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GOING AROUND AGAIN
I know intellectually that things go in cycles, the weather, the economy, styles of clothing and how many feet of shoreline are exposed on the Great Lakes. Of course there are various fads, hot cars, sports which seem to grab the attention of the public, and there are certain films which strike a chord, music of one sort or another. Give it a few years and it comes back around.
More things change, the more things stay the same!
Just how much difference is there in the fishing rods of yesterday, in comparison to those sold today?
They all have a handle, reel seat, and striping/snake/tip-top guide. You have the same choice in action, you have more options as to materials used in the fishing rods construction.
Same applies to the reels that you put on the fishing rods. They still have the same functions, storage of fishing line, a handle to wind the fishing line back in, and some sort of brake mechanism to adjust the drag on the line (as it comes off the reel).
Lines are still lines, and silk for the most part has been replace with nylon, and PVC materials.
Hooks are hooks and always will be.
I started fly fishing with a Cortland CL Series (6 weight) two piece 9 foot fly rod, cost me a $100 back in 1995 and I still fish with it.
All the way home from the Fish-In I was muttering...Gotta Get A Gatti. I was smitten just like that frog in the story book the "Wind in the Willows"!
It is all Denna's fault that I got hooked on a Italian Fly Rod by Gatti, after testing Denna's Gatti at the 1999 South Dakota Fish-In. I knew that I could not afford a store bought Gatti (they went for $500 back then) but I knew that I just might be able to build my own Gatti Fly Rod for half the cost. Not only build it for half the cost but make it even better than the store bought version. French Style Reel Seat w/ Lake Superior Agent Reel Seat Cap. Burled Cork Handle. Titanium/Nitrite stripping/snake/tip-top guides.
The blank was a sapphire blue with silver metallic flakes. So I found a light cornflower blue guide wrapping thread that would match the color of the rod blank, if I did not use color protector solution before applying the epoxy....
Total Cost $250, then there was the part where I broke the tip section of the 3 piece rod blank when wrapping the guides, and a new tip costs $50, but the shipment from Italy (where Gatti) are manufactured was $70, and the cost of the International Money Order was $30...
So I ordered two tips, and that way cut the cost of replacing the tip section in half, with a spare tip if it every happened again.
After all was said and done, I could not put just any reel on this "Lady Fisher", so I bougth a Teton.... and it has been heaven on earth anytime I have cast it out over the water.
The Gatti was like a magic wand in my hand, I could do no wrong, my casts went where I cast them, and today it is still the only 3 weight fly rod that I fish with.
You don't need the top of the line fly rod to go fishing, there are many out there that will do just fine, in most cost brackets. What you do have to checkout before you put down the money for the purchase, is to test the action of the rod blank. Find out how fare the rod blank bends, just have someone hold the tip of the fly rod below the tip-top, and gripping the handle apply load to to the fly rod blank.
Bends only a quarter of the rod length it is a Quick Tip Rod suitable for Dry Fly Presentation. Bends half way that is for flies with more wind Resistance in the cast or flies that absorb water weight from being fished (also helps when you are hooked onto a monster Pike, Muskie, Bass, Trout, Salmon/Steelhead) . Bends all the way to the handle grip, you got a wet fly rod the perfect wet fly rod. And it still has the name I place on the finished side of the rod blank....."Lady Fisher"!~Parnelli
PS: I could not have built this Gatti (my first attempt) without the articles by Al Campbell.....and the help of many others that helped me in this journey into rod building. Since then I have built two other fly rods both St. Croix Ultra (5wt and 7wt). I have also rebuilt and repaired many fly rods for friends and family.
Thanks Lady Fisher, for putting my thoughts into words.
All I can say is...AMEN, AMEN, AMEN. You are starting to see the same "price creep" working it's way into other types of equipment also. Now $150 for a casting rod is considered "low end". REALLY???
Great read! The most interesting point is just how much the availability of bamboo affected our sport. I think another sidebar is the VERY affordable chinese made cane rods. They prove that general cane rods "can" be affordable, if folks want them to be. They are cheaper than the entry level glass in many cases.
Fortunately for me I am an addict for the older unsanded Orvis rods. My last one being a purchase on Ebay for $66. Although I can appreciate the higher end rods when I cast them, my druthers for the older rods keep me in the sub$200 area for most of my "new" purchases. :^)
What I find amazing.....is how a company that makes a $150-250 machined alum disc drag fly reel....can't seem to make an honest $100 or less quality click-pawl machined alum reel? Doesn't make sense.
