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Just what does it mean when a fly rod is described
as being, for example, a 9-foot, medium-fast, 5-weight?
Technically, that description suggests that, with 30
feet (or some other prescribed length) of DT5 fly
line extended beyond the tip, the rod will 'load,'...
'perfectly.' The description carries with it a
surprising number of non-specific implications. What
does 'load' mean? Or 'perfectly?' What does that
imply if 20 feet, or 45 feet of line are extended?
This essay is a layman's analysis of some of those
implications and a suggestion that thoughtful fly
fishermen may want to evaluate some alternatives.
The vast majority of fly rods available in today's
marketplace are constructed of hollow tubes made of
carbon fiber (universally called "graphite"). Flat
sheets of carbon fiber fabric or other synthetic
materials are rolled into a tube and heat-cured with
a variety of scrims or resins to form the unfinished
blank. The only alternative construction technique
employed today for fly rods involves the cutting of
tapered strips of a solid rod material and then
fashioning of those strips into a rod blank. Wooden
rods of bamboo (or "cane") have been constructed in
this manner for over 150 years. The bending actions
of hollow tube rods and solid rods differ from each
other as a product of this difference in the manner
of construction.
Graphite rod blanks gain their designed actions through
the management of three principal variables; the materials
that are utilized (the type of 'graphite' and the added
scrims and resins), the design of the steel rod around
which the material is rolled (the "mandrel"), and the
pattern of the sheet of material (the "flag") that is
rolled around the mandrel. The materials used these
days are a variety of carbon fibers of varying modulus
(stiffness), sometimes used in concert with other
synthetic materials. The mandrel is a solid machined
bar that itself has been cut into a predetermined shape,
depending upon the length, line-weight and action of
the desired rod. The sheets of graphite material are
cut into a pattern, much like the pattern for a dress
or suit of clothes is cut, again, by specific design
for the given rod that is being built. The pattern
takes a generally triangular shape with the base being
broad, then tapering with a series of changing angles
towards the thinner and longer tip. The flag is rolled
tightly around the mandrel and then cured in an oven.
The mandrel is removed leaving the resultant hollow
graphite tube.
Few, if any, modern graphite blanks are built on
uniformly tapered mandrels utilizing uniformly
tapered flags. Since the flag is much wider at
the bottom than at the top, rolling it into a
tube produces a greater wall thickness in the
butt of the rod than it does at the tip. As the
flag is rolled around the mandrel, it rolls more
times in the butt section and fewer at the tip.
The overlap on the edge of the flag produces what
is called the spine or spline. Since this line
is a line of unequal thickness, the rod-builder
must locate the spine and position it onto the
top or the bottom of the finished rod. Thick walls
are necessary in the butt sections of hollow rods for
support (or lift), and thinner wall thicknesses are
necessary in the tips in order to allow for adequate
bending to create the desired actions. The
non-uniformity of these design parameters produces
a non-uniform bending pattern along the length of a
given rod.
To address these inherent but necessary inconsistencies
in the construction of a hollow blank, the blank
builders actually "design-in" a desired formula for
bending. The taper of the mandrel and the pattern
of the flag are designed to create a preferred "load
point" for the given rod. That point, by necessity,
is generally somewhere in the tip section of the rod,
the "faster" the action, the closer to the tip.
This specified design produces a rod that, in theory,
loads "perfectly" with the prescribed amount of line.
Our 9-foot, 5-wt., med-fast action, may, for example,
be designed to "load" at a point 18 inches below its
tip. Logic follows, however, that if the designed
load point is "perfect", with say 30-feet of DT5 line,
when the caster has applied just the "right amount" of
momentum to the cast through his action, then with 45
feet of line, or with 20 feet, or any amount other
than the designed-for 30 feet, it will load "less
than perfectly." The rod will try to bend, load,
and behave around its designed-in parameters, but
it won't be "perfect." That is an inescapable
mechanical fact. This is why the caster sometimes
feels he is totally "in-tune" with his rod and line,
and at other times he has to work harder to produce
the same feeling. This is also why some "fast" rods
just won't load at all with short amounts of line.
