Question on the position of the reel seat and handle on fly rods

[Steven McGarthwaite]

Just a thought on why "Fly Rods" always have the reel seat behind the handle grip on fly rods....

What would happen if the reel seat was in front of the handle grip? How would that effect the action of the cast? How would that effect the balance of the fly rod?

This does seem to effect anglers using "Bait Cast", or "Spin Cast" fishing rods....!

I was thinking, would not having the reel seat in front of the handle grip, help to improve stripping of the line off the reel, improve the casting distance?

Just a thought!

~Parnelli

[kbproctor]

Tape one in front of your grip and see what it does for balance. Or mount a fly reel on a spinning rod. The guides would be off, but it should still cast, sort of. Distance depends more on line flow line being matched to the rod than balance so I doubt it would make any difference as to distance.

[hardhat]

It has more to do with technique of the cast and control of the line drag.

[kbproctor]

It has more to do with technique of the cast and control of the line drag.

Yep. Gotta have that, too, but re-read my statement. I said that distance depends on line flow more than balance. I did not discount any other factors. Good line flow means that good technique will only work better.

[NewTyer 1]

If you put the reel in front, it would make the rod front heavy and not only take a toll on you arm and wrist but, I would imagine it would drive your loop downward and make your line hit the water at short distance and come down with a splash and most likely line pileup

[PA Dave]

Off the top of my head, I'd think that placing the reel in front of the grip would mean that you would then have to control all the weight of the rod, reel, and line through the strength of your wrist only, decreasing accuracy. With the reel behind, the weight of the reel works for you in controlling the cast.

[hardhat]

Yep. Gotta have that, too, but re-read my statement. I said that distance depends on line flow more than balance. I did not discount any other factors. Good line flow means that good technique will only work better.

The line flow will be highly affected by the position of the non-rod holding hand. So for a right handed person when they are holding the line in their left hand, a cast will be improved by moving the hand and line towards the rod. The more in line with the first guide, the less resistance to the line.
Also, the balance of the rod will be changed.
It will be difficult to mend and control the line.
It will be more difficult to use the left hand as a line retreive and drag.
If I wanted to give this more time, I am sure I could expand this list.
So it is not just about distance. It is more to do about "fishabilty".

[slapwater]

It works for a baitcaster or spinning reel because in these cases the fisherman exclusively uses the reel to retrieve line after a cast. On a fly rod, more often than not, the only time you use the reel is when a fish is caught or when you are ready to stop casting for one reason or another. The rest of the time, the line is stripped in but left off the reel while actively fishing. The only way to maintain control of the stripped line is under the finger of the casting hand. How would you do that if the line was not forced past that casting hand. Assuming you could do it, the reel would constantly be in the way of grabbing the next length of line to strip and, I would imagine, cause constant tangling.