Do you use circle hooks? They greatly decrease the need for extra-sensitive bait-fishing rods and constantly staring at rod tips.
Forum: rodboard

If you hook a big, powerful fish it is possible for a fly line to twist around or half-hitch around a single-foot guide, but I believe the odds are heavily against this happening. However, it's 100% certain a line can't loop around or half-hitch around a snake guide. Obsessive - compulsive fly casters might worry about this issue.
Forum: rodboard

As long as neither the handle nor the tip-top is loose a rod with the same input will cast to the same spot - any rod.
Forum: rodboard

If you care to look you will see that during a cast the rod tip is bent BACKWARD to its greatest extent at the moment the cast is released. So much for the power of the rod pulling or pushing the line with energy and speed from somewhere other than the angler. The angler pulls the rod forward, the rod pulls the line forward, the line pulls the fly/plug/worm forward. The rod simply transfers the s
Forum: rodboard

I have little interest in how a bare rod blank behaves in a laboratory. I'm interested in the behavior of a rod while it it is in use - casting. Physical science predicts all rods will be equally accurate: given the same input they will continue to cast to the same spot. I have never seen any proof that one make/model rod blank is more accurate than another - or casts longer, regardless of the
Forum: rodboard

For all-day casting "light" is absolutely the way to go, even small snake guides are plenty strong enough for leaders up to #50, and the double-haul will save you shoulder now and even more later.
Forum: rodboard

As long as guides and ferrules aren't loose and don't move and the wind doesn't gust a rod will cast to the same spot every time, given the same input. It isn't magic, and it's not a question of personal beliefs. It's what physics, logic, observation, testing, and experience all agree upon - but a skeptic is free to "believe" anything he likes. When I fly cast the speed of my fly line i
Forum: rodboard

Is there any correlation between a rod's TNF and a rod's performance in feet and inches? If so, what is it? If not, how does determining a rod's TNF have any practical value for an angler?
Forum: rodboard

A fishing rod is a tool, and tools are judged by their performance and ease of use. Is there ANY source of information available which reveals, and better yet compares the ease of use and actual performance, in feet and inches, of various fishing rods?
Forum: rodboard

All rods are equally accurate, as long as the rod's tip-top, ferrules, and handles don't slip and rotate. Same input = same result. However, the cause of casting distances of rods vary with the type of rod. Conventional rod and spinning rod casting distances are determined by the speed of the rod's tip-top, but a fly rod's casting distance is determined by the speed of the fly line, not the rod.
Forum: rodboard

A glass blank, particularly a slow glass blank, makes the ideal rod for casting delicate bait, and might easily allow you to make longer casts without losing bait. And the slower rod blank bends more easily, which makes it easier to detect light bites.
Forum: rodboard

No answer to the question "How do these differences in Hz reveal themselves in a rods distance or accuracy?" suggests differences in Hz are inconsequential to actual rod performance: distance and/or accuracy, or even hoop strength.
Forum: rodboard

What are the characteristics of trout jerk bait rods which separate them from other rods?
Forum: rodboard

Unless a $500 - $2,000 rod blank can be proved - with NUMBERS - to cast MORE ACCURATELY or CAST FARTHER than a say, $69.95 blank, I submit the person who buys the $500 - $2,000 rod blank seeks to buy recognition and respect, not a rod to catch fish. I have encountered a surprising number of fly-fishers who have gladly spent thousands of dollars on fly rods and fly rod blanks but scoff at the idea
Forum: rodboard

How do these differences in Hz reveal themselves in a rod's performance numbers - say, distance, or accuracy? Got numbers?
Forum: rodboard

Manufacturers, advertisers, and retailers are obliged to deliver the product information their customers demand. But precious few rod blank manufacturers or advertisers reveal - up front - the physical facts about their products. "Soulful" and "smooth" and similar nonsense adjectives (NOT numbers) dominate advertisements and discussions of rod building components. How about pr
Forum: rodboard

