Jack Cummings
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Casting is simple… as soon as someone tells you anything different it is time to start questioning them….
Load the rod stop. Unload the rod… stop. Straight line path of the rod tip.. keep it smoooooth (As Morsie says)… that’s it.
It indeed is simple as long as you don’t want to progress any further than just getting the fly out there.
I guess what you’re saying can apply to driving a car too. Hit the gas… turn the wheel and brake when needed. Simple. 😉
I suspect you will see reels being built with composites in the next decade.
It’s about, or WAY past time for that! You can get a taste of what should be coming by glancing in the works of the Ross Momentum. Compressed fiber matt. Even with that showy piece of carbon fiber, that reel is still too heavy for my needs and wants though.
It’s been the material of choice for years in high-end cycling where low weight and high strength are of paramount importance.
I wonder who will be the first to break the leg-hold CNC machines have on the reel making industry?If they make a rod that is too light I’ve yet to cast it!
What I know from experience is that todays lightweight rods are a pure joy to use.
In the ’80’s and ’90’s I used Loomis GLX’s because there wasn’t another series of rod available to my knowledge that had their all-around good feeling when casting and fishing and were as light weight.
That changed when the Winston BIIx came out lighter yet but with more soul and range… to me anyhow.Consider that any weight taken off of a 9 foot lever means a lot.
When I’m nymphing and mainly holding a rod up all day to control drift, any extra weight on the rod takes it’s toll… or maybe I’ve just been spoiled by moving up to light weight rods.This is one area reel makers should really take a look at. They can make good, light weight click and pawl reels for trouting that would compliment todays light rods but they would rather have is believe we ‘need’ the complexity and weight of drag reels, even for small stream rods.
Geirach… “The thing about fly fishing is, at about the point where it begins to take over your life, it becomes a search for quality.”
Thanks for the report and the nudge to tell another tale of PA steel!
A group of us went to Pennsylvania and New York to chase after steelhead last week.
Monday was a perfect driving day. On Tuesday we went to fish the Cat in New York before the rain that fell all day ruined it. We fished hard and hooked and landed a few before the rains flooded the river and turned the water the color of anti-freeze and drove us off.
The rain was a blessing as the steelhead in Pennsylvania who were staged and ready to enter the rivers but couldn’t because of the low water ran up those rivers in HUGE numbers once the rivers started flowing again.
Wednesday was one of the most amazing fishing days any of us ever had. The water was lowering and the rivers were chock-full of fresh, hot, hungry chromers who never saw a fly before. Wave after wave of fresh, hot steel made their way through the hole we fished all day. No need to move when fish are on the bite they say! We essentially had the rivers to ourselves as the locals were nowhere to be seen.
That changed the next day as the rivers got clear and low and all of the fish ended up in any hole available. Each hole was surrounded by far too many people as word must have gotten out the run was on.
We nailed it on Wednesday to the point we all left early as there was no way to cap such an awesome fishing day as we had on Wednesday.
My arm is still sore!
Big buck:
The good Captain:
Dans first steelhead:
First and foremost, I’m a certified gear freak!
I also deal almost on a daily basis with machinists and machinery. I really appreciate the design and workmanship in some reels but more than that, I get to put them to the tests at the tasks they were designed for.
Having had lost fish to sticky drags, stiction, poor start-up inertia, salt water corrosion and such I finally said no more.
I have everything from $50.00 plastc DanReels to old Orvis click-and-pawls to Charltons and use and appreciate every single one of them.
Plus, on the better reels anyhow, I can use them free for years should I decide to sell them.Matt, I viewed your website after making the above post.
I must say, you sure seem to have the artist/craftsman connection figured out!
VERY nice work!A customized rod designed precisely for your hand can’t be beat.
This one I’ll have to disagree on. I’ve seen way too many shoddy and gaudy custom rods to say they’re all that good as a whole.
A lot has to be said for perfecting your work through experience. Most home builders would be hard-pressed to duplicate the number of wraps in a year that a factory does in a week.
I know from experience there are craftsman and there are artists. It is very rare to find a single rod builder who excells at both.
Jes sayin’Tim
your line rarely goes through the same place in your guides every time.Several years ago while fooling around at the Flyfishing Masters one of the truly good casters from Arkansas told me about someone who practiced casting in some sort of factory that had abrasive dust everywhere. It was said his guides all wore out at about the 8:00 position (with the rod in the normal, guides-down position)
That is the reason you see some competition casters have their rods assembled with the guides off-set clock-wise a bit.
Works for me! 😉Thanks Zach! Good and timely stuff. I have a friend who is suffering from slow leak syndrome on his JWO!
Also, good stuff on the bottom coating. Last week I kept thinking there MUST be something to put on ‘toon bottoms that would, if nothing else, help them slide over the stuff like this we fished last week
Scott has had a rod similiar to this for a while now.
I cast it in February at a fly show:
Back Country Special
779/3 9wt. 7’7″My buddy hand it to me at the casting pool and asked me to cast it but not look at what it was. It sure was different and thunky at short range. Once a bit of line got out though it was a rocket!
Though it’ll no doubt work for bass tourneys, Scott markets it as a tarpon/kayak/mangrove rod.
My fishing buddy bought one for salmon fishing in close quarters.not like its going to improve your personality, intelligence or attractiveness to the opposite sex. ;D
Cheers
SteveDoggone it Steve!
And here all along I bought rods ‘cuz the shop salesman told me ‘chicks dig em’!Carter, my ‘O’ case has nothing inside but smooth PVC. The cloth lid for it zips shut. The thing works perfectly. I just make sure the rods are in the rod socks they came with.
Yours is probably another Orvis better idea that ain’t… like making their reels in the far east!
‘Boo is okay but casting them make me feel I’m just along for the ride. There are so many different tapers and actions of plastic rods there is sure to be one out there to match most everyones needs.
That said, If I had the cash one ‘boo rod I would own in a heartbeat is one of the gems Wayne Macca builds. They’re about as light as plastic yet have that almost traditional look (if you overlook the hand build carbon fiber ferrules) They cast like the dickens too BUT… as someone else put it, ‘if you want a ‘boo that acts so much like plastic why spend all that money… just get plastic!’
Another I woul;d take in a heartbeat with the right cash in hand is a Midge Bob Sommers thrust in my hand several years ago before I left Michigan. That rod still haunts me!I fly with and carry on one similiar to the cases that Zach suggested from Dan Baileys though mine is an Orvis model bought in a blow-out sale.
It’s square PVC covered in nylon that is easily X-Rayed. It hold 4 (or 5) 4 piece rods.
I also carry on an Abel ‘Holds Everything’ bag for my camera’s, reels, books and other odds and ends.My clothes may not make because they’re checked in but I know the family jewels are with me at all times traveling this way!
… particularly in the 6 weight on up. I have the BIIX 6 and it is super smooth but is not a great distance or streamer rod.
When I lived in Michigan I really got my licks in! My job had me traveling the state and I could plan calls on runs, hatches, ice and etc.
Now, living more in the south I probably get 100 days a year in.
