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Fly Tying
Mike West

Let’s hash this out...specific rod for a fly

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This might get heated lets just keep it simple and polite.

Im 60 years old and I have been fly tying and fly fishing since I was eight years old.

 

I simply dont understand why in this day and age you have to have a rod for every style of fishing or fly.

 

I can kind of understand a dry fly rod but thats about it.

 

I fished for 20 years with a Fenwick HMG 9 5wt from the late 70s.

 

I fished that rod in tiny Brooke trout beaver ponds,big huge rivers with big brown trout and salt water.

 

I never felt undergunned or that I needed a different rod... I wanted one but could not afford it

Worst case I put 6 wt WF line on it to cast bigger flys.

 

What I see today is just a bunch a new marketing bullshit.

 

Just like when I moved to Texas in the early 80s

There was no worm rods, pitching rods,spinner bait rods crank bait rods...ect

They were just rated by line wieght and lurer weight.

 

I see posts all the time about people asking about whats the best streamer rod what is the best nymph rod whats the best dry fly rod....sigh😞

 

And then you got to look at all these rods they are talking

about cost $500-$1500 ....give me a break!!!

 

Just buy a rod that will cast the size flies that you plan to use and go fishing...same with the reels.

 

Antbody else feel like me?

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I carry 6 rods, give or take, on my boat. One or two short ones for getting under overhanging brush and docks, one 8 weight for big bass flies and a few 5 weights for everything else. Except for the 8 weight, all my rods are 4 or 5 weight rods, because I like 'em and I pay less than $100.00 for each one.

 

Actually, two of my rods are a little more than $100.00 ... because I bought them from Steve.

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Im kind of with you Mike

I have a Bream fly rod, (3-4wt) a small bass pond rod (5-7 wt) and then a serious LM Bass Rods (8-10 wt)

 

The reason I brought this thread up is because I think guys just getting into this sport get overwhelmed and missed lead Into thinking they have to have a streamer rod,a nymph rod and a dry fly rod because what they read here and in the mags/TV

 

Flyfishing can be a rich mans sport or a blue-collar sport.

 

I think most guys get lead to its a rich mans sport when it doesnt need to be

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I don't know, I'm pretty naive about this stuff too.

 

It seems to me it's like guys that tie a lot of deer hair flies, they become technicians at it. There is exactly the right deer hair for spinning, one for hair wings, one for humpies, one for streamers and so on. These all come from different parts of the deer's body and different times of year for exactly the best fly of the kind you want to tie. I'm not a specialist and am happy to tie any deer hair fly with any deer hare as long as it's the right color and length. I may not tie the very best fly that I could but I'm happy with them and the fish don't seem to care.

 

I have a few rods, but it's more about the right size rod for the size fly I want to chuck, and the fish I want to catch. Not the kind of fly I want to fish.

 

The subtleties are lost on me both with deer hair and the rods I fish.

 

I appreciate that others may be more advanced than I am in both tying deer hair and fly rods and don't carry any ill will toward them if they are. More power to them. Some people will think I get carried away with some of the things I pay particular attention to.

 

In my experience, a producer of something is better off to try to fill a perceived demand of something as apposed to manufacturing something and then trying to create the demand.

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I have a lot of rods; not because I need them but because I want them and can now afford them. I say can "now" afford them because when I was a 12 year old kid and wanted a nice fly rod, I could not afford one, nor would my parents get one for me. My first fly rod was a God awful Japanese 9 foot bamboo rod that cost $3.49 and was a nightmare to cast, but I didn't know it and I was proud of it. I wanted a white fiberglass Shakespeare Wonderod, 7'9" like the one Gadabout Gaddis, the "Flying Fisherman" used on his TV show. While in college, I was able to scrape enough money together to buy the Shakespeare rod, a Medalist reel, and a Scientific Angler's Air Cell fly line.

 

Shift forward to today. I have quite a collection of vintage fly rods. Most of them I fish. I prefer the action of the older glass rods and those are what I mostly collect. I think I have 8 or 9 Shakespeare rods and others from glass rod makers of years gone by. I also have a few vintage bamboo rods. I have these rods because I like them (I realize I don't need them) and just having them, looking at them and casting them brings me joy.

 

Now to address the OP's point, I agree that one only needs one or two rods to have a lot of fun fly fishing. The late great Jason Lucas, the former fishing editor of Sports Afield, wrote many times that only one fly rod is necessary for all fly fishing, from small bluegills up to large tarpon and such. That rod, he penned, was a 6 or 7 weight, medium action, and not an inch over 8 feet, and perhaps several inches shorter. I can see his point and he may just have been right. That rod could probably cover 90% of a fly fishing person's needs. But, people want to make money so all kinds of reasons to own different special purpose rods have been invented and fueled by aggressive advertising.

