Slow v. Fast

[overmywaders]

The standardization discussion used some words we often use in talking of rod actions, for example "slow" and "fast". Inevitably many believe that faster means farther casts, which is not necessarily true, nor does high line speed mean good casting for all types of fishing.

"My favorite rod for fishing with micros is the 7.5 - foot, 2.5 ounce Paul Young Perfectionaist calibered for a 4-weight line. There are other bamboos just as suitable, but what I want is a rod with a slow casting cycle, so I can 'paint' the fly on target. The current preoccupation with speed-of-recovery in space age materials, boron and graphite, is in one sense mis-leading: it's fabulous when you need to get a fly out fast in front of a cruising tarpon, or bang a Polar Shrimp at a far-off steelhead, but when trout are rising in pockets of silky water between weed sweepers, the last thing I want in a rod is speed. Teacup accuracy with a controlled turnover at distances up to 40 feet is much more realistic."
from "McClane's Angling World" by A.J. McClane (1986 E.P. Dutton, N.Y.)

Sometimes slow rods are optimum. Joe Brooks always advocated slow rods for saltwater fishing with large flies or for bass-bugging; because a slow rod can pull more sunken line into a backcast than a faster rod, and slower rods require less false-casting.

For my stream fishing I favor either slow cane rods or medium action, never fast. Fast actions don't give me the leisure I require to plan casts, wiggle in some slack, rollcast, or reduce falsecasting. Just my preference -- what is yours?

[oyster]

For trout fishing I much prefer a medium action cane rod. I like to think of trout fishing more like tossing darts than hurling a javelin. Rarely is distance the issue, but instead things like accuracy, line control, slack line casts, line mending and drift rate, roll casting, etc. tend to be what really matters. Of course in the hands of a skilled caster even a full flexing rod can throw a tight and fast loop further than is necessary in most situations. If I'm throwing clousers off the beach go ahead and give me the hyper fast carbo-cannon of the day (preferably with the unconditional warranty!) but trout rods should be designed for realistic trout fishing.

Bill O.


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www.oysterbamboo.com

[J Castwell]

How nice Bill,,,very well put.

[Marco]

Whe I hear the terms "fast" or "slow", my eyes glaze over. They mean nothing to me. Too vague, general,subjective and absolutely meaningless to me. Reed, when you mention you prefer "slow cane rods to medium action" what rod/s should I use to exactly duplicate your scenario??


Mark

[overmywaders]

Marco,

Use instead the following terms from F.E. Thomas:
[url=http://overmywaders.com/images/large/Thomas39F&S.jpg:f0d3a]F.E. Thomas Ad[/url:f0d3a]

I would consider his Soft Wet Fly Action to be slow and his Medium Dry Fly Action to be fast.

See http://www.uwm.edu/~stetzer/Tapers/hexrod-archive.html in the F.E. Thomas tapers the 8'3pc 4wt Special for a Moderate Wet Fly and then compare the taper to the 8' 3pc 5wt which is a Medium Dry Fly.

[edited because BB doesn't handle img tag properly]