The Fly Rod

When a fish is hooked the Rod suddenly becomes a fighting tool. The Fly Rod must be able to smooth out a fly line so it can land in the desired location. It must be sensitive enough to receive and transmit delicate impulses, yet strong enough to stand up to the fight.
 
Until the mid 1950's, Fly Rods were exclusively made by the split-cane technique. Since then synthetic Rods have taken over the market. After a brief heyday of the solid and tubular fiberglass rods, an era of "high-tech fibers" was introduced as graphite Rods, a development that is still expanding today.
 
Thanks to these materials, tapering Fly Rods have appeared. Their action, strength, and damping ability leave nothing to be desired. Each Rod bears information as to which AFTM classes can be used, which makes it easy to put together useful harmonious equipment.

ACTION
Fly Rods are classified according to their performance or what is referred to as "action". A fast-action or top action rod has most flexibility in the top 25% of the rod. Slow action or full action rods distributes the forces equally along the length of the Rod. In between are numerous half-action Rods. Most modem Fly Rods are more or less decidedly half-action Rods. Most modem Fly Rods are built to a progressive taper or "progressive action", which means as the Rod is loaded with more line, it flexes lower and lower. For Rods of comparable length and line size fiberglass is usually the slowest, bamboo next, graphite faster and boron or boron / graphite the fastest.

LENGTH
The length of most Fly Rods are between the 7 1/2 to 9 foot range. Rods shorter than 7 1/2 feet are popular with light-line or small-creek fly fishers while Rods over 9 feet are usually used for big fish such as Salmon, Tarpon, and Sailfish.

WEIGHT
The weight designation of a Fly Rod describes the size fly line the Rod is designed to cast and not the weight of the Rod. For example a 4-weight Fly Rod is designed to cast a 4-weight line. Though Fly Rods range in weight from I to 15, the majority of stream trout Rods fall into the 3 to 8 weight range.

The STRIPPING GUIDE or the first guide has three functions; to hold the fly line to the Rod during casting, to funnel the line along the length of the Rod when shooting line (releasing extra line to obtain additional distance in casting), and to distribute the stress of playing the fish. Because the stripping guide is the first part of the Rod the line encounters after leaving the reel, it receives a lot of wear. To reduce the friction, the guide is often made from an abrasion-resistant material, usually hard chrome or ceramic. Some of the better Rods today will offer two or even three stripping guides.

The SNAKE GUIDES are the guides located between the stripping guides and the tip-top guide. These guides must line up precisely and be spaced along the Rod so as to properly match up with the taper of the blank. These guides need to be of a hardened material such as chrome or stainless-steel so they will hold up under the friction of the line passing through them. If a guide becomes worn or grooved, it will destroy a fly line.

The FERRULES come in three designs: spigot type with “male” on the butt section, spigot type with ‘‘male” on the tip section and the traditional nickel-silver ferrules used on cane Rods. It is important to keep the ferrules waxed - this keeps them from sticking and reduces wear. Plain paraffin is okay but, storm candles which contain both paraffin and oil is better.

FUTURE FLY RODS

In '99 The five-piece Rods that were big news were followed by 6,-, 7-, and even 8-, piece models. These rods will pack into 15-20 inch rod tubes. More fly fishers now will arrive at their destination with the Rod of their choice. The down side is that they are a bit pricey.

More companies will be offering complete, good quality, less expensive outfits for the beginners. They will include medium action Rods that load easily at short distances. Included with the medium action Rod will be a reel with backing, floating fly line, leaders, and Rod- reel case. If you are a beginner this ‘outfit’ would be a consideration. Some companies will be offering lighter Rods that are more resistance to on stream damage and offers smoother casting. More powerful, fast-action boron/graphite Rod design will appear. To allow a more stealthy approach to fish a Rod with Reel Tree brand of camouflage is now available.

One company is replacing stiff metal line guides with a thinner flexible nickel-titanium “recoil” snake guide that bends easily when the Rod bends and then returns to their original shape. These “slick” guides offer less friction possibly adding a little distance to your cast. With all that's out there in fine Rods the choice is not easy but that’s half the fun.