So I called the Colorado Business Development Office. A very nice lady told me there is a company pretending to be the CBDO calling people. The Development Office has worked with the Colorado Attorney Generals Office and their own attorneys to try and stop these people. She even had them call her at work one day with their scam.

If you get a call from someone saying they are from the Colorado Business Development Office, get their telephone number and check it against the official number.

I suspect this is some kind of phishing scam. So please don’t fall for it.

Marshall, Publisher
www.bestflyrods.com

I received an Orvis Clearwater II 9 ft, 5 wt, 4 pc midflex 7.5 for Christmas 2007. After having used this rod for fishing for 2 and a half seasons and for my fly casting class, I have some definite opinions about the rod.

Pros

1. The rod is well constructed with oversized guides which I like. The blank is a beautiful blue color.
2. Guide feet are securely wrapped and covered with rod epoxy.
3. The grip is a half wells with cutout for the top reel foot.
4. Reel Seat is an uplocking style with double locking rings. For an uplocking reel seat, I like the double rings because you don’t have to overtighten the locking rings to secure the reel. I have a tendency to crank too hard on single rings. (Over time tightening the locking rings too hard can force the bottom of the reel seat off the blank.)

   The reel seat itself is woven graphite to reduce weight and the same blue color as the blank. The reel seat hardware is high quality anodized aluminum.

5. The cork grip is premium grade with any holes filled and sanded smooth. The half wells grip is one of my favorites. I can use the smaller cigar part of the grip for most fishing which is less tiring for me. Then switch farther back on to the butt of the grip for long casts.
6. The guides appear to be the standard hard chrome snake guides with an oversized stripper guide lined with an insert to reduce line wear.
7. The rod comes with a handsome cordura covered hard case with zipper closure and an internal divided sock.
8. Priced between $169 and $219, the Clearwater II is a bargain at these prices. Rod weights 4-6 are available in both 4 and 2 piece models. Models range from 4 weight through a 10 ft 8 wt.
9. The Clearwater II series is covered by the 25 year Orvis 100% satisfaction guarantee.

Fishing Characteristics

I do a lot of nymph fishing so I like mid-flex or medium fast rods. Generally I only have to cast 50 to 60 feet max to reach my target. My Clearwater II 9 ft works well for Czech Nymphing, regular high sticking or long line nymphing out to about 30 feet which is my comfort level on drift control.

The rod is sensitive to subtle strikes when used without a drift indicator. The mid-flex action allows the rod to do some of the work of setting the hook. (The fish will take the nymph and turn to run hooking themselves.) 

Casting Characteristics

The mid-flex 7.5 casts extremely well out to about 60 – 65 feet for me. After 60 feet I have to put some muscle in it to reach 70 feet. My casting instructor tried this rod in my last class and reached 78 feet and 75 feet. So the rod has the capability if the caster has the skills.

The Clearwater II also comes in a 9.5 tip flex action for those that grew up with and like fast action rods. I have come to the conclusion that there is a point in distance casting where the rod action does start to make a difference along with the ability of the caster.

Clearwater II 9ft 5wt 4 pc

 All Clearwater Fly Rods

Related Products

 

Battenkill Large Arbor Trout Reels  from $198  The new BLA Trout reel offers you the perfect combination of large arbor performance in a lightweight fly reel design. Time to put a reel with that new Clearwater II fly Rod.

 xxx

More ==> Bargain Fly Fishing Gear – Fly Rods

 
BestFlyRods.com

Finding the best fly rod for you

Ask a group of fly fishermen which is the best fly rod and you will find various different opinions.  Many are based on the level of experience of the fly fishermen, where they normally shop, what magazines they read, income levels and so on. 

For example, those who have used St. Croix Fly Rods may prefer the Legend Elite or the Avid series. Those that have fished a lot with a Sage Rod will most probably recommend Sage or perhaps a Redington as their choice for Best Fly Rod.

A lot of the preferences are based on trust and the fishing experience of a shop owner or information on a website.  If a customer feels comfortable, they will be more likely to spend their money there.  Higher end shops attract higher end clientele, middle class shoppers will be most comfortable in a middle class shop.  The bargain shoppers go to the big box store, a local sporting goods chain or a discount sporting goods store.  They will purchase an inferior outfit and end up with an inferior experience.  

