+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 4 of 4

Thread: HAVING FUN YET? (Or is fast better?) - Ladyfisher - February 21, 2011

Hybrid View

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Bothell, WA, USA
    Posts
    2,122
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default HAVING FUN YET? (Or is fast better?) - Ladyfisher - February 21, 2011

    HAVING FUN YET? (Or is fast better?)

    There has been a string of comments recently on our Bulletin Board about a new fly rod. No this one really is new, as is radical.*

    How can you do that? Ray Bauer of Global dorbeR, the designer and builder of the rod, called the Ultra Wave, built a rod with a curve/wave and then put an abundance of guides on the rod to keep the line from wandering and or slapping on the rod which has been known to slow a moving line down. The curve/wave is intended to take some of the work out of casting and make it less work and more fun.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Carmel, ME USA
    Posts
    3,685

    Default

    Well said, Dee, as always. One of the things I like about the Fish-Ins is test casting everyone elses gear. It's nothing to have a $29 Wal-Mart special thrust in your hands followed by a $3000 bamboo rod. At one Central Washington Fish-In my lovely wife was handed several bamboo rods to try out (I'll get you for that, Z.). She cast quads and hexes, rods from Kusse, Taylor and finally a rod made by the late John Channer. She said that the hair stood up on her arms when she cast the Channer. That was the rod for her, and it's the rod I ordered for her (and one later for myself because it is a sweet rod).

    I think any fishing gear is subjective and opting for one over another is a very personal choice.

    Aren't we glad there are so many choices.

    By the way, we're not having fun, we're having a ball.

    REE
    Happiness is wading boots that never have a chance to dry out.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Portage, PA
    Posts
    2,895

    Default

    Nice article, Ladyfisher. I've cast cheap rods that felt better to me than a $500 rod. I think rods are way too fast. A moderate flex rod is plenty for casting the 25 to 40 feet that most of us fish. By the way, REE said it best, fishing gear is a subjective choice.
    Bruce

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    White Bear Lake MN
    Posts
    1,054

    Default Few Bad Fly Rods, Plenty of Bad Fly Rod Handle Grips

    I have a Gatti! I caught the "Gatti Bug", when I attended the 1999 Black Hills Fish-In, and got to cast "LadyFisher's" Gatti 3 wt. For the rest of the Fish-In, all I kept muttering is "Gotta Get A Gatti, Gotta Get A Gatti, ....."

    With the help of "LadyFisher", I got a Gatti 3 wt blank, and built my 1st fly rod, that how bad I had the "Gatti Bug"! I got to cast "LadyFisher's" Gatti, and it was one of those magical moments. The rain clouds parted, a bright beam of sunlight shined down on the spot I where I was standing, the heavenly chorus started to sing, and the metallic sapphire blue rods coating lite up.... The casting of the fly rod was as if the rod did all the work, and all I had to do was wave my arm....

    Playing sports all of my life, and being a "Switch Pitcher" in Fast Pitch Soft Ball, and a Switch Hitter at the plate, I knew the importance of the diameter of the bats handle grip diameter. Same with my golf clubs, my hockey stick, and my tennis racket. Every tool or object that I have to use my hands, needs to fit my hand grip shape and size....to get the best results, and no muscle or tendon fatigue...

    The wrong diameter size handle grip on a fly rod, will cause muscle and tendon fatigue, tendinitis in your elbow and shoulder, causing you to shut-down your fly fishing season. It happen to me, when I first took up fly fishing in 1995.

    So when I finally got my Gatti (FRC model) shipped to me, I spent 6 long months working everything out before I started to build my own Gatti. And during that time, I had to address the problem of what was my hand grip size, and shape, among the other aspects of the fly rod that I was about to build as my first attempt at building a fly rod, using Al Campbell's 12-Part "Building a Graphite Fly Rod" Series! http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/graphite/

    And from that I wrote an article on Custom Handle Grips (size and shape) http://www.flyanglersonline.com/feat...customgrip.php

    Most of the trouble in a fly rod is not in the fly rod blank, it is in the handle size and diameter. All commercially sold fly rods come with one handle grip size and shape, and 99% of fly anglers will not get the performance from the fly rod that they could have because of the handle grip.

    If your fly rod handle grip does not match your hand grip diameter and shape, the connection between you and the fly rod will lessen your casting abilities with that fly rod. It is not the rod, but the handle grip causing the troubles.....

    The article I wrote was somewhat childish when I reviewed it years later, but the principle of the article still stand. I even had a Fly Fishing Group in Texas, who were creating a book for all Fly Fishing Instructors, wanting to use my article. Why! Because no one had ever addressed the issue in rod building and rod design of matching the hand to the handle...

    I can cast any weight of fly rod from 1 wt up to a 15 weight, the arm is only controls the direction of the cast, the start and stop of the cast. The cast is cause by the body motion, similar to to a trebuchet, where the body's weight delivers the energy to the cast, with the rocking motion of the feet... All of my handles grips are now the same size and diameter, and I never have to worry again about throwing my arm joints out....

    The 3 weight FRC Gatti is still my favorite fly rod for fishing trout and panfish. ~Parnelli
    Last edited by Steven McGarthwaite; 02-21-2011 at 04:00 PM.

+ Reply to Thread

Similar Threads

  1. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING - Ladyfisher - February 28, 2011
    By rtidd in forum Readers Voice
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 03-02-2011, 09:12 PM
  2. MULLYGRUBS - Ladyfisher - February 7, 2011
    By rtidd in forum Readers Voice
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 02-08-2011, 07:17 PM
  3. FAVORITE PLACE? - Ladyfisher - February 15, 2010
    By rtidd in forum Readers Voice
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 02-15-2010, 07:33 PM
  4. FLY FISHERS ALL - Ladyfisher - February 8, 2010
    By rtidd in forum Readers Voice
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-14-2010, 11:47 AM
  5. BUT HOW? - Ladyfisher - February 1, 2010
    By rtidd in forum Readers Voice
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 02-03-2010, 07:31 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts