hi everyone,

can anybody explain the reasson for a short handle on a fly rod please,the reason i ask is that i have just bought myself a basic setup,and i have so far only been practising my casting on the field,
i asked questions on here on this subject and was told that to prevent the wrist from breaking to put the rod in my sleeve,it worked,so now i am casting without doin this,
but i developed another problem and that is i grip the handle to tight to the point where my hand aches and fingers go flat,i can't help it,i grip the handle in the hand shake method,i have also tried the finger along the spine,but if i tuck the rod back in my sleeve i have a much better grip and no aches or pains,
if the rod handle was a little longer say 3" it would solve this problem for me as i could rest it against my forearm,
just curious at to why the short handle

paul

You just have to learn to relax. you want your casting to become automatic.so that you don't have to think about it. Flyfishing is ''not'' Flycasting. It's nice to be able to cast 30 yards but it is not necessary.just work at getting an easy 12-15 yards and you'll catch plenty of fish.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Presumably it's to make the 10 ounce trout I usually catch look a little more impressive in a photo

steve

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Steve


"There he stands, draped in more equipment than a telephone lineman, trying to outwit an organism with a brain no bigger than a breadcrumb, and getting licked in the process." Paul O'Neil

Think you mean yards Jim ,10 -twelve metres in modern parlance I beleive !

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Andy Wren
Winter grayling taking a year off !
Claret not just a great dubbing colour!

I most certainly meant yards,I have no idea what a metre is

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

..


Very, very true. And just as well really.

Expert casters might get excited by my saying this, but you may find it helps if you shuffle your grip a bit to rest your thumb on top of the handle. This will help provide that bit of stability and get you used to relaxing your grip slightly....

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The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


http://northcountryangler.blogspot.com

It's a 'Fighting butt'. It enables you to use your 'other' hand on the rod to excert some more pressure when playing a fish.
As regards getting a stiff hand, try squeezing the handle at the start and end of each casting stroke. This might help you relax a constant vice like grip.

Andy

The point about the thumb is important. Your thumb should be resting at the top of the handle pointing up the rod on the opposite side to the rings. You will find as you improve you will start to add just a little pressure from the thumb against the handle thus adding a little more pressure on the forward stroke.

Keep practicing mastering the art will mean years of happiness.

I used to have the same problem when I started fly fishing as a nipper. The glass rods and early carbon rods were too heavy so I used to tuck the butt down my sleave. This was fine until I decided one day to take it out my sleave. It's just a question of practice. Start with short casts at first. When you have mastered this, aim for a bit further and so on. As others have stated in the thread, ensure your thumb is on top of the grip pointing towards the rod tip. Also when casting don't bring the rod too far back as this can cause wrist break. Stop the rod as soon as the fly leaves the water.