Fly Rods for the Discriminating Angler

Sage Fly Rods

Sage Z-Axis Fly Rods	Sage VT2 Fly Rods	Sage Flight Fast Action Rods
Sage TXL Fly Rods	Sage ZXL Classic Series Fly Rods	Sage Xi3 Saltwater  Fly Rods
Sage TCX Ultra Fast Action Series Rods	Sage Z-Axis Fast Action Switch Fly Rods	Sage: Launch Series
Sage Fly Rod Outfits
Sage Flight Fly Rod Outfits	Sage Introductory Bass Outfit	Sage Flight Spey Fly Rod Package
Sage Elite Fly Rod Package Trout	Sage Elite Spey Fly Rod Outfit - All Around 8 wt in a 14 ft rod	Sage: Elite Fly Rod Package Big Game
Sage: Elite Fly Rod Package Steelhead	Sage: Elite Fly Rod Package Light Switch Rod	Sage: Elite Fly Rod Package Tarpon

Fly Rods for Beginners to Advanced Intermediate Anglers

Why you should fish nymphs more than dry flies!

The answer is very simple.  You will catch more fish.

Several studies have shown that 80 to 95% of a trout’s diet is sub-surface.

A trout is a predator.  Predators hunt.  Trout must get more energy from the food they consume than the energy it takes to obtain the food.  Or they will die.  It is a simple equation.  Energy in must be > Energy out or Death occurs.

So which is easier to catch.  Hundreds or thousands of sub-surface insects or something flying around mating and dipping down to deposit eggs.  Pretty simple — nymphs are easier.

Basic Stream Entomology — the short course

A trout’s 6 basic food groups (This is primarily in Colorado but applies to much of the surrounding states too)

1. Mayflies
   Consists of clingers and swimmers
   First hatch of season (BWOs can be in March to May and last of season in Sep and early Oct)  Exist in hundreds of thousands in some areas of steams.  Fly pattern olive body with white antron yarn wing RS2 sizes 18 through 22.
   Other mayflies during warmer months of May through July

    

2. Stone Flies
   Clingers or crawlers mostly — You can find them by turning over rocks.  Colorado doesn’t have the salmon fly hatches of Montana but where there are hatches of large stoneflies, you can see some hot action.  

   Hatch usually by crawling out onto stream bank for large types like salmon flies.  Once on the South Platte River below Waterton Canyon, I saw a hatch of large stone flies.  The beach was alive with them crawling out of the water.  One I let sit on my hand had a body about 4" long.

   Yellow Sallies and small black stones are also a choice food group. I like the gold ribbed beadhead prince nymph in sizes 12 through 18 as a general pattern for black stones.  Fish straight upstream or quartering upstream, drifting down and then swing in toward the downstream bank before pickup.

    

3. Caddis
   Cased, crawlers and net builders are the main types.  Caddis are perhaps the most important food group for trout next to the midges. There are over 2,200 different species of caddis.

   Cased may be attached to twigs or small rocks and have a wood casing.  Some caddis form cases of small rocks with their saliva and attach themselves to rocks until time to hatch. 

   Crawlers — are free type worms that look like a meal worm or grub.  Generally represented by the buckskin nymph in sizes 16 and 18.  These can be found by turning over rocks or sticks.

   Net Builders — can be found in shallow riffles of areated water where they build silken webs to catch their food brought by the current. Sometimes they can also be found with a web between twigs on a sunken branch.

   Caddis can be represented by gold ribbed flashback bead head hare’s ear. or the plain head gold ribbed hare’s ear sizes 14, 16, 18.  Elk hair caddis for the mature adult if you are fishing dry flies.  Fish the nymph dead drift the use the Leisenring lift at the end of the drift to simulate the rapid rise to the surface of the emerging caddis. During a Hatch fish a Caddis dry trailed by an emerger.

   All caddis in Colorado have 6 legs total.  3 on each side of their head.  A black head.  Body may be tan, whitish or green.

    

4. Midges
   Are the year round food group in Colorado Fly Fishing.  There are millions of these insects in the streams.  They are small with sizes often running 20 to 24.  But the trout easily pick them out and eagerly consume them. Gray, olive or tan RS2 can be used to imitate them.

    

5. Terrestrials
   Ants, beetles, grasshoppers or other terrestrials that fall into the stream may be eagerly sought out by trout.  Trout seem to favor the acid taste of ants in particular.  (Large ones of course)

    

6. Other sub-surface food groups such as crawfish, sculpins, minnows, eggs during mating season of other trout species, other young of their own and other trout species.

   A nuclear egg pattern representing a fish egg surrounded by milt can be deadly fished on the bottom.  Bill Louthan of Alpine Angler in Aurora, CO caught an 8 lb rainbow on an egg pattern in Troublesome Creek last year (2004)

   Sculpin and streamers would represent small fish that trout prey on.

Set your rod up for a 2 nymph rig

Shown is the business end of a two fly nymph rig using a #16 bead head flash-back gold ribbed hare’s ear for the top fly and a #18 gray thread body silver ribbed RS2 on a 7X dropper.

I like to use 3 Dinsmore egg shaped split shot about 6 inches below the top fly and 2 Dinsmore Split shot the next size up about 6 inches above the top fly.

