok .......... so? So the impulses created by a spinnerbait as it helicopters to the bottom aren't strong enough to overcome the slack in the line. There is voltage loss, voltage drop, as an electrical impulse travels through a wire. If the electrical impulse isn't strong enough to overcome the voltage drop, it's not going to register at the other end of the wire either.

And Mark, if environmental factors are favorable, you most certainly can feel if a fish takes your bait and starts swimming towards you. The line gets light. Please don't tell me that I am the only one that has ever set the hook on a fish because the line felt light because a fish picked up the bait and started moving towards you? Heck, environmental factors don't even have to be favorable to feel a fish that takes a spinnerbait or chatterbait and is moving towards you. The vibration from the bait stops and the line gets light because the line has gone slack.

And please, nobody try the "gotcha" thing because I said you'll stop feeling the resistance of the spinnerbait. Water resistance is what makes a spinnerbaits' blade turn. The intermittent resistance of a bait being dragged across gravel is what causes the wave, to travel up the line. Cause and effect. Chain of events .......

You can't deny the text book definition of what a vibration is, any more than you deny the mechanical advantage of a longer lever. Of course, that doesn't mean there won't be those that will try. I still have friends that swear a longer rod gives the fisherman a leverage advantage over a fish.

And finally ............. how many of you started singing that country song Third Rock From The Sun when you read that cause and effect, chain of events line? ........ I was singing it while I was typing it out LOL

Feelin' good, can't be real. Must be dreamin' bout my drivin' wheel...

Lynn? Foghat?

100% correct!