Most things in life never go as planed. The $300 bill from the power company, the soccer mom coming out of nowhere in her van on the phone, that sudden strike while you were watching the bubbles swirl in an eddy are all things that we don't plan on, but that we should be ready for. I always look back and say to myself, I should have known that would happen.
Sadly, I just had one of those events. This one, though, is really going to hurt. I have been working on a bamboo rod for some time now, and I was excited about ordering all the parts. I had poured over rod making catalogs and web sites trying to find just the right parts. Once I had all the aesthetics taken care of I began trying to size up the parts. This is when things took the unexpected turn for the worse.
As I measured the rod nothing would even come close to the sizes they needed to be. Then it dawned on me that I had not divided my measurements in half. For those unaware, when a rod maker designs his own rod he can make the taper of the rod available in a chart form. These are available in various places on the web. The dimensions of the taper are measured from flat to flat on a hexagon shaped rod. In order to then produce the same rod I must set my planning form to half of the flat to flat measurement.
What does this all mean for me? My rod will make a very nice tomato stake next summer.
Bamboo rod attempt two is under way already. I have decided to make a 7’ 5wt. instead of a 6’ 4wt. Someone told me it would make for a better over all rod for trout fishing. So, just for fun, what size is your go to rod? What size and weight is the rod you believe you could not only take to a high mountain stream, but also to a tail water?
Matthew
2 comments:
I hardly ever fish anything shorter than 8' these days. I own a few 7.5 rods and one glass 7' 3wt, but unless the stream is seriously blocked in, I'm going with the longer rods.
That could reveal a serious character flaw, or maybe I'm just manlier than everyone else (I vote for the latter).
Man, that's terrible. I know all about putting a lot of time in something only to find out I screwed the whole thing up. Story of my life.
I usually go with a 8' or 8.5' 4 wt on both mountain streams and tailwaters. I opt for something with a little more punch if I can count on wind. I'll be taking a 9' 6 wt out to Yellowstone later this year to complement my lighter rod. Take care,
Nathan
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