Do silicon nitrite guides have a significantly lower coefficient of friction or weight than chrome or nickel-titanium guides? I have never seen a fly rod guide grooved or damaged by a fly line.
Forum: rodboard

I concur with Herb. If you do not double-haul your casts or plan to learn how you will not cast any better with a fast and pricey blank than you would with any other blank.
Forum: rodboard

If this blank truly is "fast" glass then under wraps could be used to slow it down to fit the owner's taste.
Forum: rodboard

The only way I can tell if a blank suits me is to cast it, especially if it's a fly rod blank. Determining a blank's CCS data quickly narrows down my options, but there is no substitute for a test cast. The personal taste and casting skill of the rod's user are essential to getting the "right" blank for you or your customer. I am reluctant to recommend a rod blank to someone based upon
Forum: rodboard

You selection of rod weight and length suggest you have considered the species and the waters you will be fishing. Blank choice from there depends a lot upon individual taste, individual casting proficiency, line choice, and fly choice: moderate action, fast action, dry flies, streamers, nymphs sink tip line, floating line, 40' casts, 70' casts . . . Although any rod blank can perform all these
Forum: rodboard

Tastes differ. Before I lay out several hundred dollars for materials and several hours' worth of rod building I test-cast the rods I consider buying. Other folks' opinions of fly rod blanks differ as widely as other people's fly-casting skills. Membership in a teaching fly-fishing club allows me to test cast and compare a wide variety of fellow-members' fly rods before I buy a blank for myself.
Forum: rodboard

Is the rod supposed to "balance", and at what balance point, with no weight at all hanging from the line at the tip-top, or is there a chart of different weights which are supposed to balance different rods with different weight reels and different length handles? This topic is very confusing to me.
Forum: rodboard

Do different brands or models of guides with the same size apertures require different spacing if they are used on the same blank? If so, why?
Forum: rodboard

Do a search for "Tenkara fly rods". I think they would be perfect for your situation - and very inexpensive, too.
Forum: rodboard

Most fishing piers don't allow overhead or sidearm casts. Most surf rods are 9' or more long. They aren't much use on fishing piers.
Forum: rodboard

Do participants in distance-casting contests use spiral-wrapped guides in either conventional or spin-casting contests?
Forum: rodboard

Remember it is quick and easy to make a fast blank slower - as slow as you desire. I believe it's impossible to make a slow blank faster.
Forum: rodboard

If you end up unhappy with what you got it's always quite easy to make a fast rod slower, but not a slow rod faster.
Forum: rodboard

If you end up unhappy with what you got it's always quite easy to make a fast rod slower, but not a slow rod faster.
Forum: rodboard

I have a Daiwa SLOSH-30 that is 20+ years old and has seen a lot of duty fishing the surf. I live by the shore. It has never given me any trouble and works as well today as new. I put a topshot of 130 yards or so of #30 mono backed by a couple hundred yards or so of #30 braid. I very seldom have any problem at all with overwind (backlash). Let your thumb provide the level-wind. It's simple.The Da
Forum: rodboard

These guys better eat their Wheaties if they plan to tow planer boards and torpedo weights around by paddling a kayak.
Forum: rodboard

Several decades ago Leon Chandler introduced the Japanese to western-style fly casting and fly fishing. It appears Americans are adopting Japanese-style Tenkera fly "casting" and fly fishing.
Forum: rodboard

North Eastham - We waded off North Sunken Meadow Beach towards Billingsgate. Boston news helicopter took footage off Cook's Brook Beach, about 1/4 mile south.
Forum: rodboard

Herb: I agree faster is better, in cars, dates,and fly rods. I fished Cape Cod Bay flats for over 30 years, most recently with a rod I built on a TFO-BVK 9wt. blank and a 10wt. Lee Wulff Triangle Taper line - waded out a mile or so with the tide among schools of eager bluefish in the #10 - #15 range. Three years ago after a late-afternoon wade we woke to T.V. helicopter footage of two 10'-12' gr
Forum: rodboard

"Weight" is the scientific reason for loss of power, but only if you believe in science. It should be possible to build guides with strong, rigid, corrosion-proof polymer guide frames with very thin ceramic inserts for considerable weight savings, but I doubt they would sell - even though football players wear polymer helmets.
Forum: rodboard

Richard: When I started fishing spinning reels were curiosities and nearly every casting reel was direct drive - the reel handle spun backward during the cast. Then the spinning reel took over and for 60+ years monopolized bait and lure fishing. In the last 15 years or so I have returned to revolving spool reels for fishing fresh water and the surf. Modern revolving spool reels have pretty much e
Forum: rodboard

I remember when "slow action" rods were supposed to be better for wet flies and streamers while "fast action" rods were better for dry flies, but I haven't heard this in a long time. What today, besides individual taste or casting ability, is the most popular or the most realistic reason to choose a slow action rod over a fast action rod?
Forum: rodboard

Could I make a shorter, lighter, and faster fly rod for close work by discarding the butt section of a 4-piece fly rod and putting a handle, reel seat, and stripping guide on the second section?
Forum: rodboard

Landing a good-sized fish from a kayak is problematic, and the longer the rod the tougher it is. A long-handled net does not solve the problem.
Forum: rodboard

The average weight of the first 30' of an AFTMA 5wt. fly line is 140 grains, one ounce is 437.5 grains, so a spinning rod blank which casts a 1/3 ounce lure well should also cast a 5-wt fly line well. The rod doesn't care what you are casting, or why, or how - only how much it weighs.
Forum: rodboard

A few years back they averaged #28 - #30 range in #7 - #9 lines. I don't think I would try to pick up a #30 weight with my favorite 9 wt. fly rod - or even a 15# weight.
Forum: rodboard

There are three co-dependent factors in presenting a fly to fish: the fly line/leader, the rod, and the caster. To cast and fish efficiently the line must be matched to the rod and the rod must be matched to the caster. I agree with Herb that the more you know about each of these three elements the more useful advice you can suggest.
Forum: rodboard

Recommending a rod is tricky. A recommendation depends upon the conditions it will be used in, the type of line used (sinking? floating?) the caster's proficiency (double haul? 40' limit?) the angler's personal taste, the cost of the rod, and even the line weight of a particular make and model of rod - there's often a big difference in the action of different weight rods of the same model made by
Forum: rodboard

If you build a "9 weight" blank I suggest you cast a 10 weight line. I read and heard considerable praise for the TFO Axiom II rods and I tried casting one. The praise is well deserved. I'm not sure TFO has put the blanks themselves up for sale yet, but if you can hold out until they do it might be worth the wait.
Forum: rodboard

A common mistake made when fishing topwater baits is to strike/set the hook too soon, pulling the plug out of the mouth of the fish. Braided, non-stretch lines and fast action rods compound this error.
Forum: rodboard