Rod weight

[NCVirginian]

How do you know what weight line to use on an older bamboo or fiberglass rod? I've got a decent bamboo rod and some old Fenwick fiberglass rods in the basement that I thought I might give a whirl. Unfortunately, I don't have the first idea of the line weight to use. They don't have any kind of marking that indicates what to use. These were my grandfather's rods that were passed down to me.

[Panman]

I had the same problem you have with glass rods. A couple of FAOL guys recommended that I try different weight lines and then pick one that casts well. I did and I'm happy. Don't know if this is OK on Bamboo or not.

Tim

[Clay]

Take the rod that you want to a fly shop. They have demo reels filled with different weight lines. Try them until one loads the rod the way that YOU like it. If you have many rods you can get an idea where to start by looking at the thickness of the blank. It's not rocket science but the thinner blanks of the same material will be a lighter weight rod than the thicker one. Try to cast a number of lines to different distances. Load the rod at 25' to 30' but don't forget to load the rod at a longer distance too. Find a line that is TOO HEAVY then back off until you find one that is TOO LIGHT to load the rod. Sounds like you are an experienced fly caster so you will know what you like. Call the fly shop before you just drag 10 rods down there and tell them what you are trying to do. Then the most important thing is to actually buy a line or two from the shop. If you are using all of their stuff to get an answer, now is not the time to go home and buy the line off of Ebay. There is value in their service.

Another option for someone locally, this week, would be to bring their rod to our TU casting clinic. There our TU club would have many members with different weight lines on their reels and many experienced casters who could give you a hand. If you don't have a local fly shop but have a local FFF chapter or TU chapter they very well might be a good resource for you as well. Join the club and smile. You just might like the organization.

I know that you wanted to put your rod in a clamp and hang weights off of the end and see the amount of deflection and then measure that and it would tell you what size line to use, but different action types have different amounts of deflection for the same line weight, so I don't think this method is very useful.

[kbproctor]

What you need is the Common Cents System! The CCS is a system that was devised by Dr. William Hanneman to quantify the different aspects of a fly rod. You can get detailed info at http://www.common-cents.info/

You can use this in it's most basic form to determine what line will properly load your rods without any special equipment. All you need is a pile of pennies newer than 1964, a sandwich bag, paperclip, and measuring tape. With an angle finder or the protractor you can print out from the instructions above, you can also determine the action of the rod. The system goes much deeper than that, but this is what most folks are after and is is simple to learn and can take less than 5 minutes to do once you get the hang of it.

Be SURE your pennies are all newer than 1964 as pre '64 pennies are a different weight and will skew your results. All of the charts and conversions that have been worked out for you are based on the post '64 pennies.

This system is quite accurate. The results you get will be as good as going to you local fly shop and reading the line number on the rod. That being said, just as that rod at the fly shop might fish better for you with a different line on it, your rods may, too. It is an easy way to get an idea of where to start, though.

[NCVirginian]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try "at home" method first since I don't really have the time to go to the fly shop these days.

[Bamboozle]

Start with this thought...

If the rods are older there is a slim chance that any were DESIGNED with anything less than a 5wt line in mind.

Whether or not you like the way they FEEL with a 5, 6 or 7wt line is up to you. I don't know how the Common Cents System accounts for historical variations in something as subjective as feel but today's 3wts were yesterday's 5's.

If you can identify the MODEL number of any of the Fenwick rods, you might find out what line they were designed for here:

http://fiberglassflyrodders.yuku.com/forums/3

If you can identify the MODEL of any of the bamboo rods, you might find out what line they were designed for here:

http://clarksclassicflyrodforum.yuku.com/forums/64


Have fun!

[appalachian angler]

A good starting point for most trout rods of yesteryear is a WF or Dt 6 wt which would have had the designation of HDH or HDF. D=6wt line. HDH means double taper floating. Pretty sure the old weight foward floating lines would be HDF. an "E" line would be a five wt, etc.