I looked up and couldn't find the Hardy glass spey - can you give an item #?
I think that the Fenwick 12' rod was designed as a "noodle rod" which were popular for light tackle steelheading. That's a lot different than a spey rod, but if it loads progressively as you add power, and doesn't tend to overload swinging wildly past where you stop, you might be able to find or make a spey line that would work for it.
I have been fishing spey rods about 80% of my fishing for the last three years, and 25% for ten years before that, in bamboo and graphite.
I have a 14' Hardy #9-10 glass salmon rod and a 13' #9 Bruce and Walker Cordon Bleu. They are both beasts and feel like a lot of dead weight compared to graphite or bamboo. It's not just the weight, but the swing weight, and they are so thick that wind resistance is noticeable. They don't have the responsive snap that graphite has, that you need for shooting scandi lines. I think they would work fine with big fat heavy skagit lines where their slow action is useful. And for long belly lines with a long front taper like a SA XLT, I don't think you'd be able to get far enough back into the line to make it work. For traditional Double Taper lines, they will work fine but not at the distance I get used to with graphite.
If you could find a 12' #8, it might work a little better. I think 11' in #7 could be engineered to work well in glass but I don't know of any made.
I love the bamboo Sharpe's of Aberdeen Scotties, especially the spliced ones and fish them as spey rods from 9.5' #6 through 13' #9, with the 11' #7 and 12' #8 being my favorites. I also really enjoy a Bruce and Walker Hexagraph 12' #8-10 (Graphite in six strips assembled like bamboo). All of these are pretty heavy, and this limits me to a traditional posture of holding the rod down at a comfortable position, chest high. With graphite you can raise your arms higher, as taught by Hugh Falkus, and in this position I can get a lot more distance, especially when wading or shooting line.
For a graphite spey rod that the fiberglass man can love, I go back to my first one, a Sage traditional 4 piece 7136 Graphite III that I made from a blank. It flexes fully with a slow and progressive action but has a lot in reserve when I get some line out. Most modern speycasters call it the "brown noodle". They come up on Ebay regularly for around $300.
You will hear a lot about needing a specialized rod, fast tip action for scandi, or heavy and powerful for skagit, but I think it's just like the fiberglass that most of us appreciate - a progressive action rod that loads evenly and more fully as you add load will be most versatile with a variety of lines and situations.
I am very lucky to have a friend who tests out prototype lines. The spey lines these days are amazing and by far the area of the most innovation going on in flyfishing. For a cast with a given rod, the line weight in grains that's outside the tip, and the length of this, and the speed and acceleration and power you put into it, the length of leader and weight of fly for your anchor, any sink tip, the depth you are wading, and the taper of the line all play significant roles. It's pretty easy to dial in a scandi or skagit head for a given rod, and you can also find a sweet spot for a long belly line with a given rod. But to be comfortable and versatile to fish in real fishing situations that vary from hole to hole, there is no substitute for a lot of regular practice and having a variety of lines to experiment with.
This is what we do all winter long. People think we're crazy, fishing where there are no fish. Last year I forgot a Hardy Bougle 4" and Gunnison G5 and some lines in a gear bag when they got burried in snow while we were practicing in a blizzard, then the tide took them out. I have to admit it must be a sickness. Sometimes when we're really fishing, I notice my buddy isn't letting his fly continue its drift, but pulling it out for another cast over and over again.
It is very easy to get hooked on spey rod fishing! But it's one thing I cannot recommend glass for, especially for beginners.
-Vinnie in Juneau
Last edited by mvinsel on 22 Oct 2008, 09:44, edited 1 time in total.
|