George Cleveland wrote:
excellent TR snipped

So what did I learn from fishing the old school rods?

One, the faster rods I fish with now have made me a worse caster. The
old rods worked well... if I hit the timing just right. But if I was
off even a bit I ended up with tailing loops on my tailing loops. I
had wind knots like I hadn't had since 1987, when I got my first
graphite rod. I don't have to be as precise to get a tolerable cast
out now and it shows in my casting when confronted by a less forgiving
rod material. ...

Thanks for the TR. I love it when you go fishing. ;-)

As far as faster rods being more forgiving of a sloppy casting
stroke I think it's true only to a point. The new super fast
rods are very unforgiving. If you're not a practiced caster you
may as well be using a broomstick. I have the old Sage RPLs in
5 and 6 wt and I've always considered them fast, but compared to
the things on the market today they're better described as
medium fast.

--
Ken Fortenberry