Several rods I have cast or read about particularly the Winston IM6/WT are rated “faster” as the lenght of the rod is shorten, e.g., the Winston 9’ 6wt is rated a medium and the 8’6" 6wt is rated med fast. Does this work with “all” rods and does it apply when incresing length say a Sage RPL+ 9’ to a 9’6". Looking forward to your comments. Thanks Dave
Ya, pretty much. Often a maker will offer the same rod in say, three lengths. 8ft, 8.5ft, 9ft. Each shorter rod will be some ‘faster’ than the others. One of the ‘fastest’ rods I ever cast was the ‘Alaskan’ by G. Loomis. 9ft 9wt. I think it was an IMX, but not possitive.
I agree with what JC says although I have first hand experience with an exception; the now discontinued DL4 series from Winston…
I have every rod in the series from the 7’6" 3wt to the 9’0" 6wt. All were described by Winston as “MEDIUM” action but the 7’6" 3wt and the 8’0" 3wt are TOTALLY different than the longer rods in that they are WAY slower.
I also rank them among my favorites!
I would say that, all things being equal, this would be true. If the actions were the same on all rods, then the shorter rods which load over a shorter distance (shorter wavelength) will give you a faster feel (higher frequency). Another way to think about it would be this - a fast action rod works more from the tip, while a slow rod must be loaded all the way into the butt. So a 9’ fast action rod might have an “action length” of 5’ (and load up very quickly) while a 9’ slow rod might have an “action length” of 8’ (and need to be accelerated through a longer stroke). Two rods with the SAME action, but 5’ and 8’, might have a similarly contrasting feel. Did any of that make sense?
Bill O.
Bill,
Yes. But don’t ask me to explain :oops:
Seriously, I intuitively feel it is pure physics that explains the difference in feel. Arc length and leverage enter in in such a way that you never get the same load even if the line out beyond the tip is the same. Then the weight of the line between the reel and the tip is different; and, of course, the rod weight is different for a 7.5 for 5 and a 9 for 5 even if it is the same make and model. Am I making sense? :roll:
Dave,
It’s only ‘true’ if that’s the way the manufacturer builds them.
Rod ‘action’ in fly rod is expressed as flex -v- length, i.e, a rod that flexes most in the upper quarter (or third, or eigth, or whatever portion that manufacturer chooses) might be considered ‘fast’. The same manufacturer may then consider a rod that flexes most in the upper half a ‘medium’ actuion rod, and so forth. Then you get ‘medium fast’, medium slow, moderate, etc… all of these are subjective terms, and their actual ‘meaning’ is decided by each manufacturer.
That being said, there is no correlation the actual length of the rod and it’s action over the broad spectrum of fly rods. Ther are very fast rod that are long, and very short rods that are slow. Nine foot rods are not generally ‘slower’ than eight foot rods, nor are five foot rods generally faster than six foot rods.
What you see in the Winston list is how the manufacturer chose to do with that rod series. They don’t just ‘shorten’ the nine foot blank, they actually design a taper and construct a shorter rod.
Bu the way, if you take a nine foot blank and shorten it, regardless if you cut the butt or tip, you make that rod have a SLOWER action than it had as a nine foot rod.
Good Luck!
Buddy
i just read, this morning as a mater of fact, the Common Cents System by Dr. William Hanneman, here on this site. the data he presented implies that a rod gets faster as you lengthen it. that info is contained in part 2 of the series.
So a really, really fast rod might be a 20 ft 5wt?
:lol:
I think this problem is being viewed from several different angles that give opposing results. Yeah, if you take a 9’ rod and chop two feet off (the butt), the rod will have a more full flexing profile, however if you make that 7’ rod with the exact same flexing profile (bends most in the first 20%, less in the next 30%, very little in the butt half, etc. etc.) as the 9’ - then it’s going to feel faster - at least in my experience. Of course my “common sense” might be not be the same as someone elses. 
Bill O.
what is a fast rod? a rod that just bend in the tip. if you have a rod with a very soft, flexible tip, and add a very strong, unflexing butt section it gets faster. if you add a very soft, flexible butt section it remains slow. the wt and length of a rod has no bearing on how fast it is, it’s all about how much and where it flexes. however you can change the speed of a rod by changing the length.
Castwell,
Yes, it might well be. I don’t know of anyone selling slow action spey rods. Do you?
oyster,
If you rod feels faster, it is probably because it has a higher frequency. Frequency is primarily a function of stiffness/length.
Bill, you old dog! How ya doing? Happy New Year to you both. Hope all is well for the comming year. Sorry,I don’t know from diddley about speyrods, spay rods, two-handed rods, European rods, or anything over ten feet. And not a whole lot about them either. To me, (here we go again!!!) a fast rod is a stiff rod. The less it bends, the more I seem to like them. But, I like all of them, clear down to the (slow) rods that bend the cork. 
Castwell,
Happy New Year to you and D, too.
Have you considered tuna rods? They are short and stiff, I am told. You might like one.javascript:emoticon(‘:P’)
Bill