Best rod/line for ....

On Dec 28, 11:25 pm, "Wayne Knight" wrote:

e and very good as a
fishing tool, especially protecting light tippets.

That is also a very good point. Quite a few people don´t like the TCR
´s ( even overlined) because they say they are too stiff/fast, wont
protect fine tippet at all, and are "poor" fishing tools. I don´t
agree with this, I have used a couple of them for fishing, and cast a
couple more. Although the models within the range vary widely in their
precise action and properties ( i.e. a TCR #6 is not just a more
powerful version of a TCR #5 ), they basically do what it says on the
tin.

They are extremely difficult to load at close range with the rated
lines, and I would not even consider using them for close range dry
fly fishing for instance, or indeed any other close range fishing.
There are many rods much better suited. For general still water and
large river fishing, allowing quite a number of methods, they are
excellent rods.

Unfortunately I don´t know anything at all about the Winstons, or the
other line which has been mentioned, but I would tend to accept
Mr.Knights´s take on it, especially in view of his past reviews and
comments on various equipment. Always with the proviso that I would
not buy any equipment at all without trying it first myself, and I
certainly would not advise anybody else to do so either. His
recommendation for a specific purpose would get a rod on my short list
though, were I in the market for one.

Something which is very rarely mentioned at all, and never by various
manufacturers, is the simple fact that not only the objective "feel"
of a rod varies widely, but it also varies very widely among casters
for the same rod, and this is also because casting capabilities vary
very widely from abysmal to expert.

A really good caster can cast more or less anything, and he will
always be better than lesser casters, regardless of the equipment. He
will mostly prefer equipment suited to his style and type of fishing,
and he will likely use the best of that type available for his
fishing. Many intermediate casters are only really happy with or able
to use one particular type of rod, in a certain way.

There are lots of other reasons for some of these variations as well
of course. The pure cost of buying the very best equipment may deter
some, and they will compromise to suit their pockets.

One of the main reasons I built a fair number of blanks myself at one
time, was to try and obtain an optimum set of rods for my own fishing.
many of the commercial offerings, regardless of price, just did not
suit me for one reason or another. Up until fairly recently I still
used at least five of those rods regularly, and have still not found
anything better in the commercial ranges for my particular purposes,
although of course I have not tried them all, but more or less all of
the top models available here at least.

There is no such thing as a universal rod. Some are almost ideal for
some purposes, and completely lousy for others. But all of them depend
for optimum performance in any given situation on the caster´s/ angler
´s skill. NONE of them will improve your casting/catching beyond your
current abilities. The ONLY way to achieve that is to improve your
abilities.

TL
MC