Testing fly rods
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2022 12:51 am
Everyone who fly fishes loves testing out fly rods, but it can be over whelming at times because no rods are built the same and it doesn't matter the material they are made of. You have four actions typically with rods: soft, medium, medium fast and fast action. But lets narrow it down a bit because not all people like the same action rods. When it comes to bamboo rods, I like a medium fast action because of it's relaxed feel when casting and it pretty much casts naturally to me. In graphite, I prefer a medium or medium fast rod. But if you don't know the different of actions, how can you tell what it is? It's easy.
Before I go on, this is for those who are not experts and want to have the pleasure of using a fly rod right off without having to try many different lines for just one rod and spending a thousand quid or dollars on lines trying to find that "one" line. So if your an expert angler and have different specialty lines for different purposes, this is not for you. You can check out Ian's fly tying tutorial instead of reading this.
All you have to do is take a rod your interested in and hold it like a sword in front of you with the tip raised up. Now, I'm not going to say give it a wiggle test. I mean, what the heck does that really say about a rod. Not much. Hold the rod like a Samurai warrior and then quickly bring the rod down about mid way, like your striking something with a sudden stop. Watch the rod tip. If it quickly comes back up and stays still, it's a fast action rod. If it bounces back up and then down and then up a bit to it's normal position, and bends about 3/4 up the rod, it's generally a medium fast rod. As for a medium action rod, you got it, it bounces a bit more and bends around the mid point of the rod and could even bend a bit deeper into the blank. So of course a soft action bends way down the rod and will bounce longer. Ok, great, so how do you pick one in the action you like? Well, it's easy for us who fly fish and are familiar with different actions and we generally have our favorite action or actions. Though some of us, like myself, like more than two actions. Now we can narrow it down again. Let's say you prefer a medium fast action rod, you did the Samurai sword test and now you would like to cast it. Good idea, because now your going to feel the rod as it loads and unloads the line. But what line should you use???? Oh no. A dilemma has occurred. Augh! That's the problem these days because like I said, you have typically four types of rod actions but there is a plethora of fly lines out there. Well, I'm here to help you with that because I was taught a way by a good friend who had way more experience than I did at the time, and to be totally truthful, many think he's crazy by doing this trick on choosing a rod. I tried it and believe me, it works and it takes much less time to choose the rod you want.
So this is what I have done for many years on how to choose a rod that I like, depending on the action I'm looking for. The trick is the line you use. It's true. A good quality line built for the action of rod you have will bring soul to your rod.
Ok, so now you're casting the rod, trying it out and trying to feel what it's telling you. I bet it feels pretty good, doesn't it? You bet it does as you can feel the rod load and unload and the line is flying above your head and the rod just sings. Here's why. The salesman put a reel on the rod with a line generally half the weight heavier than a true to weight line. And that will help you with the feel by making it load and unload easier. S.A. MPX and Rio Grand are two popular lines that will do this. And these lines are excellent for medium fast to fast action rods, depending on the blanks on how stiff they are. Some fast action rods like a line weight that's a whole line heavier, so just buy a 6 weight line f you're trying out a 5 weight rod. You don't need a specialty line for that.
What I do is bring my own reel with my own line. Why you ask? Simple. There are 100's of different lines out there and I'm only testing maybe four to six different rods, depending on how many rods the shop has that are in the action I'm looking for. So what I'm saying is, go by the line to choose your rod, not the rod and then pull your hair out trying 100 different lines. Ah ha!!! In my years I have bought line that just didn't work for my rods. Here's where I'm going to badly explain this. Even though there are many different medium fast action rods, they are still not exactly the same. That's another problem we have to deal with. And going by the line will help with choosing the rod.
So to make this simple to understand, buy a line that you really, really like and stick with it.
By the way, this will save you money in the long run.
I really like Airflo lines, along with S.A. lines. Most of my lines are Airflo Elite and Exceed. I hear it's all been changed these days, so I have to relearn these lines when I need some new lines, but that's another problem for me in the future.
Now, lets say I am looking for a medium action rod and I bring my Airflo Elite because it's a true to weight line, and medium action rods prefer a line like that. Now, you're probably asking yourself, why not buy the line that was on the reel that the salesman had on? You can if you want, but sometimes that doesn't work with all rods in the same action. Here's a true story I'll share with you. I was looking for a rod to help me in windy conditions, but I can also use it on bigger rivers during non windy days. So I wanted a fast action 9 foot 5 weight rod. When I got to the shop I told the guy what I was looking for and he grabbed a few different 5 weight rods, a Sage One and the Scott Radian. One line, two rods that were fast action. Now, this is where your casting stroke comes into play, because we as humans are not exactly the same when it comes to casting strokes.
The salesman put the reel on the Sage One and gave it to me. I couldn't cast that rod to save my life. I couldn't get my casting stroke to work the rod correctly because the line would fly about twenty feet and then pile up on the ground. The line was S.A. GPX at the time. I tried and tried casting that rod and changing my stroke to where it was no longer natural to me. I never got it. So we switched over to the Scott Radian, same line.