Below is a set up for about a 12ft 6 inch nymph leader.  Janice O’Shea professional guide teaches her students to use a 7.5 foot tapered leader to 4X as a base.  Then 1 foot of 5X and 18 inches of 6 or 7X if needed as a tippet.  

I like her setup because it means less leader to deal with and less time to set the hook than longer leaders.

To Strike Indicator or Not

When I was learning to nymph fish, there were no strike indicators.  We made a little J slack in the fly line at the water line and watched the J for any suspicious movements as a clue to set the hook.

Today there are yarn, round micro balls, oval shaped foam with rubber band inserts, foam with adhesive backing and more.  Frog hair has just come out with a new indicator that looks promising.

The foam with adhesive backing should not be used because they come loose from your leader and float down stream.  Trout mistake them for food and eat them.  The trout cannot digest the foam and they can die as a result.

I personally like one white yarn indicator.  But yarn eventually becomes water logged no matter how much floatant you use.  A yarn indicator also is hard to cast into a strong headwind and to adjust up or down the leader.

The round micro balls that use a rubber band as a friction holder against the leader are good.  They are easy to adjust up or down the leader which is a real plus as you try to find the depth the trout are feeding at.  These are usually a day glo orange color and easy to see on the water.

The oval shaped foam with a rubber band insert is not too bad.  But one end or the other can become separated and break off the leader floating downstream.  Then you have the same problem as with the adhesive backed foam indicators.  (Trout mistake them for food)

Frog Hair’s new EZ-On indicators come in sizes micro through extra large.  They thread through the middle of the indictor. The EZ- On is designed for a single use application and contains a built in friction retainer.  Each package contains 3 orange and 3 yellow and orange indicators.  The shape is oval and should float true with the leader through the center of the indicator.

Frog Hair’s new Ultimate indicator is shaped like the EZ-On but is is designed for multi-use.  The retainers are separate.  Each package contains one hi-viz orange and 2 two tone indicators.

 The newest thing is the Thingamabobber. This is a soft vinyl indicator much like the foam balls but with a metal tab used to attach the leader. The Thingamabobber was developed from guides blowing up small party ballons and attaching them to the leaders to be used as strike indicators.

Whether you are using micro balls or Frog Hair’s indicators, use one smaller one on top and a larger one about 6 inches away from the small indicator.  Keep sliding them up and down the leader until you start catching fish.  This is the level you should use until conditions change or you move to a different part of the stream.

My tests of strike indicators this last year were positive.  I am sure that I caught fish and larger fish with indicators than without.  It is good to practice the J method too.  There will be times when the water is too clear or low to use an indicator effectively.

 A strike indicator is not advised for the Czech Nymphing method. Generally you will be fishing in fast water with this method using a short tight line and the indicator will not be needed.
 

Basic Fly Fishing Casts

Basic 2 fly fishing casts you should master
to be a successful fly fisherman in
Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico

Remember on the How to Choose Fly Rods page, fly fishing great and fly rod builder Tom Morgan, "During the last 40 years, most trout have been taken from 20 to 40 feet and I expect the next 50 years will be the same." 

What this means is that you don’t need to learn how to lay out 60 and 70 feet of line plus 10 feet or 12 feet of leader to catch fish.  This is particularly true in Colorado where the average stream is some 60 feet or less wide.  If you are trying to shoot those long casts, you are missing fish at your feet.

A professional guide I know teaches teaches her students to fish at 10 to 12 feet and has said in class that many fish are caught within seven feet of you.  (I personally have caught fish within 4 feet of where I was standing.)

So the only two casts you really need to master are the "Tension Cast" and the "Roll Cast" to reach out those some 20 to 30 feet for your fish.  If you are trying to punch casts longer than this, STOP.  Wade closer and wade quietly until you can get into a better casting position. The overhand cast is useful but not necessary to catching fish. The overhand cast will be covered separately.

Tension Cast

This is just a fancy name for using the current flow to load the rod for you.  It is one of the simplest casts to perform.  Learned well, it is deadly accurate.  If you are fishing weighted nymphs or a leader with weight, the leader will roll over your rod at 90 degrees to the rod most of time.  This is so predicable that you can learn to drop a cast into an 8 inch circle under branches with practice.  (I know from experience that it can be done.  Of course, I do loose flies too.)

Performing the "Tension Cast".

