How Do You Know What Weight Line?

Other than the obvious, which should never been overlooked, of trying different line until you find one you like, how do you know what weight line to use on a rod made from an unmarked blank?

Other than the obvious there is a gizmo called a "defection board". I've not seen one in many years but it is a huge (perhaps 4 X 8') board with a devise to hold the rod handle on one side and graduated markings on the other. A specific amount of weight is applied to the rod tip. The rods line weight is determined by what marking the weight takes the rod tip to.

On some old rods the line weight is designated by letters instead of actual line weight markings. Check to be sure there is not a 3 or more letter marking somewhere on the lower part of the rod. Here is a conversion table

http://www.orvis.com/intro.aspx?subject=2875

Uncle Jesse,

Bring it to Tullahoma,TN and I have a good rod building friend of mine that has the "deflection board" mentioned mounted on his wall and he will be able to tell you what line to use and then we can take it fishing.

Thanks for the offer Warren, I don't know if I am going to be able to make the long planned Tullahoma/Nashville trip anytime soon or not. I have a much more important one I need to make to south Louisiana to see my mother, brother and sister before long. While fate has been a tease this year with good looking business opportunities that disappeared in front of my eyes, I have good hope of another that has come up recently.

I have two rods, one I bought that did not have a weight number on it. It works pretty well, considering my abilities, with a 3 or 4 wt. line. But I have an old fiberglass spinning rod that I am planning on converting to a fly rod about 6.5 ft long. It has a very slow top section. I got in the yard with a cheap old reel I had that had an unmarked line on it and it case pretty well, I think the line may have been a little heavy for it. The thing I like was it roll cast really well. I have some 5, 6, 4 and 3 wt lines I can try on it. It currently has spinning guides on it, I taped some addition guides for it to have enought to support the line. It will be something to play with this fall and winter in my cave.

You can do it yourself, Jesse. Go to http://www.common-cents.info/ and read through it. The first section or two will get you very close. Dr Hanneman goes much farther with it if you want to go there, but the basic stuff is in those first sections. He is also a member on this board. The system works and is accurate as well as easy to do. I measure all fo the bamboo rebuilds I do so folks have some idea of what line to start with.

Uncle Jesse

All you want to know is right here. Sorry didn't see Kevin's post

http://www.common-cents.info/CCS_basic_Layout_1.pdf

A little tip on the CCS.....which you may not need. Perhaps I am the only one to make this mistake. To calculate the distance to bend the rod tip toward the floor....I used the length of the rod from the tip to where it is supported....ie at the end of the grip. Thinking that I am wanting to find the bend in the rod....and the supported part is not bending. Wrong. You use the entire length of the rod when calculating......even though about a foot of it is supported by something as you go to bend it. If it is an 8' rod you use 96" to make your calculation.

When I first did it I made the mistake of using only the part of the rod non supported thinking that is all that is going to bend downward. I outsmarted myself.....again. For me.....outsmarting myself is not all that hard to do.

Anywhoooo....just warning you of my mistake so maybe you can get it right. You do it the way I DID the first time you will get all the numbers to compare to the chart. But it is a totally wrong result. You use the total length of the rod to make the calculations.

just fyi....a simple error that was easy to slip into. so letting you know about another one of my failures.

JIm

Keep in mind, whether you measure a rod's power via the CCS or just go out in the yard and cast a bunch of different lines, generally older rods had significantly less power than many modern rods (except the ones specifically marketed as "retro"). Most fiberglass or early graphite rods that were labeled 6wts. , for example, tend to have about the same amount of power (ERN in the CCS) as most modern 4wts. All that means is that we collectively, as anglers, have started preferring more power than earlier anglers. Of course it doesn't mean you can't cast and fish great with less power, it's just a matter of preference. Since I tend to prefer the feel of casting and fishing less powerful rods, but enjoy the lightness of modern graphite, my personal favorite rodbuilidng strategy is to use modern 3, 4, and 5 wt. blanks to build rods that I intend to fish with 5, 6, and 7 wt. lines. Or 0, 1, and 2wts. to fish 2, 3, and 4 wt. lines. You get the idea. Works great for me. I also typically use 4 or 5 different line weights on the same rod, in different situations depending on what I'm trying to do with it. It's just a tool, make it work for you, not the other way around. We've been brainwashed by rod companies.