Hi Folks -
The following was originally posted as a reply on Morneb’s thread on Expensive and Cheaper Fly Rods. Yesterday, Ohiotuber urged me to post it as a new thread. I think a good part of Mike’s reaction to this was the context, as a part of Morneb’s thread that just fell into the right place at the right time.
I am actually somewhat reluctant to start this new thread. I would rather have you read Morneb’s thread, at least the several pages before page 8, to put this in the same context that Mike had. Having said that - I trust that it puts another perspective on some of the things we do getting ready to go fly fishing and what happens when we are about it.
Finally - if you don’t like this thread, blame it on Mike. If you do like it, give the credit to Flybinder, because we all know that Paul will take credit for it at some point and we might as well beat him to the punch.
I’ve been reading this ( Morneb’s ) thread from the beginning, and much enjoying it. I have resisted the temptation to join the conversation, up to this point.
But - today I tried out my first home made rod and outfit, so I qualify to talk about CHEAP, and CHEAPER, and CHEAPEST rods.
My entire fly fishing outfit today cost less than $1.50. I got skunked, but that is not relevant, because I’m satisfied that I can catch fish with this outfit in the right place at the right time.
The rod is a Scott 401.5-1O. ( Hope the other Scott has some sense of humor about this, if they run across it. ) The designation may not be familiar to you. It is a four foot for 1.5 weight one piece made of oak. Get beyond all that fancy language and what you have is a 48" X 1/4" oak dowel from the local hardware store. It cost $.84, including tax. The rod was finished with a tiptop fashioned from Maxima Chameleon leader material, and a decorative butt wrap of fly tying thread.
The line was a custom made Scott 1.5 LLF. Another unfamiliar designation ? It is a 1.5 wt level line floating. The line was furled using 45 plus feet of 20# dacron fly line backing on a seven foot jig to end up with a six strand level line about six feet long. Some mucilin turned a sure sinker into a floating line. Since I had the backing laying around, it didn’t cost anything, unless you include labor, but as cheap as I am, I wouldn’t pay myself - so it was free.
The leader was one of my standard thread furled leaders with silver chain tip ring. They cost about $.35 for materials, and I don’t pay labor for that kind of thing.
Can’t calculate the cost of four feet of 4x tippet, so let’s just say that was $.10.
Fished a size 18 griffith gnat. That’s probably another $.20 ??
That actually comes to $1.49 - got a penny to spare !!
Anyway, I could actually cast this outfit well enough to get the fly almost 20’ from where I was standing. The rod was super fast action - some people would call it a stick, of all things. The line carried a tight loop, the furled leader turned over beautifully, the dry fly floated along nicely in a drag free drift. What more could you ask for, except for some nice brown or cutt to take the fly ??
I have to admit, the rod was a bit fast for my liking, and casting such a short rod with a 1/4" grip is a bit tiring. And it would probably max out under 30’ even if I added a couple more six foot sections of Scott 1.5 LLF.
But it only cost a buck and a half, with change to spare - and I had a blast. Next time out, I’m gonna fish a creek where a 20’ cast is almost always too long, and the fish just love to play with things floating along the surface. Can’t hardly stand the wait.
John
The fish are always right.
