About three years ago, Chris lent me a fiberglass fly rod. He told me to train with it to help improve my casting. The serial number dates it to 1966 or 1967 – before I was born. It was the type of rod that Chris and Steve (Rajeff) grew up casting, and Chris is convinced that these full-action fiberglass rods made them better casters.
The cork handle on the rod that Chris lent me is worn. Overall, the rod looks well-used and loved. If it could talk, I’m sure that it would have many tales to tell – like any old-timer.
I hate this rod. I call it MF, short for Mister Fenwick. MF is my nemesis.
In the beginning, I never liked casting MF with other people around. It made me look like a beginner. I’m not exaggerating. When I practiced at Golden Gate with MF, one of the casting instructors from the Learn To Fly Fish Program mistook me for a student.
Back then, it was impossible to form adequate loops with it. Every loop was a tailing loop or a precursor to a tailing loop. MF rebukes you for every flaw in your stroke. And evidently, I had a lot.
It’s the opposite of a fast rod that allows you to get away with murder. MF’s heavy tip and soft butt magnify uneven acceleration and rod tip paths that waiver from a linear corridor. It’s there in the loop for you to see – and for everyone else, too.
MF is akin to a gossip column. It airs your dirty secrets.
If you don’t dampen the rod with a soft hand, it shudders in disgust. If you stop the rod too late, the counter-flex rips your loop apart. Since the diameter of the rod blank is wide, if you translate the rod too quickly in the air, it will hiss at you.
When Chris casts MF, the rod suddenly transforms into a loving servant. His loops are tight with MF… as if the rod had turned into a stout graphite rod. And when he hands the rod back to me, it’s as if the clock strikes midnight and MF turns back into… well, MF.
I know. It’s not the rod. When is it ever the rod?
Although MF chastises you for a bad stroke, admittedly it praises you for a good one. When you stop MF on a good, effortless stroke, the unbending of the rod feels like a freight train coming through and the tip almost whistles. You can even feel the rod partially load after a good back cast. To see, hear, and feel all that concentrated power and energy is magical.
The sensory feedback with MF is unmatched by any fast-action alternative. When I cast a fast-action rod, the only thing that I feel is that my loops might be tighter than last month. I’m joking – sort of. Good and bad casts with a fast-action rod feel the same. It’s a monotonous experience.
As I practice more with MF, the frequency of a tight loop is increasing. What had been never, became one-in-a-thousand casts, and now, it is happening more often. I am sucking less.
My goal is to cast MF better than Chris. I’m not sure that it will happen. But I think that, if I learn to cast MF, I will be able to cast virtually any rod out there. The same can’t be said for a fast-action rod. Once you learn how to cast a fast-action rod, a fast action rod is about all you can cast. I’m exaggerating a little, but not really.
When Chris moved to Portland last month, he entrusted his beloved MF with me. In retrospect, I think that he wanted MF to be a surrogate coach in his absence. The feedback it provides is more than most coaches would or could give a caster.
Lately, I am starting to understand why Chris thinks that full-action fiberglass rods made him a better caster. MF has slowly made me a better caster, too. But this hasn’t changed my feelings for the rod. I still hate MF.
Despite my dislike for MF, I would choose to practice with it over any fast-action rod. A fast-action rod covers up your casting problems. It’s like make-up that conceals your flaws and makes you look better.
When you go out, there’s nothing wrong with putting make-up on. But you must also come to terms with your appearance without make-up.
When I go out to fish, I use a fast-action rod. Hook sets are crisper; driving big flies or heavy nymph rigs into the wind is easier. Life is better. There are some definite advantages to a fast-action rod – when fishing.
However, when I am not fishing, I’ll continue to practice with MF. For me, the choice is clear AF.
* * * * *