This is all new and counterintuitive to me -
Fly-Fish Better, by Art Scheck, pages 224-231
Art goes through about 8 pages explaining how little force a rod exerts on a fish.
Note: Down and Dirty refers to a rod that is close to horizontal, with the butt perpendicular to the line, and the top portion of the rod pointing straight at the fish. (Stu Apte developed it for tarpon a long time ago.)
Art uses a 9' western graphite 8/9 weight and gave his wife a scale attached to a 35-foot line.
"With the rod held upright, I was able to momentarily get the scale to 1 pound 3 ounces, but only using both hands and bending the blank into slightly more than a semicircle. Why it didn't blow up is beyond me."
"In the down-and-dirty position, my 8-weight stick exerted more force on the scale ...Straining hard, I could keep the scale at 2 pounds 10 ounces. If I'd thrown caution to the winds and used both hands on the rod, I suppose I could have pulled the scale to the 3-pound mark. Maybe."
The bottom line seems to be go low, and go to the side.
It will give you around Twice force.
RodForcesArtScheck.jpg
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