Can I ask a general question, we are trying to fight the pike hard to help return it in as fit a state as possible. Is this not a case for using as short a rod as possible? I could be wrong but doesnt using a longer rod decrease the amount of pressure we can put on a fish, so shouldnt rod length be taken into consideration. Ive never seen this written anywhere so it could be complete bo**ox.

A generally accepted length for whacking out great balls of fluff is 9ft... I really wouldn't want a longer rod.

I suppose with a shorter the rod youre going to lose casting efficiency, so I guess its a compromise between being able to cast as you say a great ball of fluff and to subdue the fish as quickly as possible.

But for fighting a fish hard then a 9ft would be better than a 10ft wouldnt it?

LG1

In my humble experience it is the power of a rod rather than its length that shortens a fight .

I use my own AFTM 15# 10 foot Beastmaster for leadlining and the casting of excessive sized trout flies on big stillwaters . It is no more brutal than the old Northwestern Glass FR11 leadlining rod I started with 40 years ago . It will stop a 20+ pike pretty much in its tracks ( I had 6 in one strange afternoon at Grafham a few years ago ) .

I reckon I'd still be there playing the things with an 8# outfit . They were got out and dealt with very quickly indeed ! Not much Lactic Acid build up at all .

Worse - I once took a 9' 13# Tarpon Ugly Stik to Alaska and had a go at King Salmon with that - after hookup all I then did was turn my back on the fish and walk them straight up the (rather flat ) beach !

Power not shortness kills far quicker ! Shorter helps a little but power is everything .

And there is no 'Generally Accepted 9' ' Standard Pike Fly Rod merely a lot of sorry none pike fishermen in the Importing Trade buying whatever is cheap on offer from the Chinese ! It is actually one of the great modern cons in the Trade ! ( Same like Fluorocarbon ! )

Best wishes

Steve P

Sorry to change the subject of this thread, Steve i take it you think Flurocarbon is a con?

Hi Steve, I think you are probably right, its more of a question than a statement. My thoughts are that you are on the wrong end of a lever when trying to play a fish.

For instance if you were picking up a really heavy weight from a table say a bucket of lead or whatever, you would stand as close to it as possible and lift it, you wouldnt get a 15ft pole and tie one end to the bucket and lift it like a fishing rod from 15ft away would you. As you slide the bucket back along the pole towards you it will be easier to lift, wouldnt it (I think?)

So from that I think the lever is working against you and therefore in the fishes favour, but compared with other factors such as stiffness I'm not sure how important it is.


Do I have a point about the rod and the bucket, can you see what I mean its quite difficult to explain.

It may well be that the difference is much less relevant than the difference between an 8 weight and a 9 weight?

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Steve sorry just read your post, Are you saying that your 9ft #13, is a better fighting rod than your 10ft #15, wouldnt that suggest that the shorther rod may have something to do with it.

I use one of Steve Partons rods for pike: the Imperator. I have used other people's pike rods too but none that will handle very big pike flies with the same ease. For what it's worth it seems to me that the size of the fly dictates the line weight which in turn determines the rod to be used.

Malcolm