Hi all,
Although the Rio's spey booklet has advanced in this concept over the years (time ago it stated that the anchor loaded the rod) I still don't buy the idea behind this drawing.
The rod gets loaded due to the force applied by the caster and the amount of line accelerated by that force. The casting stroke will accelerate only the rod leg of the D loop and just a short portion of the fly leg as it is turning the apex and being transferred to the rod leg. That is, the part of the line that has influence in rod loading is just that which has formed the rod leg of the D loop at the end of the stroke. Nothing else.
For a very visual explanation of why the anchor doesn't load the rod take a look here:
http://vimeo.com/aitorc/rod-loading-and-speyBy the way, rod loading is just a grossly overstated consequence of the casting stroke.
Cheers.
Aitor
hey Lindsay,
that's a very common misconception (but don't worry, it's the kind of thing that's repeated ad nauseum all over the place even though it's false)
A to B, (the D loop) is the weight we are applying force against (combined with the caster's movement and rod weight) to bend/load the rod for the forward roll. we don't load against the anchor, it's just there to keep the line tip/leader to swing backwards during the forward stroke.
the best and most simple test to have a once and for all confirmed view of this is to do a roll cast on a smooth dry surface. there is no real anchor because there isn't water tension to hold the line but the rod is perfectly loaded and the cast still works. (it's not ideal but it's to prove a point)
watch this
http://vimeo.com/aitorc/anchor-and-loading
cheers,
marc