FLYMPH FORUM

This is a fascinating thread.

I take the point about the longer length rod for fishing these wet flies, but it screams tenkara to me. As a small stream fisher myself, a two-hander, 12 ft plus rods just takes all the grace out of it for me....

Andrew.

Andrew,
I haven't read this thread for a while now and I even forgot to reply to Aaron.
Traditionally in the 1800's they use very long rods and two handed at that. It was Stewart who bought the rod length down and advocated fishing spiders upstream (albeit others were probably doing it before the wrote his book). Even Stewart talked about 12' rods (remember they were 16' brutes up to then) and he liked stiff rods. Now stiff today would be rigid compared to the type of rods he uses.
In my recent book I wrote about using 10' rods instead of shorter rods. The reason for this was to make sure that the flies were away from the angler as an improved technique. I have also advocated using rods that are right for the job in respect of stream size. I also advocate longer than normal leaders.For example:

I have spent a lot of time looking for a rod that had the right action. I eventually found this in the Maxia rod range from Modern Flies (you will see these on my website). I also looked at the Tenkara rods but in my opinion they limited the overall use of spiders, especially if you need to fish them downstream which from time to time you do. The 10' 2wt and the 10'4" 3wt Maxia rods are admirably suitable to traditional soft hackled fishing.

Aaron,
To answer your query, no I do not keep my leaders on spools as I am constantly changing flies etc. Here is a schematic of what I was advocating. And I do keep my dropper short, as did Stewart. I like them to be 4" to minimise them wrapping around the leader:

Cheers and tight lines for the start of the season.

flyfishwithme wrote:Andrew,
Even Stewart talked about 12' rods (remember they were 16' brutes up to then) and he liked stiff rods. Now stiff today would be rigid compared to the type of rods he uses.

He recommended a ten foot rod:

A light still single-handed rod, about ten feet long, will be amply sufficient for most waters.

He then goes on to argue that 6 foot rod isn't much of a disadvantage compared to 12 foot rod, and concludes with:

Even with a rod of nine feet we very rarely have occasion to exert its casting powers to their full extent.

In the recently-publised paperback edition of The Practical Angler, there's a photograph of Stewart with his gear. From the looks of his rod, when he said stiff, he really meant it. The rod looks like it would make a pretty good wading staff.

Great to see you here again, Mike.

Tight Lines to you.

w

William - Unfortunately Mike has not come back. This is a continuation of the old thread. Hopefully Mike will check back one of these days...

Yeah, It was kindly pointed out to me that I had overlooked the date of the post. It's still nice to read one of his posts. That dude was verbose.

w

Hi Philip, thanks for the info - very interesting.

flyfishwithme wrote:The 10' 2wt and the 10'4" 3wt Maxia rods are admirably suitable to traditional soft hackled fishing.

That 10'4" 3 wt really looks the business!

Unfortunately I have a rod in that price bracket (A Scot G2 but at 8'4") and can't afford another right now!

See what stories I can sell as a result of my Irish trip - if I make enough I'll pop up for one and a day where you can show me how to use it!

Andrew
ps - I was looking to the Streamflex 10' #4 weight, but you've got me thinking now...

flyfishwithme wrote:Aaron,
To answer your query, no I do not keep my leaders on spools as I am constantly changing flies etc. Here is a schematic of what I was advocating. And I do keep my dropper short, as did Stewart. I like them to be 4" to minimise them wrapping around the leader:

Cheers and tight lines for the start of the season.

Tight lines back to you.

I've done more or less the same as your schema with the exception that I "tie" the dropper to the line using either an improved clinch or improved trilene and then slide it against the knot below. The loop you use my well be faster depending on tying speed and it would certainly be easier to remove all materials when the dropper was too short to use--four or five dropper changes can sure leave a mess.

Aaron