Fiberglass fly rods / Centerpinning with fly / "Pearl"

I wanted to share a very special day I had this past Thursday. Tom Morgan (previous owner of Winston fly rods) asked Brant Oswals, Lawrance Stumke(G. Loomis rep.) and myself to test out his new fiberglass prototype rods. I was very excited to try his new rods and to just spend a few hours with him. I have known Tom for a long time. My dad bought my first graphite rod from Tom at the factory in Twin Bridges when I was 19 years old. Tom has MS and is restricted to a motorized wheel chair. He can operate one pointer finger and can talk. That is another story. Forbes magazine currently has a story on Tom.

Anyway, I was able to spend three hours testing and critiquing his fiberglass rods. I really liked the 4 whts. We started with 3 whts and moved into 7’s. We switched out tips and butts. I was surprised how much I was in tune with the rods feel and that I really did have some constructive insights. Overall I found them to be soft, responsive and accurate; quite a nice feel to them. I had a few favorites that I may someday buy. Some were better than others, hence the testing.

At the end Tom asked us to cast his old fiberglass 8’3” #6 streamer rod. It was really different. Strong butt with a soft tip. I asked him about the tip and he told me about his “Tom Morgan Twitch” he used for streamer fishing. His technique requires a soft tip. Now here is the really special part. He asked if I would like to learn how to do it. I said “yes!” He said there are two others that wish to learn and next spring we will go to the lower Madison and he will teach it to us. Now he is in a wheel chair so this will be an amazing experience on many levels.

Just for fun, go to troutrods.com (Tom’s web site) and click on fiberglass rods. Interesting reading! You will see a site for the Tom Morgan Twitch, read it I think you will find it interesting. I cannot wait to try it.

Now if this day wasn’t great enough, at the end Lawrance asked if I would like to be on the G Loomis Pro Staff, I said “yes”!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Modern fiberglass fly rods are NOT to be discounted. They are a lot different from the original ones with which I fished right after WW II. I'm convinced that as with bamboo, they occupy a real position in our fly fishing armamentarium.

For one thing, I found that getting my fractious young grandson of 6 started with fly casting, a short/light fiberglass rod had one undeniable advantage. The darn thing is almost indestructable as the youngster starts playing with it and experimenting on his well deserved "alone time".

Their history is interesting, too as we consider the original applications ... even the fact that Charles Ritz had come up with a fly rod which was half fiberglass and half bamboo ! *

During my more than 70 years of fly fishing, I've used the old Greenheart rods (with tubular brass guides), bamboo, beryllium-copper step rods (1940), many different types and designs of fiberglass rods, combo glass/graphite rods, Boron rods, combo graphite/boron, and many different designs of graphite rods. It's fun to reflect back on all that !!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to admit I learned a lot from Rick, Ally and others about Centerpinning, certainly emphasizes the importance of a drag free drift and finding/holding the proper depth in the water column. I was wondering how the group would respond to a fly fisherman who wanted to cast and rig up to duplicate the whole scenario using fly fishing equipment?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jim ... I learned a lot, too. Did so, when Rick Whorwood came to Big Pine Key to fish and cast with me along with Phil Clough whose grandfather had designed what may have been one of the first centerpin reels.

As you did, I thought perhaps a similar technique could be used effectively with fly tackle for a deadly dead drift. In line with that, remember that Ally Gowans had noted that it had been used with nymph flies.

I have learned many things over the years from other fishing disciplines which have help me with fly fishing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

If you wish to have a leader which will turn over efficiently with whatever fly you have chosen, simply place the leader/line connection at the rod tip and slowly false cast the leader-fly assembly with no fly line at all. If you can do this with good loop turnover, then you've designed your leader correctly.

To this I'll add that in order to accomplish this, you will have constructed that leader so that its mass profile is similar to that of the forward taper of a well designed fly line. For good turnover, the graduated mass from its proximal (line connection) end to its distal (fly) end must be smooth and is much more important than the relative stiffness of its component parts.

Physicists Ed Mosser, Graig Spolek and Noel Perkins have seperately shown this with more calculus than I can handle. Bruce Richards taught me this as well. Before learning this I was erroneously teaching that the stiffness profile was more important than the mass profile. I was dead wrong !

Having said that, this is not to entirely discount the effect of the relative stiffness of these segments, especially of the tapered section.

Lefty Kreh has shown that because of this effect, it is best to construct this leader with the same materials, even to use the same brand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~