• Complete your drift
• Let the current straighten out your line downstream
• Drop the tip of your rod to some 8 to 10 inches above the water for maximum water loading
• Using a side arm sweep or just a wrist snap depending on the length of the cast, bring the rod forward toward your target sharply
• During this forward sweep, the current will load the rod just like a back cast
• Stop your rod tip about 90 degrees from pointing straight toward your target (Remember the weight will pull the leader and line at 90 degrees to the rod. If the rod is tip is pointed at 90 degrees to the target, the line will end up going toward your target. For fishing flies with no weight, point your rod tip at the target.)
• Let the weight on your leader bring the leader up and over your rod in a type of roll cast toward your target
• That’s all there is to it  Pretty simple
   
• To Practice — let your leader and about 10 to 15 feet of line out of your tip.  This should give you enough line and leader to load your rod for your practice casts.  You may want to use bright red yarn tied to the end of your leader for visibility until you get used to this cast.

Roll Cast

The roll cast is more difficult to perform.  The water is used as the anchor point for the line. The water again will load the rod. But you are providing the power for the cast.  Performed properly, the roll cast will roll out into a good cast toward your target.  The roll cast is easier done on more open water without trees or brush behind you. But the main use for it is when you have trees, brush or other objects at your back.

Performing the "Roll Cast"

• Finish your drift
• Face your target with your left foot slightly forward of the right foot at a 45 degree angle. (Reverse for left handed casters)
• Bring your casting arm and rod up into a one o’clock position. (This would be the finish position for a regular overhead cast.  You now have your arm bent and your wrist cocked. I like to tip my rod about 10 degrees outside the plane formed by my rod and arm.  Basically I don’t like the risk of hooking myself.)
• Stop and check you have the line behind the rod in a good loop. The bigger the loop the longer you can cast. You need to have about 4 feet minimum of line plus the leader in the water to load the rod.
• Aim your cast slightly to the left of your target since the line will be rolling to the right of the rod.
• With a sharp power stroke, drive your arm forward to the 11 o’clock position to load the rod and start the cast moving.
• With a wrist snap drop your rod to the 10 o’clock position to put more power into the cast directing the line to your target. Keep your arm and rod at the 10 o’clock or 45 degrees to the water for maximum distance. 
• When the line has straightened out, let your rod drift down toward the water until the tip is 3 to 4 inches above the surface.
• You are now ready to throw a mend or set the hook when a fish strikes.

This may not be the traditional method of performing the roll cast but it works for me.

Nymph Fishing — Why you should fish nymphs rather than dry flies

 An overview of history of fly rods from 
200 A.D to 2000s

One of the most interesting histories of fly fishing and fly rods was written by Dr. Andrew N. Herd of England.

Dr. Herd has traced fly fishing back to 200 A. D. in Macedonia. The Macedonians used a wooden pole with a line and a bit of crimson wool attached to homemade hooks to catch fish.  Doubtless this was a solid pole and not very flexible but nonetheless a fly rod by definition.

The Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle was published as part of the second edition of The Boke of St. Albans in 1496.  This book describes in detail how to construct a fly rod of the period.  The base of the rod was hazel, ash or willow, with an insert second top piece of smaller hazel.  The final part of the top section was "a fair shoot of blackthorn, crabtree, medlar, or juniper".  The Treatyse describes a lot of soaking, drying, hole burning, fitting, binding and so on just to get a fly rod.  No running out to a store for instant gratification here folks. 

These rods were massive affairs and not the little light weight 00 – 5 line weight rods we enjoy today.    To view the complete construction process Medieval Fly Rods  

The Treatyse also talks about how to make colored braided horsehair lines of different thickness for different fish species, how to make your own hooks, floats, weights, fish species and when to fish for them.  Lines were about 16 feet in length so "casting" was more or a dapping or short pickup and drop technique.

In the eighteenth century, the fly rod started to slowly evolve.  Poorly made jointed rods were being made, trout rod lengths ran from 9 to 12 feet and tapered braided horse hair lines were down to single hairs for 9 foot rods.  

Silk lines were starting to make an appearance and "bamboo cane" was making an appearance in the top sections of salmon rods.  The advent of the industrial revolution allowed the mass production of a variety of tapered fly lines and the beginning of machine produced fly reels.  The fly reels were not well designed and often malfunctioned.  Still no major revolution in fly-rods was taking place.

From 1800 to 1850, rod design and manufacture was improving.  The best rods were still made from ash, hazel and lancewood as in the past centuries.  But Calcutta Cane, of good enough quality, was being substituted for lancewood.  Jointed rods were still unreliable and were likely to snap off.  A variety of joints was tried.  A female brass socket with a male wood end.  A brass female socket and a brass male end.  Screw joints were also used.  A piece of whale bone 4 — 5 inches long was still used for rod tops.  The joint quest would not end until the Orvis company invented the strong thin walled "suction joint".
More about Fly-Rods and Reels

From 1851 to 1900, split cane rods were perfected.  The false cast was discovered, dry fly technique emerged, mostly modern reels were being manufactured and a Scotsman advocated the upstream cast with a short ten foot rod.

