http://www.willowford.net/0822101402.jpg Dorber's new Ultrawave Blank
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http://www.willowford.net/0822101402.jpg Dorber's new Ultrawave Blank
The Ladyfisher and I had the great pleasure of having one of these rods sent to us last summer. We used it on the spring creek and my nephew fished the Yellowstone and some of the waters in Yellowstone National Park with it. It's an interesting concept. Great power. It will be interesting to see how anglers react to the radical design.
The Chronicler
I cast a prototype along with a good friend and rod-builder at the dorber shop in flippin a few years ago. We were pretty amazed with the shooting power of the rod. And we put it through some accuracy tests and didn't see anything missing there.
Last year when Kenny & I were down to the Sow bug we went over to Dorber to visit Ray & Jeff. I had been told of the new Wave rod. Ray had one of the new prototypes that we took out and lawn cast. Kenny purchased a blank. It arrived shortly after we got back to the Ranch. Kenny has fished his several times and it is a cannon. He allowed all the contestants of the distance casting down at Lowell ID FI to cast it this past Sept, after the competition was over. Everyone cast it at least 25' farther than they had cast during the competition. I have a new blank on my bench at this time. Is not completed yet.
The reason nothing has been written about it yet is because Ray just recently completed the patent on it. It is now complete.
The only place you can get them is from Dorber who are Sponsors here on FAOL. We will be writing more on this new rod shortly.
http://www.dorber.com/UltraWave.html
The extra 25' was consistent with both of our experience, too, Denny. Casting greater distance isn't really a big deal to me. But having one of these in an 8wt and 10wt for the windy days on the saltwater would probably be cool just because of the extra energy transfer from the double rod load action. I'm also wondering of they're going to make them in 10+ wt models for tarpon, etc. and the possibility of 2-handed rods. An 11-12' Wave switch rod with a shooting head could make an awesome surf combo for overhead 2-handed casting!
One of the comments nephew Tom Travis made after casting the rod extensively was that it should be a very effective tool in teaching the Wounded Warriors to cast - less effort, more power. That gets my attention!
Actually, LF, that's sort of how I got peripherally involved in the R&D of the rod. Ray actually came to me about another distance casting rod he designed with the goal of creating a line shooting machine that would not require you to aerialize/carry much line. He thought it might be good for folks in wheelchairs and such. That was a straight stick with a bunch of guides on it to take the bellies out of the fly line during shooting. It was effective, but not anything earth-shaking. Several months later, he hands me this wavy rod with a ton of guides taped on it. LOL That was the UltraWave prototype. If you keep the reel lined up with your target and your forearm, it is a rocket launcher that will increase your shooting distance by about 20% (give or take a bit) with no more energy expended.
I have personally seen good distance casters launch 150 ft casts with it. In fact, someone you and I both know hit me in the back of the head with the leader butt/line tip doing just that at an event awhile back.
"I have personally seen good distance casters launch 150 ft casts with it. In fact, someone you and I both know hit me in the back of the head with the leader butt/line tip doing just that at an event awhile back.[/QUOTE]
Wow!!.... 150ft. with what kind of fly line design? Normal WF or DT. Sorry, I'm a little skeptical.
I was able to cast the one Denny had and it was definitely amusing. I would be interested in putting one through the ringers.
Being a little skeptical is healthy and to be expected. But I'm talking about GOOD distance casters - guys who can cast 110-120' or more. To the best of my knowledge, the lines have generally been WF's of various make and model. And when I got hit in the hat by my friend, I was pretty shocked myself!