Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Terry Coging

Long single handed rods?
« on: 14/07/2018 at 09:12 »
The continuing heat wave has turned my attention back to coarse fishing.  Some ancient tackle needed to be replaced so yesterday I bought a new float rod. One rod I tried was a 15 footer,  a top of the range Drennan 3 piece.  I was astonished at the lightness and power of the slim blank and mused about it being used to make a trout boat rod.  15' would work the top dropper wonderfully.  This rod handles carp, but tippets can be as low as 2 1/2lb.  Has anyone used a long, light single hander?

Euan Innes

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #1 on: 14/07/2018 at 10:35 »
Terry,
The longest one I have used and owned was 11'6" and it worked the top dropper beautifully and I want another one for wet fly work.
Simba Rods (simbarods.com) do custom long rods including a 12' nymph rod in  #4, and 11' #3 and #4 which might be nice as a boat rod. The only place I never liked the long rods was bank work and would only recommend them for boat work.
An 11'3" #5 4 piece with a #5 DT Mallard and a heavyish reel to keep the balance towards the rear would be heaven in a boat.  :cool:

Euan

Terry Coging

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #2 on: 14/07/2018 at 11:16 »
Euan, I agree that long rods have no place on the bank. Over the years I have had three 11' rods, each lighter than the previously discarded one, but none have been pleasant to use all day;  One reason being that I end up trying to 'cast' with them.  My reasoning is that with a light 15' footer I would not need to 'cast' but would instead 'stroke' the water. No false cast, just a sweeping Spey with a 3 or 4 yard shoot. Be a cross between dapping and trad wet fly.  Would love to try the theory. It must have been tried before?

Derek Roxborough

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #3 on: 14/07/2018 at 15:28 »
Euan, I agree that long rods have no place on the bank. Over the years I have had three 11' rods, each lighter than the previously discarded one, but none have been pleasant to use all day;  One reason being that I end up trying to 'cast' with them.  My reasoning is that with a light 15' footer I would not need to 'cast' but would instead 'stroke' the water. No false cast, just a sweeping Spey with a 3 or 4 yard shoot. Be a cross between dapping and trad wet fly.  Would love to try the theory. It must have been tried before?
the loch Maree Hotel Dapping rods were all 15ft, so just Dap Terry then you wouldn't have to cast at all, :z13 Derek Roxborough

Terry Coging

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #4 on: 14/07/2018 at 20:14 »
Derek, why not do both? It sounds the way to offer rising nymphs, emergers and dries all at the same time.

Euan Innes

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #5 on: 14/07/2018 at 20:24 »
Euan, I agree that long rods have no place on the bank. Over the years I have had three 11' rods, each lighter than the previously discarded one, but none have been pleasant to use all day;  One reason being that I end up trying to 'cast' with them.  My reasoning is that with a light 15' footer I would not need to 'cast' but would instead 'stroke' the water. No false cast, just a sweeping Spey with a 3 or 4 yard shoot. Be a cross between dapping and trad wet fly.  Would love to try the theory. It must have been tried before?
Aahhh, now I see what you are trying to do Terry and I love the idea. Three flies on a 15' rod for short lining wet flies sounds ace.
May I suggest talking to Sandy or Rob about getting a carp (or similar) rod re-handled with a fly reel seat and appropriate rings so that you can try out the theory. Shouldn't be too expensive to find out  :z4
My only concert would be the leverage that the rod would have when landing a trout. It would have to be quite soft which might lead to other issues.
I reckon there is only one way to find out Terry.  :z4 If you build it he will come, as Shoeless Joe once said  :cool:

Euan

Derek Roxborough

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #6 on: 14/07/2018 at 21:06 »
it used to be a bit fraught trying to net fish from a 15ft rod we were doing the netting for people with little or no experience of controlling trout with the long rod, Naa, I'll stick to my 9fter,I can dibble the top dropper quite well enough to catch fish, and netting fish is quite easy, but what ever  you want to do it's your fishing after all , good luck, Derek Roxborough

Euan Innes

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #7 on: 14/07/2018 at 21:29 »
it used to be a bit fraught trying to net fish from a 15ft rod we were doing the netting for people with little or no experience of controlling trout with the long rod, Naa, I'll stick to my 9fter,I can dibble the top dropper quite well enough to catch fish, and netting fish is quite easy, but what ever  you want to do it's your fishing after all , good luck, Derek Roxborough
Derek,
I love my nine footer for most of my trout fishing but still want  longer rod for the boat work. Then I can use the nine footer for dry work and an eleven footer for wet work  :z4
I think round about eleven feet is just about perfect for a boat but I can see where Terry wants to go with this.