In addition to the imperfection in loading that come
from rod taper design, hollow tubes inherently possess
a second element that complicates casting. A hollow
tube, when bent, flattens somewhat into an oval-shaped
cross-section. This is simply a mechanical necessity,
a reaction to the forces applied. The "top" and
"bottom" of the tube in the plane of which the
bending was applied take the stress of the bend,
and the "sides" of the tube react to a lesser degree.
This bending defines the plane within which that bent
tube will perform most perfectly.
If a caster makes a back-cast and a fore-cast in
exactly the same plane, he will be rewarded with a
consistent reaction from the bending rod. If, however,
the back-cast is made in one plane and the fore-cast
in another, the rod will not be performing at its
optimum, and the cast will be less than "perfectly
efficient." With casts made in back and forward
planes that are within 10 or so degrees of each
other, this inefficiency, while present, may not
be noticed. But, try a back-cast in one direction,
and a delivery say, 45 degrees off, and you will
see what happens. The bent tube cannot properly
react to such a confusion of stresses. This is
why most fly-casters find themselves false-casting
their way "around a clock" when they want to
significantly change the general direction of
their cast.
So, despite, the apparent advantages and the
popularity of tubular fly rods, their design still
contains elements of mechanical shortcoming. These
facts were not lost on the marketing departments
of the major rod builders. The more "different"
that individual rods are, one from the other, the
more rods a fisherman will need to purchase for
his own variety of applications. By making rods
very specific, the manufacturer creates a requirement
for the purchase of multiple rods.
A solid rod, built of tapered strips, addresses
the performance shortcomings that are inherent
in the hollow rod construction process. Cane, of
course, is a natural material, and, as such,
possesses inconsistencies of its own in the form
of 'grain' and 'nodes.' Skilled cane builders
work to lessen the affect of natural variations
in their raw material. Today, the Hexagraph fly
rod is the only other commercially available solid
fly rod. Hexagraph utilizes a composite board made
of carbon fiber laminated to an aeronautical
construction foam from which are cut into long
tapered strips. The strips are then constructed
into a blank in a fashion much like that used for
cane rods. The board is made of perfectly
consistent and uniform synthetic materials. The
strips are tapered at precise and consistent rates
throughout the length of the rod. We use five or
six different rates of taper to produce the various
rods we build but, in each case, the rod tapers
uniformly from butt to tip. This uniformity and
continuity of taper produces a rod blank that bends
uniformly along its length, depending only upon the
amount of force that is applied.
When a fly-caster casts his rod, the rod is reacting
to two elements that cause it to bend. The first is
the effort provided by the caster himself, from slight
to extreme. The caster applies momentum to the rod
with the length of the stroke he makes and with the
amount of force he uses in making the stroke. The
second element causing the rod to bend comes from
the line as it trails from the tip of the rod - the
longer the length of line, the greater the force
bending the rod. When these two forces (and the
near infinite number of combinations of these two
forces) are applied to a uniformly tapered solid
rod, the rod responds "automatically."
Since the Hexagraph rod is tapered in a continuous
and uniform manner, it will load - it will respond
to the forces applied - at various points along its
length, depending upon the magnitude of the forces.
This response differs fundamentally from the manner
in which the hollow tube rod responds as it attempts
to load somewhere near that designed-in load point.
With a short amount of line and a gentle stroke,
the Hexagraph will load out near its tip, producing
perfect and balanced deliveries. As longer lines
are cast and as greater power is applied, the load
point moves down the rod, with the continuous and
uniform taper. The rod is actually a more versatile
tool, capable of providing for the caster the
combination of finesse and power that may suit
the casting challenge of the moment.
Since the Hexagraph is solid, it will not deform in
cross-section as does the hollow tube when it is bent.
This feature allows a much greater variance in the
planes the caster chooses as he casts. No imperfection
is thrown into the cast with out-of-plane deliveries.
The need for false-casting is radically reduced with
the Hexagraph. Once the caster adjusts to the timing
of the rod, and to the fact that he can actually
manage the loading and the bending of the rod with
the nuances of the power he applies, he can literally
"pick-it-up and lay-it-down" in any direction and at
any distance, merely by allowing the rod to do so.