This was a whole other story here. I was casting that line effortlessly and my accuracy was spot on. I was able to lay the fly line on my trailer hitch on my truck 3 out of 5 times at 45 feet. And when I missed the hitch it was only by a few inches. This taught me not all rods in the same action were built the same.
So now I take my line and I don't have to try many different lines to find the rod that will match the line. There are more lines out there for a fast action rod than there are fast action rods. Got it? Or whatever action your looking for. Keep it simple.
So in short, backing up here, I said I was looking for a medium action rod, so take your true to weight line and go test drive a few rods and see which rod performs better with a line you really like. Believe me, it makes life so much easier this way because I have a friend who's sock drawer is full of many different lines from the same company and really he only needs one or two.
I will say, different heads on a line perform differently, so if your throwing streamers, a long head with a long rear taper is good for that because it'll help mend the line from long distance and roll casts beautifully. But that's a specialty line built for a specific purpose. What I'm talking about is normal trout fishing with dries, wets and nymph rigs. You don't necessarily need a "special" line for that. Just a weight forward floating line is about it. So find the one you really like and stay with it and find a rod the line will help bring the soul out of.
So with my medium action rods, I like either Airflo Elite or SA Mastery Trout. On my medium fast rods, like Airflo Exceed.
What you can also do is look at the rod manufacture's recommendations on what lines to use, but finding a line that you like on a rod is a personal thing. Scott recommended Airflo Elite for their Scott Flex rod. I tried it, but being a medium fast rod with a fast tip, I find the exceed works a lot better. At least for me. Maybe not you, but it does for me. But that's just it wth fly fishing, it's ALL personal preference.
So you find a line you prefer and then find a rod that matches that line. Stay away from specialty lines because then you're getting detailed, and trying to find that perfect detailed specialty line can get expensive. If you're a person who only fishes Euro nymph style, find that specialty line for Euro nymphing that you like and stay with it. If you're a purist and only fish dries, find that Weight Forward floating line and stay with it.
Trust me, this will be easier than it sounds and costs less money. Basically what your doing is finding a line that will help load and unload your rod easily with attributes in the line that you like. I like Airflo because I don't need to clean it as much and it won't melt when you're using deet to protect you from bugs. Also it also stands up to UV light and won't crack. I like S.A. because it's just a quality line, hands down. Good coating that glides easily through the guides and fishes very well.
I hope this helps you out the next time you're looking at a fly rod to buy. If you have a line you like, take it with you and try it on some rods. The line will help you choose the rod. But ultimately the rod chooses you because of your casting stroke. So with your casting stroke, the line you like, you'll find the rod for you.
Before I go on, this is for those who are not experts and want to have the pleasure of using a fly rod right off without having to try many different lines for just one rod and spending a thousand quid or dollars on lines trying to find that "one" line. So if your an expert angler and have different specialty lines for different purposes, this is not for you. You can check out Ian's fly tying tutorial instead of reading this.
All you have to do is take a rod your interested in and hold it like a sword in front of you with the tip raised up. Now, I'm not going to say give it a wiggle test. I mean, what the heck does that really say about a rod. Not much. Hold the rod like a Samurai warrior and then quickly bring the rod down about mid way, like your striking something with a sudden stop. Watch the rod tip. If it quickly comes back up and stays still, it's a fast action rod. If it bounces back up and then down and then up a bit to it's normal position, and bends about 3/4 up the rod, it's generally a medium fast rod. As for a medium action rod, you got it, it bounces a bit more and bends around the mid point of the rod and could even bend a bit deeper into the blank. So of course a soft action bends way down the rod and will bounce longer. Ok, great, so how do you pick one in the action you like? Well, it's easy for us who fly fish and are familiar with different actions and we generally have our favorite action or actions. Though some of us, like myself, like more than two actions. Now we can narrow it down again. Let's say you prefer a medium fast action rod, you did the Samurai sword test and now you would like to cast it. Good idea, because now your going to feel the rod as it loads and unloads the line. But what line should you use???? Oh no. A dilemma has occurred. Augh! That's the problem these days because like I said, you have typically four types of rod actions but there is a plethora of fly lines out there. Well, I'm here to help you with that because I was taught a way by a good friend who had way more experience than I did at the time, and to be totally truthful, many think he's crazy by doing this trick on choosing a rod. I tried it and believe me, it works and it takes much less time to choose the rod you want.
So this is what I have done for many years on how to choose a rod that I like, depending on the action I'm looking for. The trick is the line you use. It's true. A good quality line built for the action of rod you have will bring soul to your rod.
