TFO rod help

[brittsnbirds]

Terry to answer you question about my S/S. The barrels are 26" one 12 and one 20 ga. Yes they swap out very nicely. I use the 12 set for Pheasants and the 20 for Quail. I also have a American Arms Silver II O/U 12 ga. w/ tubes. It's looking for a new home and I would part with Stoeger also.

Back to the original post.

Steve, I know the type of line that you use also makes a big differance with the castability and handling. I nymph, dry and deep water strip with my rods. I have several reels that I interchange with specific lines. Such as my Cabelas 5 wt 8'6 rod I have a Prestige reel set up with full sinking, tip sink and floating line. My TFO 4 wt. 9' have floating and tip sink. My Cabelas 8' 3wt. I have floating line for Nymph and small stream dry fly fishing. However each line manufacturer has a specific type, what should I look for if I can't "test drive" them. Plus some of them are rather expensive!

[Guest flyfishBDS]

Hey britts, sorry haven't been in for a few days.

You certainly can invest in a lot in lines, good ones, when you have the setups you are talking about. And yes there is plenty of choice, start looking through any of the big three manufacturers catalogues and you will be blown away by the choice.

To be honest I still can't believe the market supports them all. Most people I know probably change lines only when they are in throwaway condition.

Im struggling a bit to answer your question, as to what you should look for _ particularly as it would reveal some of my biases (for Rio, Wulff, SA) and the best flylines, as opposed to cheaper stuff. .

Beyond telling you to buy the best flyline you can afford, from a line maker then I'm struggling

It would help me to know what rod you want it for, fishing technique etc. narrow it down a little _ Im only an Aussie; lol.

Setting a up a rod/reel line combination can feel a bit like a roll of a dice. but stop into fly shops, and try to get them to cast stuff. I often take out rio lines for a potential customer wanting to see how a Rio Grand works on their rod.

Then again I like casting a lot lol

Cheers

[Davy Wotton]

Chioce of fly lines, as bad as making a choice for which rod.

Bottom line is this, the fly line used with a given rod needs to be compatable with it.

If you are more or less fishing for trout and possibly smaller warm water species then the choices are well narrowed down.

Saltwater fishing does require more consideration of lines to deal with water temps, large flies and species etc.

And that would also be the case for the larger freshwater species, pike, stripers, salmon and fish of that nature.

In the case of general trout fishing , the dry line is your no 1 choice here.

Accepted that there are many configurations of profile out there, but unless you are into casting ranges in excess of 60ft do not let that bother you.

A dry line will cover you for at least 80% of the fishing you will do.

Intermediate, sinking and sink tips will make up for the other 20%

Most trout caught are within 40ft, and the only major consideration is profile of that line for the first 40ft, by that l mean, front end taper.

Look at it like this. If you want the best options for delicate turnover and presentations then you want a line with a long front end taper.

This is ideal more so for fishing shallow water, small flies, midge, scuds, dry, emergers etc.

If you wish to fish larger flies such as wooly buggers and nymph rigs with weight then short forward tapers are the better.

But saying this, there is of course a difference for the same line between a 3wt and a 6wt.

As a general rule here a 5wt line with either taper will work for most trout fishing scenarios.

And there are many out there. You will not go far wrong with SA or Courtland lines to be honest.

SA produce very good lines at a moderate price for your needs.

I know this issue is very confusing to many fly fishers, but in reality it is not. To be honest for the majority they will fish only at moderate ranges to start with, and like l say the issue of lines that do allow, if you have the ability to cast long ranges, is not needed.

www.davywotton

[Robert]

TFO is a lot of bang for the buck. I do not think that looks count for much. The fish do not give a darn. They are good light rods. Keep in mind that Lefty is the designer of the TFO rods. If memory serves me he was the rod designer for Sage prior to TFO for 25 years. I do not think you could get Lefty to put his name on anything unless he thought it was right. TFO sells tubes. Red in color I think if that really matters.

[Davy Wotton]

Robert,

TFO, had a range of rods before Lefty moved to them from Sage.

Jerry Siem is the rod designer for Sage, after Don Green.

If anything the SP series that Jerry designed was the first series of rods with new technology and advancement.

Many more have followed on since that time

What really takes place in the industry is this, that the rod companies will pay a well known to endorse the products, hoping that will influence the market to buy their products, it does not follow that the person in question has much imput so far as the product design, but the company may well listen to you for recomendations.

I know this from personal experience as being a paid endorser myself in the past.

My friend Dave Whitlock has recently moved to Loomis from Sage.

Davy Wotton.

WWW.davywotton.com.

[Robert]

Hi Davy,

Like yourself I think Lefty is a man of integrity. Putting that aside I really like the TFO rods. As said before a lot of bang for the buck. More than just an upgrade from an inexpesive rod as suggested. I just picked up a couple of Ovis Battenkill Mid Arbor reels. I'm on the mend from a week of flu like symtoms. Yesterday I put backing and line on both reels. Very smooth and very well made. I've had some Orvis gear most of my life. Good honest Vermont folks. Fly fishing equipment is like anything else. What ever suits the person.

[Davy Wotton]

Robert,

I have nothing to say but good things about TFO, they are great value for money, no doubt of that.

I have a bunch of them, granted TFO are one of my sponsors.

In fact l worked with them to produce the new 11ft 5wt.

The Ticrx series are unreal rods for the money. They have great casting performance and positive actions, provided you match the line weight correctly for the rod in question.

Which is often a issue with performance rods to day.

Davy.

[Robert]

Davy,

11' 5wt that will give you some reach. The last time I saw you casting you were using a 10' 4wt with a very high cross wind. The wind did not seem to bother you at all.

Robert

[AKflyfisher]

I wish tfo would put better cork on their grips I bought a ticrx 8wt and their is big pot holes all over where the cork filler is falling out.

But i wont spend 600 dollars on a rod, I have learned to build rods since and I make my own. So my high price rods only cost about $400 thats a better deal

[Davy Wotton]

AK, call Rick Pope at TFO, they will take your rod back and sort that problem for you.

Or the dealer you purchased it from.

The cork problem will only get worse as time goes on.

Robert.

I use long rods most of the time, 10ft as a rule and up to 11.6, these are single handed rods not double handed, Spey they call em here in the US.

A single handed long rod will allow you more or less to do anything cast wise that you wish, in many cases way better than a shorter rod.

It also allows for me to fish and control how l fish my flies, that you cannot do in the same way with a short rod, that is a fact.

The interesting thing about the longer rods is that the casting stroke has to be adjusted to the slower action, saying that long rods will also allow very long casts to be made, 100ft is not out of the question either.

They can also allow you to cast very accurate presentations, amongst other things.

So far as wind is concerned, l would rather have a long rod in my hands over and above a short one, at least for general trout fishing, saltwater would differ, but here l would not be using 6x and 20 hook flies.

Davy.

www,davywotton.com