Originally posted by jaker_cc
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Budget? -
Originally posted by Clay C View Post
450ish...could be more for the right setup
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Picking me up a Thomas and Thomas and save 4 wt setup real soon. I'm really anxious to get to the water!Comment
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Have you looked at the TFO TICR 8wt? I have one and like it. Nice bend and loads fast.Originally posted by jaker_cc View PostComment
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Originally posted by yaqui View Post
I'll have to look at it. Wish I had a place to actually cast these rods before I bought one
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Originally posted by jaker_cc View Post
I believe they only have the TICR X now. Those rods are freaking canons. Great rods performance wise, they can put a whooping on big fish, cast big flies easily, but they are pretty heavy physically compared to most modern rods. They also fish way over their line weight. To me, I'd pick this rod as a big fly/big fish/needing to pull hard rod.
If looking at TFO for the purposes you are describing, I would look at the BVK or Mangrove.
Mangrove is a very easy rod to cast. Loads easily, will be friendly with many types of lines and is a good in close to medium range casting and sight fishing rod. It is not a great distance rod and not the best in heavy wind.
The BVK is a fast light weight rod that can be accurate at short/medium range, and drop a fly accurately at distance if you need to/are capable. I honestly think it's hard to find a rod at ANY price point that cast better than the BVK. The only downside is it's known to be pretty delicate. Many people use them without issues but many people have had them break. It's the only thing that has kept me from buying one, although the times Ive fished/cast them I've enjoyed it a lot. The good news is TFO has a great warranty and will have you a new rod in no time if it were to break.
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I play with it sometimesComment
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Jaker-CC. I own a TFO BVK 8wt, paired with a Ross reel.
It's a great fly stick. I can pop 85 ft casts with it easily, loads well, tracts casts on target extremely well and the build quality is excellent!
TFO Blank engineering was mastered by Gary Loomis - of GL Loomis rods. Gary sold G Loomis years ago, and he's been involved with scrim and resin work, with a few key companies in the industry.
TFO is one and MHx is the other (Mudhole Tackle - Custom blanks). The MHx blanks are bare blank only - not one factory rod built on these sticks. Only for custom rod builders.
It's an excellent flats 8 wt stick. Two ring guides that transition into quality Snake style guides. It's fast actioned, loads very well and you can bend into the parabolic action of this blank with a lot of casting load (double haul).
Here's a note about Graphite. The more lighter the blank, the less resin and scrim applied to the overall build. This means, any mis-handling of the rod, banging a tip, having anything knock into the blank etc, may cause internal stress cracks. Where they develop an unseen stress crack, this is a point of failure. And many graphite fly rods aren't designed to double over bend. Once they hit the maximum bend radius, it doesn't take a lot more, to snap them.
There's a balancing point with blanks. Lightweight fast action in IM 7 versus IM 6 will be more brittle. They are lighter and responsive but, their strength is entirely centric with lowering weight by reducing resin, and using higher compression to get there. But it also makes these rods extremely prone to damage through side forces.
Transporting with rod bags and ensuring when you cast and fight, you don't whack the blank when it's under a load or hyper bend it with a fish in close, all is fine.
I'd jump on another BVK. I like it and it's a very affordable performance fly stick. The hidden jewel, G Loomis had his fingers on this blank build technology behind the scenes so a lot of time and quality went into it's design.
TFO sells bare blanks and many build custom fly sticks around the BVK.Last edited by AtTheWall; 12-20-2016, 07:23 AM.Comment
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The Cuda was pretty much a nuisance fish on one of my many offshore trips. I've caught more than I want to LOL!
Darn nasty suckers and they can really ruin a good offshore trip. Some of the schools can get into 50 to 100 Cuda at the offshore Spars. And once they get up around the boat, they stay there, pretty much shutting down anything you try to cast past them.
They deep fry with Panko and Cajun shake nicely though! Just have to keep those 20 miles away from Garden Banks area - Spar floater Cuda are fine. Ciguatera is found around coral reef fish, cuda prey on these fish and they carry Ciguatera. At offshore floaters, no coral to worry about.
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I have caught and ate cuda as well. They taste great and pull like a freight train. They sure will jack up a trip. Last snapper trip I took was ruined by them. iF the bait got past them on the way down the snapper didn't make it on the way up. I have a picture somewhere of a tandem rig with 2 snapper heads on it. That's all I got to the boat.Comment
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Soooooooo i think walleye will be next on the hit list. Anyone have info on texas walleye or broken bow too. Can be fly or regular ole rods.Comment
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Found some big fish today, but couldn't get them to eat. Plenty of mid slot fish to have fun with though.
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Reflections
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Here's a month of my fly rod work.
Right - Rainshadow Revelation 2 weight, 6'6" setup for Uncle Saggy. Rigged with his Ross Colorado Zero reel. In spite of it's super short length, a small stream setup, it fires 45 - 55 ft casts easily and accurately. It's a joy to cast, super super light and responsive. Will be chasing a lot of rainbows and browns in Arkansas soon with Uncle Saggy. He's got that scene dialed in and we will stage from his Casa and hit the scene there. I built a similar 4 wt to cover freshwater salmonids.
Center - My Blue Halo 7 weight, 8'6" rigged with a Galvan Rush Lite 6 weight reel. I'm using a 6 wt Rio Trout Weight Forward line and it shoots line out to 85ft smoothly and accurately. I love low casting this blank with sidearm windy flat style casting. It bends easily and you can feel the blank load and hold it's bend further through the cast versus graphite. It really provides a ton of feel through the cast arc. It casts easily and accurately from short out to 85ft. I've overlined it with 8wt line and it casts this with more to go. I bet I can line up to 8.5 wt and get away with it easily. This rod has a lot of range, looking forward to fishing this stick fresh & salt. I stuck one of my Ross 8 wt reels, rigged with a WF 8 wt redfish & saltwater flats style line - rolled easily with a lot of feel.
Left My Rainshadow 4 weight, 8'6" rigged with a Galvan Brookie 4 weight reel. It's matched with 4 weight line, Rio Grand In-Touch 4 wt which is weighted at 5 wt. This rod is super light, owing much to the Toray 7 graphite scrim used in the Revelation blanks. Toray 7 is one of the best graphites on the market, used on some of the most expensive factory rod blanks on the market. Excellent lightness and responsiveness = fast action.. For a 4 wt blank, it pumps 75ft casts with touch and accuracy, which surprised me. This blank will be an excellent small stream to river and panfish with small to medium flies in it's zone.
On my casting field behind the house. Lot of wind today so worked with each blank, adjusting my casting style to the flats side arm delivery, backhand and spey casts, rolling backhand and forehand.
I have a 5 wt Blue Halo on it's way, should be here this upcoming week. I'm really liking these Blue Halo blanks. They are a joy to double haul and pump a lot of line in the air with ease. A slower effort and you can really feel the pull between transitions, tons of feedback.Last edited by AtTheWall; 12-26-2016, 07:24 PM.Comment
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Well my 8wt may not be going to florida after all.... I found a 4 piece 10wt that looks very tempting!Comment
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