1901 to 1950 — The hexagonal split cane rod was the dominant design.  A trout rod was generally between 9’6" to 11 feet.  The ferrule was being increasingly used in rod production.  Orvis perfected the suction ferrule.  Hardy Company of England was promoting the ‘Universal’ reel seat invented by Dr. Emil Weeger.

Prior to the 1880s, rod butts were made by machining a swelling into the material or wrapping the handle with pigskin.  By 1900, cork was the more common covering for fly rod handles.  Ground cork for inferior rods and natural cork on premium rods.

The discovery of nymph fishing by angling great G.E.M. Skues was one of the most important fly fishing advances.  Discoveries by Skues are still carrying us forward today..

1951 to 2000 — The glass-fiber rods appeared in the late 1940′s.  But they did not sweep the market as their weight was similar to split cane.  The lower cost of a fiber-glass rod was the main advantage. After the development of carbon fiber rods in 1976, rod weights plunged to the point where line weight became a factor in rod handling.  

Another look at the development of modern fly rods is by Don Phillips, the inventor of the boron fly fishing rod in 1971. "The Technology of Fly Rods" The author is a fly fisherman, mechanical engineer and the inventor of the boron fly rod towards the end of 1971.

In 1952, the first modern fly line as we know it appeared.  I have found both Cortland and Scientific Anglers claim to have developed the line in the same year.  In any case, the new plastic line would float and not become water logged like silk.  (Once a silk line was water logged, it had to be discarded.).  Silk lines were effectively dead.

Credits
My poor summary above doesn’t do justice the vast amount of material on Dr Herd’s website.  Please visit his site and spend some time getting all the fascinating information there. 

My thanks to Dr. Andrew N. Herd of www.flyfishinghistory.com.  Dr. Herd has compiled a massive amount of data on his site about fly fishing history.  I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of hours that went into making his site let alone his book "The Fly".  This book is a complete history of fly fishing from its earliest recorded beginnings to the present.  Dr. Herd’s second Book "The Flies" will contain details of every major fly pattern from medieval times to 1899.

Home

Analysis of fly rods – How to tell premium fly fishing rods 
from cheap fly rods

 description of rod actions, 
tests to use in choosing a fly rod, 
how to save money on a fly rod

Fly Rod Actions

are described in a variety of terms depending on the manufacturer.  But essentially each description relates to where the rod flexes under load when casting.  

• Fast, tip action or tip flex — main flex is in the top 1/3 to 1/4 of the tip section depending on manufacturer.  This action loads very fast and requires precise timing and control.  (Usually reserved for advanced or expert casters)
• Medium or Mid-flex — rod bends in the middle 1/2 to upper 1/3 of the rod.  This action is good for beginners to advanced casters who just like a "forgiving" feel.
• Slow or Full-flex — rod bends from tip to butt section.  While very forgiving of casting mistakes, this type of rod action produces a slow rod recovery rate.  In my opinion, a slow action can be so slow that it can interfere with hooking fish.
• Progressive — No noticeable difference between the stiffer and more flexible parts of a rod.

How to Choose a Fly Rod

As a beginner starting out there are a bewildering number of fly rod choices ranging from 6 feet to a monster two handed 13 to 15 foot spey rod.  For fly fishing Colorado and surrounding states you obviously don’t need a two handed rod.  Choosing a rod suited for Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah or New Mexico depends a lot on understanding that most trout are caught at distances under 20 feet from you.  This is not just my opinion but the opinion of fly fishing great and fly rod builder Tom Morgan, "During the last 40 years, most trout have been taken from 20 to 40 feet and I expect the next 50 years will be the same."  (From fly fishing legend Andre Puyan’s column in the 2004 Gear Guide in Fly Fishing America on page eleven.)

Janice O’Shea, professional guide teaches her students to fish within 10 to 12 feet. I have caught fish within 3 feet of where I was standing so long casts are not always needed.  But good presentation is a necessity. (http://www.fly-fishing-colorado.com/wordpress/nymph-fishing-and-gourmet-cooking/)

A trout can take a fly and spit it out in less than 1/10 second.  Do you really think you are good enough to put out 60 feet of line, mend it for a perfect presentation, detect a strike and set the hook with 60 feet of line out in less than 1/10 second. "Let’s get real here."  If you are planning on purchasing a rod and line to put those 60 foot casts, stop reading here.  What I have to say will be of little interest.

Line Weights

Line Weights are one of the most important considerations in choosing a proper fly rod outfit.  Lines range from Sage’s new 00 to a 15 for use in salt water fishing.

Bruce Richards, product engineer and fly line designer for 3M Scientific Anglers says that the delicacy of presentation is determined by the mass at the front of the fly line.  A DT and a WF line with the same taper and tip diameter will deliver the same.

