Falling Springs, Franklin County, 1/30/13

The_Sasquatch wrote:
Yup. Nailed it. My recent FFing purchase is an old Martin 61 reel. Love it. I like a reel you can hear ;-)

I hate reels that make to much noise. Damn rattlesnakes. But I can appreciate the simple designs of the old reels. But I would never be caught dead with one. ;-)

Squatch- check your pms
 
" My recent FFing purchase is an old Martin 61 reel. Love it. I like a reel you can hear"

If you own a Martin 61, you got your wish. That thing is louder than a torque wrench. Along with looking like a tuna can.

I like the spring-pawl Martins, like the MG-7. They're a little more subdued. And they have exposed spool rims for drag control. Too heavy to be considered a "trout reel", though.

The Pflueger Gem reel pictured with that football of a rainbow has a click. But it's relatively civilized sounding. And the ones I've handled seem to be tuned just right to slow down a good-sized trout without popping the tippet. Not that I'd necessarily be up to the job, with a fish like that one.

I actually bought a silent winder to use on Falling Springs, because of all the fishing in people's back yards. The next step is to control my cussing.

I don't have anything close to a hangup about cussing, usually. But it's gotten to feel so wrong when I'm on a trout stream. It isn't as if I'm in DC rush hour traffic. There's nothing like standing in the middle of paradise, weeping and gnashing my teeth...

Cussing on a trout stream, in someone else's back yard? Even worse.

Cutting it out is going to take some doing, though. The important thing is prevention. Like watching where my backcast is going to go before I throw it.
 
I don't get it?

If you want to go old......... then get a old bamboo. And the modern reels work so good, get a cheap one..... only to hold line anyway?

Bamboo is a slow action, but the old glass are so awful heavy and so very slow?

I love to fly fish with the lightest rod available...... for nostalgia I'll use a bamboo!
 
Some glass is fairly light. Compared to a traditional solid bamboo taper, a glass rod of the same length is always lighter. And they aren't all slow action- except if your reference is fast graphite.

Admittedly they started out that way, in the 1950s.

I think there's actually something to be said for feeling some resistance when you cast a fly rod, and giving it a pause to load and launch. I've heard many experienced anglers say that it's easier on their casting arm. Although almost everyone agrees that the advantages of graphite become steadily more apparent for throwing any line heavier than 6 or 7 weight.

But we're all a bunch of wimps these days, anyway. I once saw an old photo of the Queen of England spey casting for salmon with, like, a 14-foot bamboo rod, or maybe it was part greenheart wood. The thing probably weighed nearly a pound. Maybe more.
 
My natural casting style is slower. I think that came from my dad's influence. He messed w/ fly fishing when he was younger, then when we all got into it again in the mid-90s, I think he carried over that slower style and passed it onto me. The first time I fished with glass, it felt MUCH better to me. Now I'm starting to get my dad back into using glass.
 
I love fiberglass fly rods. And if you think they're only for beginners or unserious fly fishers, browse through the Fiberglass Flyrodders Forum some time. Plenty of people who know what they're doing on that board.

I used to post there a lot, under a different screen name than this one. Then they and the CFRF changed servers, and when that happened, for some reason I just got away from posting at those places. I do that some times with websites- just give them a rest for a while. Especially ones where I feel that I'm getting sort of addicted.

But they're both great boards. Lots of great photos and photo essays, too.

 
I also enjoy The Fiberglass Manifesto site. That guy displays some AMAZING builds. Always out of my price range of course, but I love how creative people are getting w/ glass.
 
Back
Top