Joe

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It's pretty simple to understand IMO. Do you "need" a certain rod for every style fly fishing? Course not, you can make do with probably 2-3 rods to cover most fly fishing needs, but there are certain rods that do things better than others in certain situations/styles of stream or hatches. You will find it much easier to fish #28 midges on a 20ft wide brush choked stream with a short 1wt or 2wt than on a 9' 5wt, just as you will find it much easier to throw 8" pike flies with a fast 10wt rather than a medium action 7wt that you would normally use for steelhead. And if you truly get into euro nymphing the proper way that is done then you're not gonna be able to do that as effective with a rod under 10ft and over 4wt (in most cases). Doesn't mean you have to do it, but that's what life is about. Doing, buying, enjoying, perfecting the things we love to do that make our lives more enjoyable.

 

Same thing can be said for pretty much anything in life. I don't "need" a 60" wide screen to enjoy my fishing DVD's on, I could still enjoy them on a old 20" CRT tv, but I sure do love to sit in front of my big screen and watch them. I don't need my quad core PC to access the internet, I could get by with an old 256k ram PC, but it just makes things easier to have the fast access. When I was a kid I use to cut our grass with an old manual push blade mower, it did the job, but these days I'm sure happy I have a self propelled gas mower. Don't need a truck that has a back up camera or heated seats or a power rear hatch, but if you can afford it and it makes life easier in some way, then why not.

 

Obviously I could go on and on but I think you get the point. There's a difference between someone saying they "need" something, and someone saying something simply does do the job a bit better, even if it's only by a small margin.

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Mike,

 

I miss the point you are making.

 

The range of rods on offer is not all BS IF you are interested in optimal casting capability with a range of fly sizes; fly line styles, and the right fish fighting capabilities for a really diverse range of game fish.

 

Your old 5 wt glass rod would not pitch big articulated streamers or hair bugs. Nor would it serve on musky, salmon, LM Bass in heavy cover, or any of the bigger salt water denizens.

 

And with the wide array of rods available on the market today, it is reasonable fr you to ask which one works best in the specific application you pursue before buying. And to avoid the high dollar merchandising oversell, you can also set a $ limit you are comfortable with.

 

There are tools and right tools.

 

Rocco

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I always say I've never met a rod I could not cast. The make up of the combination of line, leader, tippet, and fly is way more important then the properties of the rod when it comes to casting. Just one mans opinion.

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I wanted a white fiberglass Shakespeare Wonderod, 7'9" like the one Gadabout Gaddis, the "Flying Fisherman" used on his TV show.

A bit off topic, but I bought exactly that rod last week, and for the same reason -- I remember Gadabout Gaddis.

 

Back on topic, you could in theory play golf with a 9 iron and a putter, but why would you? Similarly You could in theory Euro-nymph with the same 6' rod that some people like for blue line streams, but it would do a lousy job.

 

Jack of all trades is master of none.

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I have a lot of rods; not because I need them but because I want them and can now afford them. I say can "now" afford them

Joe

I'm like Joe, lots of rods from 7' 3 wt to 9.5' 6 wt. all 2 piece. Also more 3 and 4 piece rods from 7.5' 3 wt to 9' 6 wt and just added a 9' 7/8 wt from Steve. Few old bamboo rods (1 was my grandfather's). Also 3 Tenkara rods 13' different actions. However I find that 95% of my fishing is with a 4 piece 9' wt or one of the Tenkara rods, medium action. Although I hope to add regular use of the new 7/8 wt this summer chasing SMB (which will be new for me). Why so many; like Joe, because I can and because I want to. Some were custom built by me, others purchased or given to me. At the reservoir where I volunteer, any rod left laying around the lake (usually broken) or any reel left around is brought to the Ranger Station for me to fix; some I keep (fly rods) and the rest go back to the lake or I find kids who need a decent rod/reel to give to them.

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Rocco says, "There are tools and right tools." That famous Canadian soothsayer and handyman extraordinaire, Red Green says, "Any tool can be the right tool." I say get whatever rod you want for whatever fishing conditions you believe you need it for and if it makes you happy, and you are a more successful fisher person because of it, then go for it.

 

However, if you only have or can only afford one or two rods for various types of fishing, then I say, dance with the one you brought.

Joe

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To paraphrase an old military saying, If all you have is a hammer, then everything you see looks like a nail.

 

Rocco

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