In the quest to reduce the weight of fly rods, manufactures have gone to stronger materials and they have reduced the amount of material used. Almost all of the manufacturers have used higher modulus graphite to make the rods more sensitive, lighter and more efficient. When using the higher modulus, a lighter blank will produce the same stiffness. But nothing is without drawbacks, as the higher modulus blanks are far more prone to break
Also, some manufacturers have gone to fiberglass handles, lighter guide material, and they have reduced the physical size of the handle, used smaller guides, and made other modifications in the effort to reduce the overall weight.
You often hear manufacturers say that they have reduced the weight of their fly rod by a small percentage, but what benefit is it especially if it impacts the performance or durability? Many of the high priced rods are within a fraction of an ounce of each other.
Well, this is the dilemma faced by James Marsh who is designing a fly rod based on his 40 or more years of fly fishing the world over. Here is the analysis that James has made.
5 Weight Fly Rod Weight: 3.13 ounces or .196 pounds
5 Weight Fly Reel Weight: 4.13 ounces or .258 pounds
Backing Line Weight:.............................. .015 pounds
Fly Line Weight: 5 weight fly line.......... . .060 pounds
Leader/Tippet Weight:............................. .002
Fly Weight:................................................. N/A
Total Weight............................................... .521 pounds or 8.34 ounces
If the complete rig weighs over 8 ounces when dry and considerably more when wet, is it worth the sacrifice in performance to see an improvement of an eight ounce? Well for his blanks, James has settled on the best combination of weight vs. performance offered by the IM10, 40 T graphite material. However, as James is quick to point and even more importantly, it is the process used by the manufacturer that helps to provide the superior performance that he is after.
We are happy to announce that his “Superb Five" rod will be offered for sale on out TroutProStore.com web site in January of 2011, so please look for it.