Welcome to the Aussiefly Newsletter where we look a bit deeper into fly fishing and tying that the normal quick sweep over. Here we take a look at product reviews, fly tying ideas, fly casting and travel.

Some examples of rods and their loading.
Rods of the 10/11w 15 feet class will carry lines of about 720grains to 900grains in weight, the reasoning of the two line sizes shown, eg, 10/11w is because the first figure, 10w is what is called the tip load, for casting with only the tip section and the second figure, 11w is known as the butt load, this is a cast where the rod is fully loaded in the butt section of the rod.

Therefore a load anywhere between 720 and 900grains is useable depending on the caster and his or her style/technique. This will then allow because of the huge range of loadings that each rod will cast allow the use of sink tips from light to very heavy to be cast with ease

Now to thoroughly confuse you ! A good caster can load the rod with a butt load using a tip load.

Distances reachable, generally with a 10/11w 15 footer are on average*, about 130 feet when cast Overhead and with a suitable line Roll and Single Spey cast about 90 feet. With timing perfect a shot to 150feet is not out of the question and this is with a 2/0 fly, and a 2/0 fly (out at over 145 feet away) is almost impossible to see till it hits the water

Casting with a Double Handed Fly Rod is easy. Far easier than any little 9 foot rod where skill and eye hand coordination has to be perfect to reach the average of 70 feet.

Yes there are people out there who will say, "I cast to 100 feet all the time with my 9foot fly rod !," However the 100 foot mark requires time to false cast enough to aerialise the line and then shoot it to 100feet.

But with a Double Hander designed for Overhead casting, it is just a matter of loading the rod and firing away into tomorrow, as your fly can reach distances never dreamed of before.

With Double rods, not all Double rods are suitable for Overhead casting as this form of casting requires a very fast taper where as a good Spey rod requires a deep parabolic type curve and the rod taper and graphite fabric cut to match.

Just as 10 years ago we almost never saw a fly rod on the waterfront, the new revolution has started - the Overhead Double is here, now !

on average*. This is by the average caster with a measured distance, not the dreams of some 'experts, gurus and would be could be's'... yes you know the type, that will either be better than you and everybody or if they cannot, then they will rubbish and have their herd of followers rubbish the idea.

Just a thought : Two handed casting, two times the line speed, two times the fly size, two handed retrieves and (if you use a dropper) two fish........sounds twice as good to me. … JDE / SOL web site