Ok, so now you're casting the rod, trying it out and trying to feel what it's telling you. I bet it feels pretty good, doesn't it? You bet it does as you can feel the rod load and unload and the line is flying above your head and the rod just sings. Here's why. The salesman put a reel on the rod with a line generally half the weight heavier than a true to weight line. And that will help you with the feel by making it load and unload easier. S.A. MPX and Rio Grand are two popular lines that will do this. And these lines are excellent for medium fast to fast action rods, depending on the blanks on how stiff they are. Some fast action rods like a line weight that's a whole line heavier, so just buy a 6 weight line f you're trying out a 5 weight rod. You don't need a specialty line for that.
What I do is bring my own reel with my own line. Why you ask? Simple. There are 100's of different lines out there and I'm only testing maybe four to six different rods, depending on how many rods the shop has that are in the action I'm looking for. So what I'm saying is, go by the line to choose your rod, not the rod and then pull your hair out trying 100 different lines. Ah ha!!! In my years I have bought line that just didn't work for my rods. Here's where I'm going to badly explain this. Even though there are many different medium fast action rods, they are still not exactly the same. That's another problem we have to deal with. And going by the line will help with choosing the rod.
So to make this simple to understand, buy a line that you really, really like and stick with it.
By the way, this will save you money in the long run.
I really like Airflo lines, along with S.A. lines. Most of my lines are Airflo Elite and Exceed. I hear it's all been changed these days, so I have to relearn these lines when I need some new lines, but that's another problem for me in the future.
Now, lets say I am looking for a medium action rod and I bring my Airflo Elite because it's a true to weight line, and medium action rods prefer a line like that. Now, you're probably asking yourself, why not buy the line that was on the reel that the salesman had on? You can if you want, but sometimes that doesn't work with all rods in the same action. Here's a true story I'll share with you. I was looking for a rod to help me in windy conditions, but I can also use it on bigger rivers during non windy days. So I wanted a fast action 9 foot 5 weight rod. When I got to the shop I told the guy what I was looking for and he grabbed a few different 5 weight rods, a Sage One and the Scott Radian. One line, two rods that were fast action. Now, this is where your casting stroke comes into play, because we as humans are not exactly the same when it comes to casting strokes.
The salesman put the reel on the Sage One and gave it to me. I couldn't cast that rod to save my life. I couldn't get my casting stroke to work the rod correctly because the line would fly about twenty feet and then pile up on the ground. The line was S.A. GPX at the time. I tried and tried casting that rod and changing my stroke to where it was no longer natural to me. I never got it. So we switched over to the Scott Radian, same line.
This was a whole other story here. I was casting that line effortlessly and my accuracy was spot on. I was able to lay the fly line on my trailer hitch on my truck 3 out of 5 times at 45 feet. And when I missed the hitch it was only by a few inches. This taught me not all rods in the same action were built the same.
So now I take my line and I don't have to try many different lines to find the rod that will match the line. There are more lines out there for a fast action rod than there are fast action rods. Got it? Or whatever action your looking for. Keep it simple.
So in short, backing up here, I said I was looking for a medium action rod, so take your true to weight line and go test drive a few rods and see which rod performs better with a line you really like. Believe me, it makes life so much easier this way because I have a friend who's sock drawer is full of many different lines from the same company and really he only needs one or two.
I will say, different heads on a line perform differently, so if your throwing streamers, a long head with a long rear taper is good for that because it'll help mend the line from long distance and roll casts beautifully. But that's a specialty line built for a specific purpose. What I'm talking about is normal trout fishing with dries, wets and nymph rigs. You don't necessarily need a "special" line for that. Just a weight forward floating line is about it. So find the one you really like and stay with it and find a rod the line will help bring the soul out of.
So with my medium action rods, I like either Airflo Elite or SA Mastery Trout. On my medium fast rods, like Airflo Exceed.
What you can also do is look at the rod manufacture's recommendations on what lines to use, but finding a line that you like on a rod is a personal thing. Scott recommended Airflo Elite for their Scott Flex rod. I tried it, but being a medium fast rod with a fast tip, I find the exceed works a lot better. At least for me. Maybe not you, but it does for me. But that's just it wth fly fishing, it's ALL personal preference.
So you find a line you prefer and then find a rod that matches that line. Stay away from specialty lines because then you're getting detailed, and trying to find that perfect detailed specialty line can get expensive. If you're a person who only fishes Euro nymph style, find that specialty line for Euro nymphing that you like and stay with it. If you're a purist and only fish dries, find that Weight Forward floating line and stay with it.
Trust me, this will be easier than it sounds and costs less money. Basically what your doing is finding a line that will help load and unload your rod easily with attributes in the line that you like. I like Airflo because I don't need to clean it as much and it won't melt when you're using deet to protect you from bugs. Also it also stands up to UV light and won't crack. I like S.A. because it's just a quality line, hands down. Good coating that glides easily through the guides and fishes very well.
I hope this helps you out the next time you're looking at a fly rod to buy. If you have a line you like, take it with you and try it on some rods. The line will help you choose the rod. But ultimately the rod chooses you because of your casting stroke. So with your casting stroke, the line you like, you'll find the rod for you.