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Fly Fishing With Robert Jarvis
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As we progress, fly anglers discover that wind is our enemy and the only way to tame this problem is to purchase a stiffer rod with a faster action. Never does it occur to us that we should book in with Rodney Harrison for some casting lessons. No, we tell ourselves "A faster rod will solve these distance problems" I hope these few words will make the reader think differently. I have cast just about all the top brand rods, with their never ending quest for the fastest rod. I have also read a lot of words by the top fly anglers past and present on the subject of the best casting rod. My knowledge of rod design and manufacture expanded by the power of ten a few years back when I was graciously invited to tour the Kilwell factory in New Zealand. Mark Sherburn the then Production Manager and fly rod designer guided me through the factory and every procedure in the manufacture of a fly rod. For this I must thank Mark for sharing his technology and Jeremy Wells for access to his factory and his skilled people. After all this data and experiences there is one word that keeps coming up that stands out in this whole debate and that is "Dampening" Yes, there is no point producing the fastest rod if it hasn't enough dampening built into it. Before I explain what dampening is praise has to be given to a few manufactures that understand this concept and actively spend as much time developing better ways to dampen a rod as they do searching for stiffer fibres. The elite casters can bring out the full potential of a very fast rod due in part to their casting skills, but if we remove the top ten percent of casters we have the rest of us. The average caster that I have seen cannot fully load a fast action rod. In an attempt to load the rod a line one to two weights higher than the rods rating is often used. When the caster makes his speed up and stop motion at the end of their forward cast the jolt makes the rod deflect forward, catapulting the line. This deflection is the end result of the rod loading to a varying degree. Stiff rods are like high tensile steel say like a tuning fork. If you make the tuning fork deflect quickly it resonates or deflects forward then back and so forth until the energy is dispersed through loss or dampening. This can be observed by watching the loop travelling away from the rod. The loop forms well, nice and tight but as the rod resonates after the loop rolls away from the tip the tailing line develops waves that distort the cast and inhibit distance. Wait, I know what you are thinking, those shock waves are a product of poor casting skills, and yes I would have to partially agree. Alas some rods I have cast seem to resonate more than others and the difference is dampening. Even if these shock waves are totally from poor timing, most anglers exhibit this failure. The rod manufacturers see this issue and are producing semi stiff rods with high level dampening characteristics to combat this problem. To see these shock waves for yourself take your rig down to the park and have a cast. First, really slam the rod into the stop on the forward cast and observe the horizontal line between the loop and the rod tip. This tailing line will take on the appearance of a wiggly snake. Now make the same cast but this time try your normal speed up and stop at the end of the forward cast. There should be less wiggles and the cast should go further. You may say "Hang on this is poor casting again" true, but every person I have ever fished with has produced these shock waves when trying to reach a distant fish. All casters lose their timing to some degree when going for distance.
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