tim simbari wrote:
We might also try and remember a very important fact. With the rise of catch and release fishing becoming so popular, combined with growing understanding of reasonable fish "playing" there is one issue without too much disagreement, many if not most of these longer rods are quite simply fish killers.
My experience leads me to disagree strongly with Tim's statement above. Killing fish with overplaying has little or nothing to do with the length of the rod. It depends on the technique of the person holding it. If you lower the rod to put the strain on the butt rather than the tip, the weakest link is clearly the tippet, not the rod, regardless of its length. I have fished bamboo 9' 5 weights and 8-8 1/2' 4 weights for many years, most commonly for fish in the 16-20" class in western rivers like the Missouri, Henry's Fork, Bighorn, etc. I play the fish as hard as the tippets I'm using will allow, get them in as fast as with graphite and let them go unharmed. You can overplay fish with any rod if you don't know how hard you can pull, so it's not the rod, it's the angler that kills the fish.
Ken, I've said it before,I'll say it again "You are one
sick puppy"
and
Quashnet, I'm sure the smell on that fish is as far gone as his jump.
