Fly Fishing Rods
HISTORICAL
The "rods" used by the earliest anglers evidently were of native cane of some sort or switches cut " a la small boy " from the stream side. The earliest description of a rod and its making, will be found in Berners* " Treatyse." She goes into detail on the selection and curing of the wood and the making of the rod which, if followed out carefully, would produce a fairly good fishing tool of well seasoned and correctly proportioned wood.
The early fly fishermen of Kentucky caught their bass with rods of native reed, 10 to 14 feet in length and weighing from 4 to 6 ounces. Used with the finest line and excellent reels of their own manufacture, it is apparent that their tackle was as light and neat, if not as luxurious, as what we use to-day.
Dr. Bethune (1848) describes the rod of his choice as follows: " A fly rod should not be more than 141/2 feet at the farthest; the butt solid, for you need weight there to balance the instrument and your spare tips will be carried more safely in the handle of your landing net. ... A rod in 3 pieces is preferred at the stream but inconvenient to carry and, if well made, four will not interfere materially with its excellence; i. e.: the butt of Ash, the first joint of hickory, the second of lancewood and the tip of East India bamboo or, as I like better, the extreme of the tip of whalebone well spliced on. The rod should be sensibly elastic down to the hand, but proportionately so, for if one part seem not proportionately pliant, the rod is weak somewhere. In some rods there is what is called the double action and such a one I used for years and thought nothing could be better; but, on trying another stiffer, though at first awkward in its use, I learned to like it better."
Click here to continue and learn about fly fishing rods
Fly Fishing Quick Links:
Tackle | Rods | Reels | Flies | Apparel | Fish | Preparations | Casting | Strategy
Fly Fishing Index
© 2004 FlyFishingTricks.com. All rights reserved.
|
