TRAJECTORY (& 1 pc rods)

Walter & Group:

On Loomis one-piece fly rods and TRAJECTORY. My answer below Rick Whorwood's message:-

Hi Gordy

Thanks for the e-mail, the new format is great, very personable. I have seen, but not cast the one pc. rods (the older 9ft blanks) I would think one pc rods would be great, if like you said (you could leave them in the boat). My boat is in the drive-way under a tarp, but I don't leave anything in or on the boat, although we live in a very quiet area. A friend of mine was fishing the Niagara river for Steelhead, stopped on his way home for pee (at a donut shop) when he came out, someone had stolen his G.P.S. $1000.00 gone. Did you have any luck with the trajectory info ? Glad to hear you had a great poon fest, well deserved. I'm still hoping to come down next year for a month, I'll need to do lot's of tying over the winter !!

Rick

Well....I DO bring my rods in from the boat after docking. Even when I use 2 pc or 4 pc rods, I don't unstep them....but leave them rigged, back off the drags, flush them with fresh water, and bring them up into the house.

I LOVE those 1 pc. Loomis fly rods. No ferrule problems, a tad lighter. It may be my psyche...but they feel a bit smoother. Strictly subjective on my part. (I wonder if the competition distance casters have even tried them...might just offer a wee bit of advantage.)

Fishing the Nushagak, once in Alaska.... some new guys came in and placed their arsenal of fly rods outside their tent, leaning against a wood brace. In the morning they were horrified to find that the, "porkeys" had eaten all the cork from their handles ! (No one had warned them about porcupines in that area.)

Understanding the use of trajectory is very important when fly casting....especially when casting in the wind. As I reviewed the casting literature, I find it sorely neglected.

In his book, NATURE OF FLY CASTING, Jason Borger briefly refers to trajectory in his section on long distance and wind (p241) but in general gives it short shrift as with most other authors. On pp. 37-38, he does describe various planes including, "LINE PLANE" which is really a synonym for trajectory.

Mac Brown (CASTING ANGLES...p. 61`) describes line plane as referring to the positioning of the fly line during the cast in relation to the ground. Now this works fine when casting in the vertical or near vertical rod plane....but it goes out the window when casting in the horizontal rod plane. All this despite the fact that the headed paragraph following that of, "line plane" is that of, "rod plane".

Most writers and graphic artists depict fly casting with a vertical rod plane....which does make it much easier to understand for the reader, to be sure. With a vertical rod plane, one can have a trajectory such that the back cast loop travels back and UP, and the forward cast loop travels forward and DOWN to the target when casting into the wind, for example.

Now let's go to casting with a horizontal rod plane. If we do the same thing (for whatever reason), the back cast travels back and, "behind" while the forward cast loop travels forward and, "away". This may become necessary in the event the caster is standing in one position in a river and can't turn his foot position. It allows him to hit a target which is out on the river say, 45 degrees from him while placing his back cast below some overhanging trees on the bank.