There’s no question but that today’s fly fisher has more good options than ever before when it comes to choosing tackle. That bounty has its built-in problem, however, since finding what’s right for you from a large and often bewildering variety of choices can be difficult. Take fly rods, for example. With a score or more of models intended for the same purpose, how do you choose?
Magazine reviews that judge or rank rods can be informative, as are the opinions of friends, guides, and shop employees. But those sources may reflect personal tastes that are different from yours. Go by price? Price and quality are related, of course, but I’ll stick my neck out here and argue that unlike back in the day (whenever that was), there are few bad fly rods out there. Decent rods, good rods, and often excellent rods are available at all sorts of price points.
What you’re looking for, fundamentally, is a rod for your style of fishing. You can worry about cost later. To find what works best, you need to get a rod in your hands where you can take a good look at it and put it through its paces. But what, specifically, should you look for when you pick up a rod? And how can you go about evaluating it to see if it works for you? Here’s my 21-step plan. (A 12-step plan would have had better metaphorical connection to fly fishing as an addiction, but I couldn’t make that work.) It mostly applies to new and used single-handed rods, but you can use similar principles when buying a Spey rod.
1. If you can, start with a rod that’s still in its case. Are the rod sock and case the right length for the rod? If the case is too long, it may have come from another rod. If the sections are significantly different in length — say more than half an inch (exclusive of a fighting butt) — you’re smart to ask someone why that’s so.
2. Do the ferrules fit smoothly and snugly when you assemble the sections? Give the rod a shake or two and make sure there’s no click that indicates a bad fit. In a spigot-ferruled rod, there should be a bit of a gap between sections to allow for wear, but more than half an inch is too much.
3. Are there enough guides? I want a minimum of one guide for
each foot of rod length, preferably one more than that to distribute the casting/ fish-playing load evenly along the rod. And that first guide, the ring guide that we call a stripping guide, shouldn’t be placed too far past where your noncasting hand will reach when stripping in line or making a haul.
4. Are the guides of appropriate size? Many contemporary rods have extremely large guides, on the theory that they shoot line and handle bulky connections better.
Stripping guides are described by a number that relates to the distance in millimeters across the frame, so a size 8 is pretty small and a size 20 is pretty large. Two stripping guides aren’t necessary on lighter rods, but may make sense on heavier ones. My own rule of thumb for stripping guides is: a single size 8 for 2-weight and 3-weight rods; a single size 10 for 4-weights and 5-weights; a size 12 for 6-weights and 7-weights, with maybe a size 10 above it; size 16 and 12 strippers for 8-weights, 9-weights, and 10-weights; and a size 20 and a size 16 for anything larger. In any event, look for a sense of proportion between the blank and all the components, with guide size diminishing toward the tip. And if your rod is for a line heavier than a 7-weight, look for a large loop tip top.
Snake guides, the wire guides placed along the tip and middle of the rod, shouldn’t be too large or too small. Snake guides are described by numbers from size 1 to size 6 that increase in height, diameter of the wire, and opening size as the number gets bigger. Snakes larger than size 3s make passing knots and loop to loop connections easy, but they also add weight, generally something you don’t want out toward the tip of a lightline rod.
Lots of older glass and bamboo rods have very small snake guides along their tips, which won’t handle some loop-toloop connections, something to think about when you’re buying a used rod. As a general rule, if it looks funny, it probably isn’t what you want.
5. Are the guides oriented in line with the blank and the tip top? Are the guide feet all pointing north and south? If they’re not, someone did a crappy job of aligning guides after they were wrapped, and you shouldn’t be paying top dollar for his or her mistakes.
6. Does the epoxy or varnish coating on the thread wraps cover the wraps completely and evenly? For a rod that will see use in salt water, the guide feet should be completely sealed to prevent them rusting under the wraps. A clean finish job not only looks better, but is one of the things you’re paying extra money for when you buy a top-line rod.
