Shorter rods, up to a point, tend to be inherently more accurate in their casting abilities than longer rods are. As anglers, we are all different individuals, with different builds, strengths, reaction times and capabilities. So what I find to work the best for me may work very differently for you and no one size will fit everyone, or their fishing environment, best.
Keeping that in mind, personally, 33s cast more accurately for me than the 36s, 39s and 45s do. I haven’t been able to tell as much difference with the sub 3 meter rods as with the longer ones. I was just wondering if anyone else out there has noticed a fall off in accuracy when fishing with the longer rods and why that might happen?
I believe the places you would fish with a longer rod does not require as much pin point accuracy in the natural scheme of things as fishing the smaller waters does, so less accuracy is isn’t as noticeable under those conditions. Also, with a longer lever, any slight miss alignment in the casting hand is magnified many times over at the line end of the rod. Longer rods require the use of longer lines as well, giving the wind an expanded surface area to work on as well as on the rod blanks them selves, making a higher degree of accuracy harder to attain with the longer rods. The additional Tip Heaviness the longer rods have also takes its toll. I would appreciate hearing any and all thoughts you may have on these matters…Thank You…Karl.
I find my 4.5 rod to be pretty imprecise on softer casts where the line tumbles more than slings-out. The ease of overhead casting should let me keep trying to hit my target, but my 4.5 rod seems to be past some kind of tipping point for efficiency, and I try not to re-cast because of this. This means that I often just tolerate the imprecision.
I guess there is a trade-off: range for precision and ease of casting.
I’m still new to Tenkara though, so it could be more to do with my skill… or lack there of.
(in this case I use accuracy and precision as described here)
For me, accuracy means being able to place the fly above a pocket, in a current seam or under over hanging foliage with some wind, but not a lot of wind, preferably with a #3, Level, FC Line, and about 2 feet shorter than rod length for making Bow and Arrow Casts with low over the water trees, and or a line long enough to fish the far bank water, while holding the line up off of the faster water in the center of the stream, with a 2 - 3 foot long tippet.
When I was testing a DIY 7m tapered line for my 5.3m K-rod, I got to where I could put a weighted fly in a 10" pie pan up to 3 times in 10 casts once I got the distance bracketed, and I barely know the mechanics of a 2-handed cast. It’s not what I would call good casting by a long shot. However the first time I used the line for fishing I put a fly approximately 3’ upstream of two suspected lies 30’ away to land the two biggest fish of my last fishing day in 2020.
When testing lines or practicing with T-rods 3.9m & shorter, I place a 4" jar lid in the pie pan. I may get 2 or 3 unweighted flies in the jar lid and more in the plate over 10 casts and still don’t consider that good. I haven’t kept track by rod length.
When fishing I’m casting flies into “targets of opportunity”; 18" notches in grass or a rootwad on the opposite bank, or the right or left seam of a small cascade between two rocks 20 ft away. I have to admit I am impressed with being able to put a fly into smaller holes in logjams, brush, and between rocks with shorter rods at shorter distances, even if using a sidearm cast in tighter cover.
Shorter rods ARE more accurate for the same reason a lob wedge in golf is more accurate than a four iron… the shorter club shaft means the head is closer to your hands… the lever is shorter… more precise…
As with other things, practice changes the equation and narrows the gap.