Flycasting with spinning rods

[Crippled Caddis]

Since so many seem to be getting interested in the little Wright McGill Featherlight series the information below may prove interesting to some since it indicates that those who think the Featherlights are a continuation of the old W-M combo rods may be right.

The following is an exerpt from a post I recently made on the fiberglass rod-building board concerning experiments to determine the suitability of spinning blanks for conversion to flyrods.

<I finally got around to trying my old 6' Fenwick Ferrulite FS-60 ultralight spinning rod with some flylines. It is rated for 1-4# line and 1/16th -1/4 oz. lures. I can tell you that the quarter ounce rating is VERY optimistic since the rod is fully loaded with a 1/8th oz. lure and downright dangerous with a quarter. The rod has 4 Aetna foulproof, light-wire guides and tip-top as well as an all cork grip with sliding bands so it lends itself well to mounting a fly reel. I also broke out a 5 1/2' Shakespeare UL spinning rod that predates the Fenwick. It also has 5 guides, a light wire stripper, 3 Aetna foulproofs and tip-top and a simular rod grip/reelmount. The writing has long since worn off the little Shakespeare but having many, many miles on both rods and an untold number of fish over the years I can with great confidence state that the Shakespeare has a little more 'oomph' built into it.

Both cast a WF4F acceptably but at the ranges they are effective fishing tools (under 45'--preferrably under 35') I thought a 5 wt. loaded them much better. But then I tend to overline rods to make them more pleasant at the short ranges I normally use them.

Frankly both rods would lend themselves well to very satisfactory occasional use as flyrods in backpacking situations without modification.>

So before you drop the cash for another rod take a look at what you may already have on hand. Back in the '60s of the last century (good grief! ) I used to hike the little limestone rivers and creeks of central Texas with an ultralight spinning rod in hand and a flyreel and small box of flie in a pocket of my spinning vest. Changing from spinning to flycasting was a matter of a few minutes to adapt to changing demands.

So look around the garage-----you may already have a rod suitable to small creek pocket picking.