The trick to roll casting with a DT or a WF line is to make sure the larger diameter belly is in the rod tip.  If you are trying to transmit energy through the smaller diameter running line, you will not transmit enough energy to the belly to make the line do what you want.

Almost all WF lines have heads that are 44 to 49 feet long.  Remember that most of us don’t have the need or the ability to roll cast longer than 45 feet.

Basic fly lines for use in Colorado and surrounding states are:

1. Double Taper — A 90 foot long line tapered equally at both ends.  The first and last 15 feet of line are tapered to increase in weight from the tip to the belly of the line.  Then the line diameter and weight is constant for the next 60 feet.  Next the line starts to loose weight and line diameter until it reaches a tip size equal to the front section of the fly line. 

   Usually marked as DT1, DT2 and so on through DT6.  When one end of the line becomes worn, you can turn it around and use the unused tapered end.

   Janice O’Shea , a professional fly fishing guide recommends a DT5 weight line as a good starter line for fly fishing Colorado.

    

2. Weight Forward — The first 30 to 50 feet of the 90 feet fly line contain most of the weight.  The line behind the head is a smaller diameter line.  Noted as WF5, WF6, WF7 and so on.  Generally weight forward lines are used on rods for 7 weight up.  A weight forward line will load a rod quickly.  They are good for casting heavy nymphs, bushy dry flies and terrestrials into a stiff breeze. 

Choosing a Balanced Fly Rod, Reel and Fly Line Combination

In my research, I have found these three considerations seem to be common. 

• Pick a rod weight suited to the species of fish you normally fish.
• Pick a rod length for the water you normally fish.
• Pick a rod price that makes you reach a bit to get it.  (This way you will appreciate and care for your rod.)

That seems simple enough right.  Wrong.  There is the question of matching the line wt to the rod and to the reel, upper body strength of male vs. female when picking a rod, the physical balance test, the spine test and the casting test. 

How to tell premium fly fishing rods 
from cheap fly rods

Are there ways to tell premium fly rods from cheap fly fishing rods?  The answer is a definitive Yes!

Here are some items to examine when looking for a premium fly rod.  See the premium 9 foot 4 piece travel rod shown above.

1. Premium fly rods will generally have 1 guide for approximately each foot of rod not counting the main stripping guide. Premium fly rods may have two stripping guides but the second one is counted in the guide count. For example, the nine-foot premium fly rod pictured above has a total of ten guides not including the main stripping guide.

   As the rod length increases so should the number of guides. Remember the rule of 1 guide for approximately each 1 foot of rod length plus a tip top guide.  (Ex.  A premium 8’6" fly rod should have 9 guides plus the main stripping guide = 10 guides.  (Round up to the next higher whole fly rod length number, then count your guides)

    

2. A good model fly rod will generally have 1 less guide than the premium models.  For the nine foot model shown here, a good rod would have nine guides not counting the main stripping guide.

    

3. A cheaper model fly rod will generally have still fewer guides not including the stripping guide. For example, a cheap nine-foot fly rod may have only eight guides not including the main stripping guide.

   These less expensive fly rods will not cast long lengths of line as easily as premium fly rods will. Think about it. The guides carry the line as it shoots forward toward the target.

   With less guides on the fly fishing rod, the line will tend to develop a little belly between the guides. With any belly in the line between guides, a lot of energy is lost.  Loss of energy equals loss of forward motion and casting distance.  Cheap fly rods also make you work harder to cast because you have to work to put more energy into the cast instead of letting the fly rod do it for you.  Thus, a 60-foot cast with a 12-foot leader is more difficult using a cheap fly rod than with a premium rod.

    
   

4. Quality of the fly rod components:

• Reel Seat– This is the part that holds the reel to the fly rod. Reel seats on rods for fresh water fishing are generally made of metal holders with a wood insert in between. They may also be made of aluminum or stainless steel.  Personally, I like the reel seats with wood spacers as they add beauty and charm to the rod.  There are several different types of wood reel seats spacers out there.  Ask your local fly shop owner about them when looking at fly rods.

  Does the reel you are going to use fit snugly in the reel seat.  Take your reel in with you when shopping or put one on you are looking at buying.  (This is hard to do when shopping online so make sure you get a money back satisfaction guarantee when purchasing.)

  A good reel seat these days is uplocking.  This means that the retainer rings screw up toward the reel to hold it in place. This model reel seat keeps the rings away from your hand when casting and avoids accidental loosening of the rings.  There is nothing worse than having a lifetime trophy fish on and having your reel fall off in the middle of the fight.

  REC — Nickel Silver or anodized aluminum reel seats are used by St. Croix in their top line rods series.

   

• Cork Grip – This is the part you hold to make your cast. Cork comes in grades A and B. Less expensive Rods may use a B grade but that won’t affect your casting. A quality fly fishing rod should use Grade A cork with no holes or crumbly grainy parts when sanded smooth. Grips may in the shape shown or in a modified curl at the top end, allowing a place to brace your thumb when casting. 

