[Zach Matthews]

Guys –

Yes, I am an NPS member.

[Zach Matthews]

Cell phones!

[Zach Matthews]

Good point.

[Zach Matthews]

Labrati –

I am an insurance defense lawyer partially specializing in coverage claims.

[Zach Matthews]

Jerod –

I recognize your concerns and appreciate your willingness to use your real name.

[Zach Matthews]

Hey Labriti –

It definitely had moisture in the battery component and CF slot, and the inside of the viewfinder did fog for a few minutes as I was drying it out in the car, but there was no visible moisture on the CCD or on the mirror, or on the rear element of the lens.

[Zach Matthews]

John –

Thats a good idea.

[Zach Matthews]

Hey labrati –

Good commentary; glad you decided to come around the board.

Zach

[Zach Matthews]

Hahaha, I just caught a really stupid error in this podcast – I say it’s still Season Two right at the beginning, then immediately change my mind.

[Zach Matthews]

Good job, Rich.

Zach

[Zach Matthews]

Chris –

Did you get any closer to buying one?

I agreed with your assessment of the BIIMx for casting – a great casting rod (the 8 weight is equally nice).

[Zach Matthews]

Jay –

That’s why it stretches, man.

Zach

[Zach Matthews]

Hey Jay –

If you have access to a copy of American Angler over there, we have an article (mine actually) dealing with a lot of the new gear. It’s not as specific as you might find on Midcurrent.com (where I also suggest you look), but it’s a start.

[Zach Matthews]

Carter –

You all would have to know that Carter is a card-carrying made-in-Asia rods user to know that he is joking.

[Zach Matthews]

Here you go guys, right from the horse’s mouth (Jim Lepage, chief designer at Orvis):

Hello Zach,

I read through your post and I can see one area that might help explain recovery better by including relative mass.

A simple example of flex index vs. recovery would be to include mass when speaking about the difference. Fiberglass rods vs. graphite or graphite vs. bamboo. Loading a rod with a known weight to calculate the flex profile of the rod does indeed mean that it needs fall into the same area of the load board. That same rod if extremely light and reactive (high modulus fibers allow rods to be built with less mass to reach same flex profiles) than recovery of rod has less mass to move back to neutral, creating a faster recovery and therefore what some call a ‘fast rod’.

Here’s the straight definition:

I think it is fairer to say that a fast rod is one that is light, responsive, casts well in close and has a progressive taper that can handle long lines, yet has a fast recovery, and therefore a shorter stroke while casting.

Hope that helps.

Best, Jim

Thanks Jim!

Zach

[Zach Matthews]

Hey Rich –

You are getting into levels of engineering that I can’t respond to.

[Zach Matthews]

Mike –

I’ve had these discussions with a number of rod designers, including at Orvis, Scott, and TFO.

[Zach Matthews]

A very flexible rod can certainly be fast actioned.

[Zach Matthews]

Echo makes good rods – they are designed by Tim Rajeff on the TFO market model.

[Zach Matthews]

The only thing I would add to this discussion is the distinction between flexibility and speed, which tends to get conflated into “action” as a catchall term.

“Speed” of a rod refers to the recovery rate of graphite, or in other words the time it takes the bent graphite shaft to snap back to being straight.

[Author]

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