HAVING FUN YET? (Or is fast better?)

February 21, 2011

There has been a string of comments recently on our Bulletin Board about a new fly rod. No this one really is new, as is radical. 

How can you do that? Ray Bauer of Global dorbeR, the designer and builder of the rod, called the Ultra Wave, built a rod with a curve/wave and then put an abundance of guides on the rod to keep the line from wandering and or slapping on the rod which has been known to slow a moving line down. The curve/wave is intended to take some of the work out of casting and make it less work and more fun.

Ray will be the first to tell you it has been a horrendous effort to produce this phase of the rod (number fifteen I think) and he feels it is still a work in progress.

My husband and I have both played with the Ultra Wave. It currently is in Montana and we won’t get back there until mid-April to physically work with it again. Trav fished it on the Spring creek. Nephew Tom Travis had it for a few days took it to Yellowstone National Park and fished it up there as well as on the Yellowstone River. One of the Wounded Warriors had an opportunity to cast it as well on a trip with Tom and thought it was much easier to cast than ‘normal’ rods.

Neither Trav nor I have caught a fish on the rod, and we need to know how the rod responds under those conditions as well. So we have our work cut out for us. If you have been following the string on those rods, stay tuned.

That said: fly rods are a VERY personal matter. What I love you may hate. My injured right shoulder gives me fits and restricts what I can comfortably do with a rod. My days of fishing bamboo are probably over - the rods are just too heavy.

The best cane rod I have is a five weight Ron Kusse. Half an hour and I’m done in. Perhaps if the rod was a three weight I could last longer, but here you can see the problem. When do we sacrifice our comfort for the sake of saying we fish a particular rod. I’m tearing up my shoulder but I’m fishing bamboo.

Having fun yet?

I like nice rods, including some very nice older rods. One of my favorites has to be fifteen years old. Probably not top of the line at this point but when it was introduced it blew the socks off some people who thought they knew a lot about fly rods. I’m referring to a Gatti, (made in Italy.) In fact Trav and I were discussing a rod which I have never fished, a Hardy Perfection. My late husband JC bought it back when Cortland was the Hardy distributor. I have cast it, it is very slow, fiberglass and extremely smooth. How does it fish? I’ll let you know this spring after I’ve had a chance to play with it.

I think over all I prefer a slower rod - there are times of course when a fast rod probably is called for. Fishing saltwater with wind problems or with larger flies makes sense, and anywhere where long casts are required. But for the most part we fish distances from twenty-five to maybe forty feet and fast rods just are necessary.

You may prefer one, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.

The whole fly fishing world has sort of imploded, at least the manufactures of rods. Everything has to be faster, stiffer with ‘space age technology,’ and in turn more expensive too. Well, not really. Somewhere someone forgot the whole endeavor is supposed to be fun.

If you don’t really like the rod you are casting maybe it is time to start shopping around. Ask to try your buddies’ rods. There will be some fly fishing shows coming up this spring; most will have various rod sellers. Try some rods. Find one which feels good in your hand and casts enough line to handle your particular fishing situations. You don’t have to throw the whole line. Really.

Having fun yet? You should be!

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