Euan

Mike Barrio

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #8 on: 15/07/2018 at 00:45 »
Who remembers the 'Loch Style' rod that Sandy and I made a few years back?
Anybody still got one?

Terry Coging

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #9 on: 15/07/2018 at 09:07 »
Dapping rods are usually telescopic and use very cheap blanks; not good when playing fish.  These modern, high end coarse rods are a different thing entirely. They can control carp and barbel and are amazingly light.  The Drennan 15 footer is 5 1/4 oz! They are not designed for casting a fly line, however they should be able to 'waft' up to 15 yards out, which is all I need. Having held one of these I felt that one could fish all day with it quite comfortably. I have bought a 13 footer for general coarse float fishing. Pity the rings are so fine, otherwise  would try it with a fly line.

Hamish Young

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #10 on: 15/07/2018 at 09:18 »
Who remembers the 'Loch Style' rod that Sandy and I made a few years back?
Anybody still got one?
Did I ever cast one of those Mike :? That would be back in Haddo days I think ???

Has anyone used a long, light single hander?
Currently I have an Orvis Helios 3 10'6" #3wt out for 'trials'. Technically, this is a nymphing rod.... but having played with it let me assure you that it's much more and I have high hopes. Mind you, it's only 10'6"  :wink
I've owned and used a number of 11' and 11'3" rods but the best (and in some ways worst) that I used to own was a Marcus Warwick 12' #6wt C C McLaren 'Sea Trout Special'.
Now that was a superb loch style rod and Marcus and I talked about developing a 12'6" #6wt version with different fittings and a few tweaks as it was way too tip heavy. Sadly the project never got off the ground.  But the 12' rod.... well if I still had it then it was a rod that was made for and just waiting for an SLX... but some 25 years too soon. It was just superb at controlling a team of 'bumbles' but due to the tip heaviness was a bit awkward to fish with for longer periods.

When it comes to find light and long for dapping.... Terry I'll be bunging you a PM shortly  :z16

H

Mike Barrio

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #11 on: 15/07/2018 at 10:15 »
Did I ever cast one of those Mike :? That would be back in Haddo days I think ???

I fished mine when we did that trip up Glen Affric a few years back Hamish ..... I seem to remember that you got quite excited about it :cool: ....... the midgies were fun too :z4

We only made a couple of the 'Barrio Lochstyle' rods and I think we sold a few more blanks for self builds.  It was a 10.5 ft #5 rod.

Cheers
Mike

Terry Coging

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #12 on: 15/07/2018 at 10:26 »
If I could get hold of a Drennan Acolyte 15' blank I would get it built into a fly rod just to satisfy my curiosity. It must have been done before? Maybe the blanks have not been available and 15' makes people think 'salmon'? Fly rod blanks are made to cast with, hence they tend to be a bit heavy at 15'.  So, who is going to build me a 15' ultralight dibbler special?
.

Gethin Jones

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #13 on: 15/07/2018 at 13:37 »
In my opinion the Graphite III GFL & later RPL are the finest Lochstyle rods ever produced, I’ve used the GFL 11’3  & 10’6 Rpl  6 wts for nearly 20 years and still haven’t found a nicer pair of rods for this style of fishing.

Terry Coging

Re: Long single handed rods?
« Reply #14 on: 15/07/2018 at 21:05 »
Gethin. Sounds like you have splendid rods there and have put them to good use.  Could you see any advantage with being able to work the top dropper for a couple of yards more? 11' rods are used instead of 9' rods for a reason - why not extend the same reasoning? Maybe time to consider a new breed of rods now that blank material and design permits.  I would think of them as 'wafters'.   :wink


 




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