7. Does the cork grip have a lot of voids with filler showing? Voids are natural in cork, which is simply a tree bark. Voids can be filled with wood putty or with cork dust mixed with glue, but you don’t want a lot of them in a grip. Good cork is expensive, and while some fill is probably inevitable, you should expect high-quality cork on high-priced rods. On entry-level and even some higher-priced rods, you’re going to get a lot of filled voids, but if a void is right under your thumb when casting, it will drive you crazy and likely break down. Many rod companies buy preformed cork grips that have been given a whitish wash to make the cork look better and hide fills, so you’ll need a sharp eye. New composite corks, made from ground cork and rubber or other synthetics, don’t need fill, wear well, and are often placed at thumb pressure points on double-handed and some single-handed rods. But the feel is different, and you might not like the look.
8. Does the grip fit you? Are the high and low points — the grip’s hills and valleys, if you will — in the right place for your hand, or do you have to stretch your grip uncomfortably to grasp the rod? Personally, I like the high spot on a Wells grip about a third of the way down from the top of the grip, rather than halfway down, as is done on many current rods. And while I don’t like there to be a radical difference between diameters, I do want a decent flare at the front end against which to press my thumb while casting. Unless I’m f ishing very lightweight trout rods, a grip that tapers down toward the front drives me crazy. You may have other preferences. That’s why there are redheads.
9. When you hold the assembled rod by the grip and briskly lift and lower the rod tip (“give it a whump” as Mel Krieger famously put it), where do you feel it flex? In the tip only, indicating a tip-yielding, butt-resisting fast action? Deeply into the butt, indicating a slow, strong-tipped action? All along the rod, indicating a progressive action? You’ ll best learn how the rod actually handles lines and flies only by casting it, so don’t give what you feel too much thought unless it simply feels awful. Still, initial perceptions of rod feel will help you find similar or different-feeling rods with which to compare it.
10. Now attach your fly reel, and I mean the same one you’ll use fishing. Does the reel line up with the guides when you mount it? Does the seat hold the reel foot securely? Sometimes, despite industry efforts to standardize reel-foot dimensions, a slide band won’t capture the reel foot or a screw-locking seat will let the reel wobble. You want to know before you buy.
11. Now string up the rod with a fly line. And not the line the guy in the shop has in the cardboard box behind the counter. Start with the line you plan to fish, but be prepared to switch to something heavier or lighter. And rig up with a leader and fly like those you’d fish on the rod in question. If you fish 16-foot 6X tippets on spring creeks, you won’t learn anything useful casting with a 7-foot 3X leader. If you’re fishing big flies, test the rod with a big fly. Cut the hook off at the bend if you’re going to be casting where there are people.
12. Do your test casting over water: a pond, a swimming pool, a river. I can’t emphasize this enough. Lawns and parking lots won’t tell you enough about how the rod handles when actually fishing. Fishing shows that have casting ponds are helpful here. But if you’re going to be wading deep or casting from a float tube, or if you fish in windy conditions, see if you can find a place to test the rod under those constraints. You may have to pledge your first born to take a rod out of a shop, but what’s more important, an heir or a perfect fly rod.
13. Start with very short casts — just a foot of line and the leader. A rod that can form a good loop and turn over a fly with little more than the leader outside the rod tip will generally do well at real-life fishing distances with dry flies and nymphs. If you fish pocket water, but can’t form good, controllable loops at 10 to 15 feet, you may want a different rod.
14. Gradually extend the length of your test casts. How much line can you hold in the air without a haul and still maintain good loops and line speed? Enough to cover the water you fish? A haul increases line speed and takes some load off the rod, so casting without a haul gives you a clearer sense of where and how the rod is working. Be realistic: you’re not likely to be casting 80 feet to many fish. The sweet spot is likely going to be between 15 and 50 feet. Can you form loops of different sizes in order to vary presentation at the distances you plan to fish? If you can’t, you may want a different rod.
