Do Stiff Rods Lose More Fish?

[Wildfisher]

Stiff rods have advantages for casting, but I'm pretty sure I lose more fish with them due to hooks tearing out. I also believe tippet breakages are more frequent.

What do you think and why?

(Poll results are only visible to those who have voted)

[Highlander]

I would tend to say so, having said that I have never owned one so might not be the best person to answer.
But one thing I will say that for Sea Trout fishing & especially in tidal water a "stiff" rod is a distinct disadvantage. Too often I have seen anglers using "reservoir" type casting tools & loosing more Sea Trout (fresh fish off the tide) & generally at night than they land whilst myself with the "traditional actioned" wet fly rod having more success. I suspect because of the rod but maybe a bit because I know what I am doing.
Not concrete proof but more a reflection on use over many years.
I am a great watcher of people & no disrespect to "modern" anglers & by that I mean those that primarily fish in stocked dubs & the like but the general standard of "playing" a fish is generally poor. Too often I see fish "horsed" with resultant hooks pulling out or indeed more often than not tippets breaking but they do not seem to bother too much as there are always more to catch but many do not learn by their mistaes probably because they do not realise a mistake is being made. If I hook a big fish, seldom thogh that is I want to know if I can land it. If it indeed get's off I am happy within myself that it is not my fault, well well not all the time. The big Sea Trout lost on the Leven was my fault for not knowing that the bale arm had a metal cut worn into it but as a younster you do not think of these things. Now older & hopefully wiser, poor tackle is never going to let me down.
So yes coupled along with that & stiff rods will in fact cause a number of fish to be lost over a given time period.

Tight Lines

[hopper]

For years I used a loomis 10foot stiff as a poker mainly for rainbows but would also use it to bounce brown over the surface, things have changed now fishing for browns with a power tec rod which is a lot softer. I did break with the loomis but have also broken with the power tecd, I used both rods for dry's, nymphs  and lures.
The reason I have backed away from the loomis is elbow problems and with the softer rod I don't suffer the same but the loomis is a great rod for pumping the line into the wind.

[sinbad]

Mostly a loch fisher, i like a stiffer rod for hook ups as i often fish a long line even when I'm fishing the margins. Unless there is a good wave/wind i like to be back from the shoreline or well along the bank from where my flies are fishing. The initial runs when the trout is fresh will have a decent length of line in play to help cushion the shocks. To my mind i dont think i lose more fish in play than when i used a softer action rod but i think i spook less fish before they get a look at my flies now. Sb

[east wind]

In the correct hands probably no, but but for me I'm thinking possibly yes. I recently changed back to softer actioned rods (by no means a quick process) and the four I use for most my fishing are middle or middle to tip. The most used now, a Norwich and a Vision Cult, are more enjoyable to cast and get better results in presentation and feel.

The cushion provided when playing decent trout was very noticeable last season and let me keep them where I wanted them.
My biggest trout last season was a battle but I always had it at a manageable distance. Each run I could slow down and turn without giving too much line which seemed to confuse and subdue that fish.

Not that I'll object if I ever get taken into the backing and I still lost some nice ones, that's fishing for you.
Next year I hope will give me a chance to rack up some conclusive evidence.

[sinbad]

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[bibio1]

I have no doubt stiff rods lose fish. I just can't understand why the rod manufacturers came up with this idea other than to sell more rods to fisherman that think it'll help them cast a yard further.

[Wildfisher]

Paul,  anyone who wants to sell you anything has to make you believe you need it. Casting is important, but it's not everything by any  means and this is where the sales hype has been focused for some years on  lines as well as rods.  There's a rod and line for every occasion, it has gone beyond practical considerations.

Fishing considerations seem to have become almost secondary on the casting fields and ponds.  You don't lose fish or witness  brutal presentation on football pitches.

[sinbad]

Well i can cast more accurately, longer and i prefer to fish long lines as i prefer to be further from the wild trout than they can see me . Tip action lets me take up the slack and strike. I buy them  because i think they are better and i have never measured how far i can cast. Sb   

[Wildfisher]

OK, here's a different angle on it.

My own observations of breakages over many years both by myself and others I have fished with have shown without doubt that the tippets / leaders don't break, knots do. These knots may just be poorly tied and not tested, or may very often be "wind knots" - nothing to do with wind – but caused  by poor casting technique resulting in tailing loops.  Perhaps they should be called "tailing loop knots".

Stiff rods are less forgiving  of poor technique for the average caster. IMO they also encourage anglers to cast out with their comfort / ability  zone and beyond their control capabilities. Tailing loops and "tailing loop  knots" are bound to happen.  So, add "tailing loop knots" to a reluctance of the rod  to bend / give and you have a recipe for disaster.

I'm not advocating floppy rods, far from it, I can't abide them, but  most of the better / most successful fly fishers  I know do go for mid to tip action.