To the best of my knowledge all makers and retailers of rod blanks, every single one - along with their distributors, advertisers and retailers - have COMPLETELY ignored the CCS rating system. Why? Have they concluded the average rod-builder is too dim-witted to care about physical facts? That would explain advertisers' flood of vague claims of "power" or "sensitivity" or &quo
Forum: rodboard

I might seek CCS data on a blank I own and really like so if I broke it I could buy another blank with similar CCS numbers. problem. As far as I know there are no blank makers, advertisers, or dealers who make available the CCS data on their blanks, and I avoid relying upon the statements or opinions of strangers to make purchases much over $50. After I have purchased a blank I don't need or see
Forum: rodboard

The weak spot in single-foot guides is a forward pull on a line wrapped or tangled around the guide foot, which would tend to cause the guide foot to slip forward, out from under its wrapping. The Forhan wrap is employed to prevent such slippage and works well up to a point. The Forhan Wrap is chiefly used on rods for fresh-water fish. I don't know if a Forhan wrap would keep a single foot guide
Forum: rodboard

Is there an available collection or list of CCS data for various specific rod blanks - I am thinking of fly-rod blanks in particular? Me testing blanks I have already purchased for their CCS numbers seems a waste of time.
Forum: rodboard

There is only one source of energy for a fishing rod: the angler, not the rod itself. The rod's effective length leverages the caster's energy, producing more speed, but there comes a point where the rod's length produces enough leveraged weight and wind resistance to produce diminished line speed - and distance. The only way around this problem is to increase line speed. Fly casters accomplish t
Forum: rodboard

I wonder what percentage of prospective rod buyers or blank buyers ask to see CCS data before they buy a rod or a blank? I have never seen CCS data accompany a new blank or a new rod. Advertisers apparently find it more profitable to talk about "powerful" or "smooth" or "soulful" fish poles.
Forum: rodboard

Steve Paris: Are you declaring that Hanneman can't tell the difference between a fly rod and a spinning rod? Or are you declaring: Hanneman casts flies with a spinning rod? Your wording leaves room for no other interpretations.
Forum: rodboard

In this case "backward" means distance between the caster's back and the tip of the rod bent backward behind him. I assume we can ignore bow-and-arrow casts? "Pushing on a rope" is the equivalent of arguing with your wife. Your "forward force caused by the bend in the rod" is impossible, just as a line pushing anything is impossible. Your backward release hypothesis
Forum: rodboard

Cline's post does not specify the types of rod blanks he is considering other than mentioning a jigging rod, whose TNF, IP, and AA would be of little interest to most jigging fishermen. I assumed his post referred to rods fishermen cast, including fly casters. I don't know the percentage of plug casters or bait fishermen who check the TNF, IP, or AA when they buy or build their fish rods, but I d
Forum: rodboard

In his CCS data Hanneman cautions that fly line weight accounts for "less than 10% of rod loading" while the remaining +90% of rod loading is due to the speed of the the line. You can restrict the speed of your fly cast to how fast you can move one arm (or one wrist!) - the one holding your rod - or you can haul on your fly line during the cast and cover a lot more water and spook a lot
Forum: rodboard

The longest cast is released when the lure or bait reaches its peak forward speed - and consequently the rod is bent the farthest backward. The rod does not accelerate the cast after the line is released. The caster is the sole source of energy here, not the rod. The rod provides friction from the guide train as the line moves through it.
Forum: rodboard

You will find that "better" blanks are pretty much a matter of personal opinion. Precious little data is published about the actual physical performance of rod blanks, and if you ask for such the odds are you will be told "find this information for yourself" - which of course involves buying the blank before you can test it !!?
Forum: rodboard

Does the length and the rigidity of moose guard hair cause misses when you try to set the hook?
Forum: rodboard

Decades ago a fine gentleman and a fly-fisher taught me to double haul. This enabled me to fly-cast as accurately as ever and twice as far without pain or strain, even after 65 years of fly fishing, even 10 weights on tarpon. The double-haul IS effective, is NOT difficult, and CAN make you a better fly-fisher, and COULD significantly extend your fly-fishing career. What's not to like?
Forum: rodboard