briansfly managed to spew a response in
rec.outdoors.fishing.fly on Thu 27 Sep 2007 04:49:01p:

Tom Nakashima wrote:
I was wondering if anyone here owns and cast a 10' 7wt. fly rod?
I've tried a 9'6" and thought that was a bit long. Most of my fly-rods
are under 9'. I was wondering about the casting control of the 10'er.
Heard the extra length was good for mending characteristics.
Comments?
-tom

I owned a 10' Powell 7/8wt rod. It would cast a mile, and mended a bit
better too. The only thing I didn't like about this particular rod was,
it was very stiff. It needed an 8wt line to properly load it. While I
never tried it, it might have been easier to cast with a 9wt line. I
scaled down to a Sage 9'6" XP 7wt(being built for me). I have
fished(steelhead)this same setup, and it's benefits(rollcasting &
mending)over the 9 footer I use, sold me on the switch.

brians


I have a 10' Powell as well. Actually now 9'6" after an altercation with a
vacuum cleaner power head. It's a 9/10 wt. I built in '85 to go after
salmon and steelhead in the Fraser Valley. I have it rigged with a 10 wt.
floating shooting head on a 2 to 1 Diawa, Made in England, Model 859 fly
reel. For sink tips I made a bunch of different sized tips from some lead
core, Cortland Kerboom, shooting taper. I made loops at the ends, whip
finished and coated with neoprene wader glue. Easy to swap out lines and
sinktips.

The rod has a nice flex through the grip action that seemed to improve when
the tip got shortened and the 3" fighting butt sure helps out when hauling
in big springs or steelies in fast water.

I used it a couple of weeks ago to go after pike but the few I caught
weren't of a size to need that much rod. It was nice to stretch out a line
again tho.

Northern Alberta sucks for fishing. A couple more years and I hope to be
back in Southern BC. This is no place for an old fish junkie like me.


Later......

LabRat...... |:^{)