  

  Style 1 — Reverse Wellington — flare above reel seat

  Style 2 — Reverse Wellington with cutout — reel seat inserted into grip

  Style 3 — Full Wellington with about a 1 or 2 inch fighting butt — Normally most fly rods for fly fishing in Colorado, Utah, Montana or Wyoming would not use these fighting butts.

  Style 4 — Used with a two handed Spey salmon or salt water fishing rods.

   

• Stripping Guide – is the first guide above the grip. It is round and looks a lot like a guide on a spinning rod, except it is lined inside with a ceramic insert. The insert reduces line wear when the line passes over the guide.  If there are two stripping guides, both of them should be ceramic lined.  

    Fuji® SiC stripper guides with titanium-plated frames are used by St. Croix on their top line models. 

• Mid or Snake Guides come in both double foot and single foot models.  If a fly fishing rod is built using single foot guides, it will be for smaller line weights.  00 through 6.  Heavier line weights will generally use a traditional double foot guide.  In either case a high quality premium fly rod should be using titanium or nickel plated guides.  Lesser quality fly rods should be using chrome plated guides at a minimum. Coated Guides  reduce line friction, line wear, guide wear and ease of casting from reduced friction over traditional wire guides.

   
  Traditional Double Food Snake Guides shown above.

  
  Single Foot Round Wire Snake Guides

  
  Single Foot Round Ceramic Fly Rod Guides
   

• NEW Product ===> A new product in the fly rod guide market are RECOIL^® Guides & Tip Tops.  RECOIL guides are marketed exclusively by REC Components and designed in partnership with Ultimate NiTi Technologies, Inc, the exclusive manufacturer

  These new guides are manufactured from a nickel titanium alloy.  This "Special Shape Memory" alloy is so hard yet flexible that fly rod guides don’t need ceramic inserts to reduce wear and they return to their original shape after many deformations.  My local fly fishing shop owner in Aurora, CO said Gary Loomis is using them on the G. Loomis $600 Rods. So there appears to be exciting changes ahead for the fly rod industry.

• Top Guide – This guide is again a round guide that fits over the end of the rod blank. It is glued in place and wrapped on the bottom end. The round shape facilitates shooting the line. The round shape also allows for the line leader connection to slide easily inside the tip area during the landing of a fish.

  Fly rod wire loop top guides

  Fly Rod ceramic top guides

   

• Ferrules – These are the parts where the rod pieces fit together.  There are two main types of ferrule systems in use today.  Tip over butt where the butt of the section above fits over the tip of the section below.  

  Then there is Scott Rods internal ferrule solution where a specially designed rod piece is fit into the tip of the bottom section.  This tip piece then fits inside the butt of the top piece.  Scott claims this allows the construction of a "continuous tapered" rod which will cast better.  Whether one is better than the other is your choice.  But remember the more labor that goes into a fly rod, the more the cost.

  Rod Windings – These are the thread windings over the feet of the strip guides(s), the snake guides and the ferrules if Tip over Butt.  The windings should be close together with no loose ends showing.  There should be several coatings of epoxy finish over the windings to protect them from wear and unraveling.

  Rod Finish – In the past most fly rods, would have several coats of rod epoxy on the blanks to protect the blank and to enhance the appearance.  Newer blanks may not need any finish to be attractive and are tough enough to be wear resistant without rod epoxy.

How is my fly rod manufactured?

If you want to get a headache in a hurry, just start researching how fly rods are manufactured.  So many terms — scrim, prepreg, resin, modulus of elasticity, high modulus graphite.  Not to mention all the special PR spin each fly rod manufacturer puts on their materials.  (Graphite II, Graphite III, Graphite IV, IM6, GL3, GL4, High Matrix, Sage fly rods new G5 technology with modulus positioning system (MPS) or St. Croix’s IPC technology to produce rods with one continuous taper.  Let’s start with a Glossary of Terms.

Glossary of Fly Rod Terms

• Carbon fiber or Graphite — fibers of carbon processed in one roll with the fibers aligned along the length of the roll.  The fibers then are coated with a bonding resin.  
• Scrim — The addition of a small amount of fiberglass to the graphite matte.  Or by spiral wrapping additional graphite fibers around the rod blank.  The last method yields blanks of 94 to 96 per cent graphite and is the more versatile of the two methods.
• Resin — is a type of plastic like adhesive that is added to the blank to strengthen the matte and scrim.  The resin is harden by curing in a baking oven.  Different resins will give different rod characteristics.
• Pre-preg — the combination of the carbon matte, scrim and resin is called a pre-preg.  The pre-preg is then cured in an oven at a set temperature and time.  After that, it is ready for cutting a pattern called a "flag"
• Flag — the rod blank pattern cut from the pre-preg.  The flag is now ready to be rolled around a mandrel to form the actual rod blank.
• Mandrel — A precisely tapered metal rod used to define the shape of the rod blank.  Different mandrel shapes help to determine rods of different actions and tapers.  Quality rods are designed on a mandrel for each piece.  