Just a thought. I think that many of the upper end manufacturers are getting priced out of the introductory rod market by big box retailers such as cabelas. While the big box retailers often get a bad name in this area they are often the way to go. It is now possible to get an introductory fly set up with a decent rod and reel that comes with a warranty from one of these retailers for around $100 which is much less than the average price that your article quoted for orvis rods. While it is too bad that the orvis, sage, and the other fly rod specialists have not made inroads into this market it makes sense when you think about the economy of scale. This was how I got my start in fly fishing and by being able to have some early success without a lot invested (when I didn't have a lot to invest). Now that I am actually a good enough caster to be able to tell the difference between fly rod actions I tend to be picky-er about my fly rod choices and willing to spend the money to get the results that I want. I don't foresee the big names in fly fishing changing this trend any time soon. However, there is a time and a place for all things and for the begginer that wants an inexpensive rod that still has decent performance and a warranty, cabelas may be the place rather than the local fly shop.
Just a different perspective on this discussion perhaps. Hopefully when the novices that have bought their rods at cabelas have learned to cast well enough to want a better rod the economy will have improved to the point that they will be able to visit the local fly shop.
Enjoyed the article and have many of the same concerns about rising prices. Just as note, I'm still fishing with my white WonderRod and it's not because I am too cheap to buy a new pole. I have a graphite rod and it just doesn't have the butt to put the screws to a big smallie in fast water. I have refinished the WonderRod many times and would hate to admit to how many times I have fallen while walking in heavy stuff...it just asks for more punishment. By the way, the rod cost $110 back in the early 70s so don't know what that would translate to these days but I am thinking that both graphite and boo rods would not be able to put up with the abuse that old classic has. Newer is better...only if you're on the retail or manufacturing end.
I haven't bought a "new" fly rod for quite a few years. Can't afford the new stuff anymore. I will buy a used rod now and then. Lately I have been buying older reels. I can get a fifties or sixties vintage click pawl reel for a fraction of the cost of a new "drag" model and have a better built reel.
Here is a past Reader's Cast by one of my favorite writer on FAOL... and the subject pertains to the subject of fly fishing gear and prices over the years..... ~Parnelli
The Stuff We Use
By Jim Clarke, UK
Rods, reels, flies and leaders. These are the basic equipment which no fly fisherman can do without. Everything else is embroidery. Or so many people would have us believe. There are those among us who are prepared to sing the praises of our forebears' lack of modern aids and to feel virtuous if they approach our sport in a more primitive manner than most of us would be prepared to do.
Many are the anglers who sing the praises of split cane rods, they (the anglers) exist in vast numbers, so perhaps they are not completely wrong. More of them later.
It is fashionable to long for a silk line, people pine for the sound of an audible check, I have even heard of a brotherhood who use gut casts (or leaders, to use the American term) and are prepared to carry wet boxes with damp felt leaves a la 19th century. This, I contend, is going many a mile too far. Progress will only be accepted as progress if the majority wish it.
This article was prompted by coming across an old Hardy cane rod in the back room of the business which used to be mine. The present owners allow me to wander around "as if I owned it still" and this was tucked in a corner with other junk. You will see that on this side of the Atlantic we don't have the same sentimental attachment to cane as exists in USA.
However - I was taught to fish with cane rods way back in the days of yore, I used Hardy rods all my formative years, my families company were Hardy dealers in the days when that carried some clout and exclusivity, days now long gone. Second-hand Hardys were common and I had the pleasure of trying out and using almost every rod Hardy made in the 50's and 60's. A few became favourites. The Halford Knockabout was a 9'6" dry fly rod, meaning a stiff action as opposed to an easy wet fly action, I fished one of these for a few years until long casting on reservoirs became my way of life when I transferred my affections to a Pope, 10 ft of super stiff split cane. Other models which remain in my mind with fondness are the J.J.H.Triumph, C.C.de France, Koh-i-Noor, Taupo and Perfection. The Triumph, named after J.J.Hardy, a casting champion, was 8'9" of sweet dry fly rod with snake rings instead of the more traditional full open bridge type, a light sliding reel seat on the cork in place of the popular heavy aluminium and in all regarded as state of the art lightweight, all singing, all dancing, super duper fly rod from the world's leading maker.
This was what I found among the junk!
The chaps who now run the business had grown up in the days when fibreglass was rapidly replacing cane (those old wooden things) and in turn giving way to graphite and really, cane rods mean nothing to them.
