Jimmy, You are correct. THe great threads we used to have are not here any more, and neither are the responses. We had the 'spline vs spine', the IOFF and the board members of the IOFF, the Whiting co-op swaps, and great threads on just about everything. We wore it out sometimes. But the newbies kept it fresh and we had fun, even when you and I pulled each others chains.
I fish with bamboo, graphite, and boron rods. If I lived where the wind wasn't such a big factor, I'd love to fish bamboo more often. But I live in Wyoming. What we consider a 'breezy' day others wouldn't think of flyfishing in. So I fish graphite mostly. I try lots of rods out at shows and my favorite in trout class is Loomis, and for saltwater it's Winston and Able in the 3-pc boron-butt models. Casting is less important in big-game fishing than is fighting and lifting ability, but a rod needs to do both equally well. My trout rods throw very tight loops that the wind has a hard time getting ahold of. THis is a must for delivering dries at a distance and rolling over the leader for good presentation. A weight-forward line matched to casting style (not the rod) is necessary to get the highest energy into a cast. But a change needs to be made for casting weighted nymphs and wets with split-shots in front. A tight cast will get one beaned on the head or a chipped rod from a tailing loop. Here I use an 8-9 wt. boron rod that has a slower action and a bigger loop. I like my bamboo for fishing calm mountain lakes where I can let the loop form gracefully with the energy of the rod. THe line doesn't 'shoot' with energy like my graphites, but the line is also balanced differently for the rod's energy. DonO ----- Original Message ----- From: Jimmy D. Moore To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:13 PM Subject: [VFB] On Bamboo vs Graphite, etc. Fly Rods Hey Gang, how bout an old fashioned VFB/FFW discussion? One like we used to have on "spine vs spline" and "furled vs mono" leaders. Those continued for days, until everyone had their say. Are you partial to bamboo or had you druther fish with graphite, boron, etc. I'm a bamboo man myself because I get more feel of what's going on down my fly line and even the fly and with the fish. The smoothness with which a bamboo rod casts compares to sipping good scotch or sour mash. To enter this discussion you must have fished a bamboo rod. If you haven't, shame on you! The quotes below refer to fiberglass fly rods, but by substituting graphite, etc. where glass appears the rest will be pretty much the same. Sparse Grey hackle said this about glass.. " Not untill someone plays a glass stradivariius in Carnege Hall will I fish glass." Pretty strong stuff! OK, why Bamboo? Why Graphite, etc.? You tell us. I must confess, I do fish graphite on occassion. "As to glass or bamboo, I've always preferred bamboo and am still considered a holdout. I've fished with many glass rods that I've designed myself for the manufacturers, so one would think that I've arrived at the perfect rod at least for myself. Not so.. When I think glass, I unconsciously begin to push hard and slash at the water, fighting the elements. Bamboo, on the other hand, sets me calm and quiet, and I find that if I "feel" the rod and almost go along with what it wants to do with the particular rig that I have attached to the line at the moment, my efforts are more than rewarded." "Tactics on Trout" by Ray Ovington "In other words, with a glass rod, which is round, the tool accentuates casting errors by heading the motion in the direction of the error. ... With bamboo, on the other hand, the construction of sides tends to keep the motion going more in a straight back-and-forth pattern." "In the second place, bamboo is solid and fiberglass is hollow. This gives a cane rod more sensitivity and feel. If your rod is transmitting casts, fish or whatever through its whole diameter, it is going to tell more of the "story" than if the impulses are being carried only through the shell." "Fly Tackle" by Harmon Henkin Tight Lines, JIMMY D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.15.30/1127 - Release Date: 11/12/2007 9:19 PM