  The flag or pattern is rolled around the mandrel using pressure or shrink tape.  If shrink tape is used, the rod blank will have spiral marks that must be sanded or ground smooth.

  The mandrel and wrapped flag is cured in a baking oven at a precise temperature and for a precise time.  Then the cured flag is removed from the mandrel. Better blanks have a smoother finish right off the mandrel.  Shrink tape wrapped blanks will have small ridges left when cured.  These ridges must be ground down to a smooth finish.  A matte finish blank is left unvarnished or finished with a matte or satin varnish.  

• Modulus of Elasticity — is a fancy term for the amount of stiffness in a rod blank.  (It actually stands for Young’s Modulus of Elasticity from Physics.).  As typically used, Modulus refers to the stiffness of the dry graphite fibers — before mixed with the resin to become the prepreg.
• Spine — All rod blanks have a "spine" from the manufacturing process.  The spine means the blank will favor flexing along a particular plane.  Each rod section may not have the same spine so fitting rod guides is finding the "Effective Spine"  Best quality rods today may have little or no spine.

  Finding the spine.  Take each rod section and set the butt section on a table or non-slip surface.  Put slight pressure on the rod about in the middle of the section with the finger tips and then roll the rod blank gently in one direction.  You will feel a point where the blank "snaps" over a point of stiffness.  That is the spine.  Sight along the blank and see if if the guides are aligned along the spine.  

  Do this with each rod section for the rod you are looking at.  With the rod assembled, you should be able to tell the spine by the same test.  Do this gently unless you want to buy a broken rod.

  Why the Spine is important!  Under load, the rod will always turn itself so the load is resisted by the spine, the rod’s line of greatest strength. The guides must be aligned along this line of resistance. Failing this, the rod will turn under load to the spine regardless of where the guides are set.  You don’t want to be fighting a big fish and have the rod twist under load.  

Blank and Rod Properties

• Tapers — Rod tapers come in several flavors.  
  • Compound or progressive where the blank makes several changes to the taper over the length of the total blank.
  • Continuous or smooth where the blank is one smooth taper from butt to tip.  (These types of tapers are a newer taper allowed by better ferrule design.)
• Ferrules — The connection points between sections of a rod.  The ferrules generally offer a point of increased resistance in the blank which will affect the overall action of the rod.  A badly designed ferrule can break a blank from the leverage force applied to the inside of the blank.  This applies to two piece and multi-piece rods.  Newer ferrules are often thinner walled than older designed ferrules.  And so offer a better rod action.
  • Tip over Butt — are ferrules where the butt of the section above tapers enough to allow the male end below to be fit into the female ferrule section above.  (These were the first effective fiber glass design ferrule to replace metal ferrules.)  They are still in common use today.  The female section of the ferrule is usually reinforced with a section of cross-wise graphite fibers for lateral strength under load.  Each blank section with this type of ferrule must be made on a separate mandrel.
  • Internal or Spigot Ferrule — A spigot is glued into the butt section.  The spigot is a perfect fit for the ferrule section above.  To reinforce the female ferrule section above, graphite is glued perpendicular to the graphite blank.  Many rod manufacturers who use this type of ferrule, maintain it provides a consistent transfer of energy and adds very little weight to the blank.  There is usually a slight gap in each ferrule when the rod is assembled to allow for wear.  (note:  I have one 9 ft graphite rod with this type of ferrule system.  I much prefer the tip over butt system.)
  • Sleeve Ferrule — an external female sleeve is glued over the butt of each rod  section.  Then the male end is fit into the the female sleeve to assemble the rod.  There is a continuous taper inside the ferrule which is an extremely strong design.  But some rod designers feel this type adds too much weight and stiffness.  

    Scott Fly Rods have engineered a sleeve over ferrule to produce a thin walled extremely strong smooth ferrule.  Scott claims their ferrule system allows for a smooth transfer of power through out the rod blank. 

  • Flared Ferrule — Designed and patented by Gary Loomis.  This ferrule is based on the tip over butt system.  The rod section has a flare at the female end of the ferrule.  The butt section is inserted into the female end.  This type of ferrule produces a small tip over butt ferrule with excellent energy transfer through the short ferrule length.  (Editor Note:  I have a G.Loomis rod which I very much enjoy using.)

Analysis of fly rods – How to tell premium fly fishing rods 
from cheap fly rods

How to Choose Fly Rods

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