I picked the rod, in it's bag, from the junk corner, and took it out. The name, Triumph, leapt out at me and immediately transported me back thirty years. I went into the middle of the room and waggled, it as one does.
It felt strange, but somehow familiar. I asked if I could try it. The answer - "Take it away with you, we don't want it."
Next day I had found a #5 line and put it on a reel, took the rod down to the lake at the bottom of the garden and prepared to cast myself back in time.
IT WAS AWFUL.
This jewel of a rod, this epitome of the rodmaker's art, this thing of beauty was heavy and slow, oh so slow.
Somewhere from the dim recesses of my mind came the timing and movements needed to put a line onto the water. I found I needed a great deal more arm movement than I had used for the last ten years. It was a slow, very deliberate arm movement. Wrist was no good with this thing, wrist action ran out of arc before the line was aerialised satisfactorily. It had to be coaxed into reacting, and nursed into stopping at the end of the arc.
Fifteen yards was finally eased from the rod, a lot less than I once cast with a similar rod, but I had to be satisfied with that. I have been using graphite for twenty years and a Sage for seven, the difference is immense. My first rod was a greenheart, then came the years of cane to be followed by Hardy/Tarantino fibreglass. Each was the last word at the time but when graphite appeared, that was it! No going back.
Let us look at lines. Kingfisher silk lines were the norm when I started, with Hardy Corona lines the top of the range. We were happy with these, in our ignorance. Gladding made a few ripples when they introduced their Bubblet, a plastic line with a hole down the middle, and this in days when plastic was a novelty! However, the hole filled with water and the surface coating peeled off. Back to the drawing board.
Next to bat were Millwards with their Flymaster lines made of floating or sinking fibres which promised well. The problem soon surfaced, the coating was rubbery and wouldn't shoot, it seemed almost to stick to the rings. Failure. We carried on with our silk lines, greasing them, drying them at midday, hanging them up carefully on a drier at the end of the day and in the close season, and, inevitably, throwing them away when they got sticky and useless. Kingfisher would redress lines if requested, but even then it was labour intensive and uneconomical.
Then AirCel arrived!! Happy day!! We found these lines unbelievable. They floated forever, and if your line was pulled under by the current, up it popped further downstream. Magic. The makers said the lines didn't need to be dried after use, and even said you could practice on concrete and it would do no harm. We couldn't bring ourselves to do this but it gave one a lot of confidence in the wearing qualities of the line. Plastic lines have improved immeasurably since those early days, and once again - No going back.
Reels have not changed much over the years, except in weight and capacity, and these features were always possible, waiting only for demand to bring them out of the cupboard. I had a Hardy Perfect with silent drag in 1956 and it was an old reel then. It was a felt pad rather than a disc brake, but the advantages were there.
Casts have changed, how they have changed! When I left school and went into the business, we were still selling gut casts and points. The new-fangled nylon monofilament had just appeared and was greeted with some suspicion. This suspicion soon disappeared when the differences were realised. One could carry a spool of the stuff with you and take off as much as was needed. It didn't have to be soaked beforehand and didn't rot. Nowadays I use continuous tapes co-polymer casts tipped with fluorocarbon and cannot imagine anything better.
Flies have changed dramatically over the years. In the old days we still used the traditional trout flies with wing, hackle, tail and perfectly tied body, in the patterns that had existed for generations. Suddenly we had nymphs, odd looking things with shell backs and bunches of hackle at the sides where no hackle had any right to be, and so sparsely dressed as to look almost insubstantial. We were used to lots of hackle and full wings over a fairly robust body! But, they caught fish and suddenly change was afoot. Flies have never looked back.
I, for one, would never consider going back in retrograde steps to cane rods, silk lines, great heavy reels with little or no room for backing and gut casts. Heaven forbid! ~ Jim Clarke
I am a recent convert to fly fishing and I would hate to guess how much money I have spent. However, I consider the money as fair payment for the hours of enjoyment tying flies, thinking about fly fishing, traveling to and from and actually fishing. I tell people that catching fish is coincidental to fly fishing (I know, I shouldn't tell lies) but the essence of fly fishing is the experience and the camaraderie I have had here (on this BBS) and with a select group of fishing friends.
Today, while her grandmother took our granddaughter to play in the park, I tried to teach our daughter how to cast. She had told her mother that I had offered to show everyone but her, my fly fishing "stuff" and she was the only one actually interested. Well, today, we did a little 10 o’clock 2 o’clock and I gave her a cheap (W******t) fly rod and reel to practice with. Perhaps my best fishing buddy was standing there watching the whole time.
How much is that worth… in dollars?