What You Need to Know About Fly Fishing Rods

Fly fishing rods are things of beauty to a flyfisher and they always have been. Fly rods represent the best of craftsmanship and while modern rods don't have the style or work content as the "old" bamboo split cane rods shown in the picture they nevertheless are wonders of engineering.

Before the advent of man made synthetic fibre materials the standard material from which to make a fishing rode was cane (split and glued triangular sections to make a hexagonal shaped rod) or greenheart wood. The old rods were heavy and made a day's fishing a little laborious. However in skilled hands these rods landed many fine trout and salmon.

Glass fibre (fibreglass) rods made their appearance around in the 1950's or thereabouts and they allowed mass manufacturing of quality fly fishing rods to take place bringing these lightweight and strong rods within reach of many people who could not afford the hand built cane fly rods. The fibreglass rods tended to have fairly wide diameter butt sections which added to the weight and increased air resistance when casting. I remember building my own first fly rod from fibreglass blanks in 1969 when I was recovering from Pneumonia. I still have that rod today although it has never been sued for many a year.

The real and major improvement in rod building technology came with the introduction of carbon fibre. Most of the fly rods today are made from this material. It is very lightweight and immensely strong when put under strain. Very thin tip sections are capable of landing large fish. The image shown below is part of the famous Sage Range of fly-fishing rods made in the USA.

How Are Rods Rated?

The standard specification is based upon the ASTM fly line weight system. For example a rod weight 3 would be suited to a fly line of ASTM 3. The relationship between line weight and the rod is a function of the rod's stiffness. The greater the stiffness the heavier the line required to flex the rod and allow it to cast the fly. It is mainly the action of the rod top section that bends when the line is cast forwards and backwards that propels the fly through the air. The fisherman uses his arm to pivot the rod in the forward and backward cast.

Stiffnessis define as "Tip Weight(grams) divided by Tip Deflection(inches) For example if 18 grams moved the tip three inches the stiffness is 18/3 = 8 grams per inch. This translates to a very stiff heavy rod about the size used in heavy duty saltwater flyfishing.

There has been a strong move over the last 15 years or so to low weight yet powerful rods that cast ASTM lines of 1 weight or less. These rods, pioneered by The Orvis Company, for all their delicate appearance are very strong. In recent years Orvis have introduced their Flex system for rating rods of different weights.

Full-Flex: 2.5 - 5.5

These Orvis rods are best suited to short delicate sight casting. Used with fine tippets to catch wary fish at these close ranges in clear water. The full flex of the rod absorbs the shock of a sudden take.

Mid Flex: 6.0 - 9.0

Rods with the mid flex rating have excellent performance over a wide range of casting conditions and styles. The combination of a stong butt section and medium flex for easy casting give very good tippet protection against breaking on the strike. This kind of action will suit most flyfishers on most occasions.

Tip Flex: 9.5 - 12.5

This range of rods is better used in long range casting where it's impotant to get high line speeds as when double-hauling a fly line. The butt section is strong on higher line weights to help land that "big one" more easily.

For the newcomer to flyfishing a rod of between 4 and 6 weight is ideal unless all fishing was to be done on small streams when a 3 or 4 weight would be a good choice.

How Long Should the Fly Rod Be?

There is no hard and fast rule except to say that the longer a rod is the chances are it will cast further. For still water fishing a rod of 9 ft length is a good choice whilst for small streams a shorter rod of say 7 feet would be a good choice. It is rarely necessary to go above 9 feet in choosing a fly rod for trout. One exception might be when fishing Irish and Scottish Loughs from a boat driftng downwind... a technique known "Lough Style".

What are Typical Fly Rod Prices?

There is a massive price range and it can be difficult to make a rational decision. You can get a fly rod for less than $100 easily but if you think you are going to take flyfishing seriously and assuming you can afford it then buy a rod from one of the well known manufacturers. Many of them these days provide an uncondional guarantee against breakage. A good quality beginner's rod from R L Winston while the top of the range from the same company costs well over $600. Sage range of fly-fishing rods also go from $199 to over $600.