15. How much floating line can you pick up off the water confidently without fubarring the cast? If you plan to fish large flies at a distance, you may want a different rod from the one you use for pocket-water work. Some very light-tipped rods haven’t the beef out there to turn over large flies. And strongtipped rods often haven’t the suppleness needed out front to form good loops on short casts. Most progressive-action rods — and that’s the majority of what’s available — should do both jobs acceptably.
16. How well does the rod roll cast? A roll cast of some sort, or one of the other no-back-cast, change-of-direction casts that the Spey folks use, is the answer to many presentation problems with single-handed fly rods, even for small-stream trout fishers. Try roll casts at 15 feet, then 20, then 30 and beyond and see if you’re satisfied. Roll casting is another reason you need to cast over water, by the way, because it’s not possible over grass or asphalt.
17. If you’re not satisfied with how the rod casts, but you still like its basic feel (or how it looks, or what it costs), try a different line weight. If the rod doesn’t seem to be loading adequately until you extend a very long line, go to a heavier line. Conversely, back off on line weight if you can’t pick up line easily or get acceptable line speed. Don’t freak out if the rod feels best to you with a different line weight than the manufacturer suggests. You may simply prefer a different feel than what the rod designer likes. Rods marketed for “aggressive” casters tend to handle a line weight heavier than what the label states. If the 5-weight rod you’re trying casts best with 6-weight line, but you really want to fish a 5, string up that line on a 4-weight of the same make and model. Chances are it will handle your 5-weight. The fish won’t read the label.
18. If you plan to fish sinking lines, you’ll probably want to up-line a line weight or even two line weights over what’s inscribed on the rod butt. Why? Sinking lines are thinner than floating lines, therefore less air resistant, and thus they move faster and seem to load the rod less. Note, however, that a sinking line will pick up differently — with more effort — than a f loater. So don’t go overboard on a heavier line that your rod can’t move out of the water.
19. If you plan to use shooting heads instead of full-length lines, or if you fish indicators and weighted flies on heavy-tipped weight-forwards, test the rod with them, again using a leader that approximates what you’d actually be fishing. Turning over a bit of fluff is easy; a weighted sculpin pattern, a big Clouser, or a stonefly with a balloon indicator is a different matter entirely. Uplining by one or two line weights with shooting heads is the rule, since you’re loading the rods with only 25 to 35 feet of line. I prefer to upline one line weight (a 9-weight head on an 8-weight rod), for example, when wading, but by two line weights (a 10-weight head on an 8-weight rod) when casting from a boat. That extra height above the water makes a difference in picking up line and clearing the water behind me on a back cast. And again, if you’re test casting in a public area, be sure to cut the bend and hook point off your test fly.
20. If it is a big-fish rod, it’s helpful to know how the rod will perform when lifting dead weight. You don’t want to break the rod, and the owner wants that even less than you, despite that unconditional guarantee. But you need to know if a rod is up to the job when a fish is dogging it eight feet under the boat. You can get a pretty good idea of how things will go by trying to lift a good deal less than the rod is capable of handling. Try five pounds with a 9-weight rod, seven pounds with a 10-weight, and nine pounds with an 11-weight or 12-weight. Hook your weight to the end of the line. Extend the line a couple of feet past the rod tip and block the reel from paying out any more line by grasping the spool. Make sure you’re wearing good eye protection, stand on a chair or stepladder, hold the grip as you would when fighting a fish, and lift from the rod butt. Can you move the weight off the ground? Easily, or with lots of effort? Is the rod straining, vibrating like crazy, but not moving the weight? If so, you may want another rod.
21. Much of this same routine applies to evaluating double-handed rods. Despite the line recommendations printed on the rod shaft, line choices here may be more difficult, so you’ll want to rely on the advice of the pros in a good fly shop or on savvy friends to get you started. With any luck, you’ll find someone who has a range of appropriate lines so you can dial in what’s right for you.
Ideally, for each of these steps, you’ll test and compare a handful of similar-length rods built for the same basic line weight in order to sense and understand differences better. The more of this you do, the more adept and confident you’ll become at discriminating between the good, the OK, and the merely well marketed.
