Grandad didn't have it so Bad

[Malcolm]

First a wee word about the casting club.

One of the things I like about the casting club is that it is so informal. There are people there who are approachable and who know what they are doing (Alan, Alberto, Alex etc etc), people like me - and I suspect many on the forum - who are competent but don't know what they are doing, absolute beginners and even salmon fishermen. Something Buzz said in a post made me decide before I went that I wasn't going to listen to any instruction on any cast I felt comfortable with despite the technical flaws that are so ingrained into me but that's fine - there's lots of new stuff to learn. It's also a great way to try out the latest tackle - as long as it's a 5 weight!

Last night, in between helping a couple of absolute beginners (Alan they are now corrupted) I decided to bring along some old old tackle and spent a fair bit  of time trying to get the best out of glass and cane. This is something you just wouldn't do on a river - you'd be too busy fishing.

My conclusion is that at practical fishing distances a decent rod of cane or glass will do everything that a ?400+ carbon rod will do. Sometimes better. I admit I have used glass rods on an irregular basis but I may just use these older rods more. At very short distances their swing weight helps accuracy and feel. Once you get used to it. At medium distances they will flick out a line totally effortlessly. Only at extreme - and I do mean extreme - distance is the cane found wanting. I suspect some of this in fact has to do with the rings. The rings are tiny on mine.

It did take some time. These rods are just so alien in action to what we are used to but once the necessary adjustments to timing are made then they cast superbly. Alan and I had the same slight problem at the start: using the roll cast of a modern carbon rod the line would just not aerialise properly and woulld slap into the water however once the power is put on earlier in the stroke then all the problems disappear.

They are a little heavier. Alan noticed the difference more than I as I use heavier tackle on a day to day basis than he does. However the 8ft #6 weight cane rod will be getting used. The short distance performance means more to river fishers than  the extra few feet a top carbon rod can cast when pushed to extremes.  In fact I've just had a thought that teamed up with a Snowbee XS line (now that line really is a revelation) it may just perform at extreme distance as well as a carbon rod with an ordinary line.

Malcolm

[Ian_M]

I agree with your findings Malcolm. Cane rods are (or were in my case) a joy to use and glass rods perform very well also. I still have two Hardy glass rods which still get used from time to time.

I have to say, however, I do like the lightweight that comes with carbon. You can fish all day with these.

[Wildfisher]

Are some cheepo carbon rods not  floppy like  old glass rods?  For example Daiwa whiskers

[Malcolm]

Breac,

We had a stiff breeze last Thursday and I made a point of going round and fishing directly into it with the glass rod - something that I would never do on a loch. I know where you are coming from but it seemed to me to handle the breeze as well as carbon. That may be down to my casting style.

Malcolm

[greenwell]

I used cane rods for all my fishing up until about 3 years ago and after dabbling with carbon have now gone back to them. I have looked after mine and they are all as good as the day I got them. I have never had one break on me, unlike carbon and quite frankly the weight is only an issue if you are not using them correctly or using a modern lightweight reel. Set the rod up with a good reel from the same era as your rod was built, a Beaudex, Condex, Pridex, anything from Young's and you'll have a good outfit that will last years. My reels are all now 35+ years old and I fully expect them to outlive me. My one concession is to use modern lines which, if anything will enhance the performance of a cane or glass rod.
                                            My all time favourite is a trusty Sharpe's 88, it goes to the Almond, WoL, Avon and Harperrig where I use it from bank and boat. It is desgned as a river dry fly rod but will put out twenty-five yards of WF or DT 5 and a team of three with ease. I agree casting into a wind is difficult, my Allcock's Leander is better for that but I rarely fish a shoreline onto which the wind is blowing.
                                       The trick with cane is to slow everything down, let the rod do the work and as Alan says the power generated is surprising. But since in my opinion carbon rods, whatever the make, are pile of crap, here's a couple of other things modern anglers might not know:-
                           
                                   1. You don't need a drag system of any kind, on any fly reel, salmon or trout. I've never caught a trout or salmon that couldn't be slowed down with my palm.
                                   2.  You don't need a large arbour reel.
                                   3. You don't need a fast tip action rod to get distance, a through action will do the job. What's needed is a casting lesson!

                 My pal recently got a new Hardy reel. ?200.   Strangely his current run of blanks hasn't stopped.

                          Greenwell, in full cynic mode tonight.

                               

[Wildfisher]

As Bob Wyatt said, fish with what you are happy with.

[greenwell]

There was a lot in what Bob Wyatt said, as quoted. Most of us when we started out had to make the best use of what we had, my parents couldn't afford to buy me a different rod for different places. My 9' sgl-handed trout rod had to do me whether I was on the Baldovie Burn or Loch Awe, the Isla, wherever. The difference then was that one learned to adapt. If there was a canopy of overhanging branches, so be it, you just found a way to get a cast in, after all, it was part of the whole essence of fishing and it is the desire to figure out how a problem can be overcome that seems lacking to some degree nowadays. I'm not suggesting we haven't benefited in many ways from innovative, thinking anglers, of course we have, but back then I wouldn't have passed by an overgrown burn because my rod was 'too long'. I'd have figured something out.
                If you take the time to adapt tactics and technique to the situation in front of you then there really is no need for a battery of rods, reels and lines.
              When it comes to fishing tackle we have a lot to thank the Americans and Trout Fisherman magazine for. Or not. Me personally, I'm much more grateful for the efforts of J. S. Sharpe, J. W. Young and K.P.Morrit.

                                      Greenwell.

[Part-time]

One of my mates I was fishing with on Watten a month or two ago only goes fly fishing once or twice a year. I offered him a shot of a spare carbon rod but he was far happier sticking with his 30 year old glassfibre rod because he likes it better. He caught as much as everyone else (probably more than me) and didn't enjoy himself any less fishing with an ancient glass rod. I guess though if he started to get into his fishing a bit more the doubts would start to creep in; will that carbon rod/fancy reel/line for every occasion make a difference?