When I cast my single hand fly rod, I am predominantly rotating the rod when casting up to 75 feet. I’m translating a little with a weight shift to remove slack, but I don’t want to end any stroke too extended while false casting because, first and foremost, I want to rotate the rod efficiently. I want to fish the entire day… day after day – not sit on the bank or boat because I’m too tired to cast.
As I rotate the rod, I am trying to keep the center of rotation as close to my hand and shoulder as possible to create the greatest velocity ratio: I want to rotate the handle a small distance so that the rod tip travels a much bigger distance over a given time.
The farther the center of rotation is from my hand, my cast becomes less efficient. If the center of rotation is an infinite distance away from my hand, I would be simply translating the rod which means that my hand and the rod tip travel at the same velocity. A velocity ratio of one is not taking advantage of the rod – at all.
By prioritizing velocity ratio, however, I am sacrificing mechanical advantage. A tremendous force is necessary to rotate the rod when my hand is near the center of rotation. For this reason, an appropriate (bony) grip is essential.
To minimize the force needed to rotate the rod, the mass below the center of the rotation (the bottom of the rod – reel, backing on reel, line on reel, cork handle and rod blank within the handle) needs to balance the rest of the rod above the center of rotation (blank, guides, wraps, and fly line within guides).
To judge the balance of an outfit, I place my finger just above the cork handle at the hook keeper. With an amount of fly line representing a typical casting distance peeled off the reel and the loose fly line completely pulled out through the guides, I want the rod to be fairly level as it balances on my finger.
Many people don’t appreciate that changing the mass of the reel by one gram can make a huge impact on feel. Feel isn’t dependent on skill level. It’s something that the rod provides. Typically, a softer rod provides more feel during a cast compared to a stiffer rod because the softer rod bends more.
With a softer rod, anyone can feel the difference in one gram of the reel when it gets close to the optimal mass. I know. It sounds unbelievable. At first, I was skeptical that I would be able to feel the difference. Sometimes, it’s less perceptible. Other times, it’s more obvious. It depends on how much feel a rod provides.
The character of a softer rod can change with the right reel. I can’t tell you how many times I had thought a rod was crappy, and after Chris balanced it, the rod turned out to be a gem.
As an experiment, you could also balance your softest rod, reel and line as I have outlined above. Cast the line a few times. Then add a two-inch hair band to the base of the reel or reel back some fly line to increase the mass of the reel. Cast again. Lighten the reel and cast again. Notice a difference?
On one of the boards, someone commented that they noticed a hair band around the base of Maxine McCormick’s reel during competition. You will see one sometimes, and other times, you won’t. She is adjusting the mass of her reel based on the conditions and the farthest target, one gram at a time.
In a headwind, I may increase the mass of the reel by one gram to anticipate the greater friction of the air against the rod above the center of rotation on the front cast. Although I will have to lift (and rotate) a larger reel mass on my back cast, the wind should help me as it pushes the fly line and the upper sections of my rod.
Since a reel is either rotating upwards or downwards while false casting, a reel can’t be too heavy or too light. It’s like Goldilocks. It must be just right.
Typically, a reel that is too light makes dampening the rod after the abrupt stop more difficult. However, a lighter reel accentuates the feel of the tip bending at the beginning of a stroke. I think that the additional force that the caster needs to exert (which is being applied closer to the center of rotation than with a heavier reel) causes the rod to bend more – if the rod is soft.
For the same reasons, a reel that is too heavy makes the tip of the rod difficult to feel. A caster uses less force to rotate the rod (relying more on the constant acceleration of gravity), and as a result, the rod bends slightly less. I’m not sure, but this is what I feel. A reel too heavy can also make front loops slightly larger because the reel is causing the rod tip velocity to increase sooner in the stroke.
Yes. A reel holds my line, but it serves another, more important role. It’s a counterbalance. A well-balanced outfit is simply more fun to cast. I hope that the sport of fly fishing starts to understand this other role of the fly reel. And if manufacturers start recognizing both roles of the reel, everyone – but especially beginners and casters who want to explore other types of fly fishing – will get better fly rod/reel/line outfits that make casting and fishing more enjoyable.
And one more thing: We need to be more skeptical of rod shootouts that use the same reel and line to determine the best rod. The same reel and line cannot balance all rods. Please pass it on.