Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Length of fly rods

I just measured three of my fly rods and they don't make sense.
Are they measured from the tip to butt, or tip to front of rod handle,, ?? Thanks..

What were they supposed to measure and what did you get?

I always thought it was the measurement of the blank. But could be wrong.

I have never measured mine but if you want i can.....

I also assumed it was length of the blank, but never gave it a lot of thought. Marketing claims probably have a lot to do with it, as in: "Save up to 40%!" (Which means "Save a good deal less than 40%")

But because fly fishing is such a micro-technical sport where you must know the Latin names for every bug on the stream, I'll advance this: The PROPER fly rod is exactly 0.2385 the stream width at average flow, not counting overhanging willows.

Thanks for the replies !!..I contacted Orvis about this due to the confusion.. They said Length is Tip to Butt - Bottom of Handle.. Rocky, I'll take my calculator, Slide Rule and Trig. functions with me the next time I hit the creek,, just to see if your right !! :-)

So what your saying is that if i don't have a second grade education i cant fly fish??? LOL

When multiplying the width by the conversion factor do i carry the two?

Yep !! Cabela's said the same thing.. Complete length of rod is proper measure..

So ... what were they, nominally, vs what did they measure?

Sorry I'm slow on getting back on this...They are all Graphite. My rods entire length :
Quarrow Big Horn marked 8'6" = 9'
Renegade (Korea) nice caster,, marked 9' = 9'
Killwell (New Zealand), marked 8'6" = 8'
Maybe the Kiwi's use different measurements. Nice rod. I've used it for about fifteen years, nice small stream rod..
But this all made me wonder how rods are actually measured..
I wonder just how many fly rods are made in the U.S. anymore.
I see where St. Croix Santo is made in Mexico..

Rocky
I will now have to find a 1.129 foot 3wt rod to fish my favorite brookie stream.

Prwlr, that would be a better caster if it were a 0.89 weight.

Okay, serious answering now. In general, shorter rods are for lighter weight lines and longer ones are for heavier lines OR for fishing methods like short-line, high-rod nymphing (for which a cane pole would also do quite nicely.) Two-handed "spey" rods are immensely long to handle winds and long casts, while small-stream rods (like Prwlr's) are short for control and brushy cover.

How they are measured is obviously a bit vague, but they are supposed to be from tip guide to end of butt. One might make the argument that it also could be length of the blank, especially if the blank ends somewhere short of the grip butt. But there's no excuse for a rod to be shorter than its claimed length.

Help me Rocky. I was smallmouth fishing on the Tennessee River and my math ain't so good. What is 0.2385x 3/4mile? Seems like I may need a longer fly rod...

Nah, just "exaggerate" it a little, like some guys do about the length of their knuton valve.

I know what you mean, though. I just spent four days on the Missouri in Montana, and my "0.2385 x Stream" rod would have been something over a hundred feet - more if I counted the extended fighting butt...