The simple design of the Hexagraph also allows the use
of several line weights on any given rod, dependent
upon the casters personal preferences as to "feel,"
and upon the conditions of the specific application.
Since the performance of the rod is not linked to a
specific point along its length, a slightly heavier
or a lighter line weight, which might be desirable
on a given day due to the wind or the weights and
types of flies to be used, will perform quite
acceptably with the same rod - it will simply
load at a different point along its length.
Because of the design of the Hexagraph, they are more
full-flexing than are tubular rods. Since it is
necessary for hollow rods to have relatively firm
butt sections to support the active tip sections,
they are necessarily "faster" in action than solid
rods. This inherent stiffness has caused the
casting stroke to evolve into its present form,
which is generally short, crisp, and quick with
exaggerated accelerations and sudden stops to
send the line on its way. In fact, with many of
today's "fast" rods, the caster does the work of
bending the rod through his efforts in applying
momentum through his arm and body, and the fly-line
merely goes along for the ride.
Full-flexing rods, like the Hexagraph, depend upon
the momentum and flow of the line to bend the rod,
and then primarily upon the rod itself to unload
or deliver the line. At the end of the day, the
caster of a full-flexing rod will have done
substantially less work than will the caster
of the modern faster rod. The rod will have
done more. When learning how to cast the
Hexagraph, the contemporary fly-caster will
have to pause a bit on the back-cast to allow
the rod to load, and then will have to resist
the urge to "drive" the forward cast too
aggressively - it's more a matter of just
"turning the rod over" with perhaps a gentle
"push" to complete the delivery.
Much focus has been given in the marketing of
modern fly rods to a journey towards lighter
and lighter physical weights of the rods. To
a degree, this may seem to be a desirable
objective, but after a point, what, in fact,
is the point? The advantage gained by the
elimination of another half-ounce is often
offset by the advent of new problems. Modern
rods, being hollow and thin-walled are fragile.
The new combinations of materials from which
hollow blanks are rolled have improved somewhat
the ridiculous fragility that existed in many
blanks only a few short years ago, but breakage
is still a major negative characteristic of tubular
fly rods. Free replacement warranties have been the
result, but the prospect of a free replacement
'next week' does not give one much solace when
he is on the second-day of a two-week trip to
some remote locale far from his dealer or factory.
The current quest for lightness and increased
durability (and the burden of the free replacement
warranty) has sent prices for these hollow tubes
to unbelievable levels.
Solid rods, by design, are much more durable than
hollow ones. Although most marketing efforts are
directed strongly to the contrary, a good case can
be made for a moderate degree of 'heft' in a fly
rod. As noted earlier, false-casting is frequently
a required operation with hollow rods. The caster
is either trying to find that balance point, or he
is working his way 'around the clock' to change
the direction (plane) of his cast. If a fisherman
must false-cast two or three times for each delivery
cast, he expends considerably more energy and moves
more net weight than one who can pick his line up
and deliver it with a single back- and fore-cast. He
also spends less time with his fly on the water.
Further, the effort to reduce rod weights by
fractions of an ounce is immediately offset by the
addition of the fisherman's favorite reel, the weights
of which may vary far more widely than the rod. A
balanced outfit with a degree of substance and
stability in the rod, offers the caster much more
in the way of 'feel' and feedback to the hand as
the line flows throughout the cast, and that 'feel'
provides critical information that allows the caster
to be precise in his placement. In truth, rods that
are 'too light' are, in fact, difficult to control.
Sometimes the way to take a step forward, is to take
a step back. Much has been gained in casting and,
in particular, in fly-casting through the advent
and evolution of the synthetic fibers and compounds
that are used in rod building today. That evolution,
though, proceeded rapidly based primarily upon the
quest for distance and power. In the last several
years the market has recognized that touch, feel,
finesse, and, most importantly accuracy, have
improperly, and perhaps almost accidentally, been
relegated to a second-class status. Many companies
are now offering options of more full-flexing rods,
and these options are being met with immediate
acceptance by the market, but the mechanics of
hollow tubes remain with some limitations. The
performance that comes from solid and uniform
construction techniques deserves continued attention.
Some of the best promises for the future have their
roots solidly in the past. ~ Harry Briscoe
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