Flyrod with spinning reel

[fishyfranky_redux]

"The place where I bought my flys didn't add weight to them."

but you just said you added weight

Yeah, normally a stone fly nymph would have lead wrapped around the shank but these ones didn't. So I had to add a few shots instead.

Guess I'm saying that if you short-line nymph with the spinning gear, you don't need the casting bubble.

[Bear742]

"There is nothing new under the Sun."

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I am writing this because we have come full circle.

This topic makes me smile, no laugh, as do posts asking the inverse, if you can make a fly rod out of a spinning rod blank. The first serious spinning rod I got around 1955 was based on a fiberglass fly rod blank. Both spinning and hollow glass were in their infancy in the US. At the age of 13, I was ready to dump the primative spin casting outfit I had for something better. We purchased the kit to build an Erne St. Claire Wavecaster "Parabolic Action" spinning rod. The heart of the kit was a three piece 8.5 ft., HDH or D hollow glass fly rod blank. The but section was cut down to about 12-14 inches so that the final assembled rod was about 6'9". This produced a nice light action spinning rod for lures from 1/16 to 3/8 oz and line weights from 4-8#. The Wavecaster was a great rod. Erne later changed his design to use a 2 piece 8.5 ft rod so that all the guides could be mounted on the tip section with the handle built on the shorter but section for a total rod length of 7 ft.

Since spinning was new there were not a lot of rods specifically for spinning though my great uncle had a stunning 7' bamboo spinning rod (Orvis?). Therefore, for a short time, catalogues and literature featured a lot of adapters which would allow one to use a fly rod or casting rod with a spinning reel.

BTW that HDH translates to DT6. Therefore I assume you can make a light spinning rod on today's 6 wt blank. Move up and down the scale for a heavier or lighter action.

So in the end you certainly could use a fly blank for building a spinning rod. But, why would you with so many good spinning blanks out there and with some in the 8-10 ft length range? No matter what, a spinning reel on a rod built as a fly rod is a Rube Goldberg affair at best. This is like a combo rod which serves two purposes though it does not do either one very well.

[littlebrook]

Wow! Talk about deja vu!
Thanks for the memories Mike. I too built an Erne rod many, many years ago. Enjoyed it so much in the warmwater I was limited to, that I put together several more for family and friends. Mine even had the Alcedo Micron loaded with 4 lb. Stren. Caught lots of bass and bluegills in lakes near Detroit.
Probably not a good idea for today. I doubt that Erne's "Wave Action" cast would work with the much stiffer graphite blanks in use today. That "Wave Action" was little more than a snap of the wrist that sent a wave down the length of the rod and shot the lure off the rod tip.
Again, thanks for the memories.

Bill

[Bear742]

"Again, thanks for the memories."

You are welcome, Bill. I still have the Wavecaster and the Micron. The soul of the first Wavecaster passsed into the one I have now when I took the high profile guides off of it and used them to reincarnate the rod on a 3 piece,8.5 ft, HDH or D, Herter's Browntone Precision Fiberglass blank cut down to 6'9".

I still use the Micron once in a while though, with my current interest in Fly Fishing as much as possible, that is not a lot. The rod is retired. I realized that, though it always made a bluegill feel like a whale, I wanted to catch the whale. That was not the rod to use.

I am not sure if the 50s were transition years for fishing or transition years for me. Either way I want to write these stories down to share them with others besides those I fish with. I will use a figure because it is hard to say directly. When I look at the horizon, it is closer than it was before. So , while it still can be described as pretty far away, I want to get this done.

[ducksterman]

Mike, I hope you do...please enjoy the journey

[CM_Stewart]

If it is a possibility what should I be looking for in a flyrod

Look for a flyrod you can borrow so you can actually try it with the flies you intend to use before buying something you might not like. I suspect you'll be able to cast clousers (lead eye, not beadchain) and conehead buggers, but maybe not well enough to satisfy you. If you like the length of the fly rod but don't like the location of the reel seat, there are long ultralight spinning rods (noodle and crappie rods) that might work better for you.