[sean]

Since you all will be the folks using this tool I wanted to start up a thread where everyone can put in their 2 cents as to what they would like to see. Cannot guarentee every idea will be used but I will try my best.

So what would you like to see? What would you find most helpful in an interactive tool to cross reference lines and rods.

Here is Dloops to get us started:

When viewing details for a rod, I would find it helpful if line recommendations were categorized with these three distinctions:

1) Stock lines recommended by the rod or line manufacturer
2) Stock lines with little or no modification recommended by board members
3) Stock lines that are heavily modified and/or line recipes from board members.

 

[Moose]

Some sort of sidenote to a poll. For example, if members noted in a database rods they own and favorite lines in order of preference then I could see about a certain rod I was interested in and would see the percentage #'s of preferred lines for that rod.

Example: I search for rod/line compatabillity for the CND Skagit rod. there is a notation that 100 members rated this rod with the following lines in order of preference:
Rated #1 SA short head ? %
Rated #2 Windcutter 8/9/10 ? %
Rated #3
#4
#5

etc. etc..

There should definitely be categories of ratings by professionals (makers) and ratings by members as well as stock and custom lines in seperate categories.

 

[Moose]

The problem with that, Peter....

...is that most newbie or even intermediate casters won't know what their style is. It can take many months of hard practice and the use of many lines and rods attempting different styles to know what you prefer or excell at.

What might work better is having experienced casters explain how rod/line combos work with certain styles and to what degree of ease or difficulty a certain combination might work with new casters.

For example, a respected and notable person here on the board might speak of the 7141 Sage you mentioned and tell how it casts the airflo delta 7/8 with poly tips easily using an underhand style whereas the same rod with a 6/7 XLT throws long, lovely loops but calls for a bit of experience with throwing long belly lines and requires a caster to be skilled at this to make the rod perform, giving novice casters difficulty.

I'll share a bit of a story here.

A group of high dollar one week a year glory boys (can you say metrosexual?) gathered on a certain river to attend a certain function. All were outfitted with the top brands from head to toe and reel to fly, including having the much touted XLT spooled up on their long rods. Upon observing them it was noted that a great number of these spiffy dudes couldn't throw that long belly worth a darn.

"FLAILING ORANGE" was the word of the day.

I was still just in the learning stage but had a rod and short belly line that an instructor friend had matched up for me and was able to cast 50 to 60 feet with it fairly nicely. I had more than one of these persons approach me and ask for advice. I knew very little and had very little experience, but was set up with something that actually worked for my given abillity. (A Fly Logic 13 foot 8 wt. and delta 8/9)

Merely touting a lines capabillities (and not to knock the XLT, it is great and I own some) does not truly make for a great recomendation. These guys all thought they needed to be throwing the long belly (To be cool? Who knows.) when hands down and to the last man they should all have had something more manageable on.

The moral (besides the fact that dollar output does not translate into skill level) is that 1) they did not know or would not admit their true abillity with that type of line and 2) the hype of that line, true or false, did not translate to the masses that it was one that required a good bit of skill to handle, apparently. This is not the line makers fault, as items in style will be snapped up by the Yup. But if a true tool is to be made to aide the newcomer, it must be assumed that he/she, even if slightly experienced, really does not know what their abillities are and some form of "Ease of use" feature should be incorporated.

 

[kush]

I like both of Moose's comments. One of the problems with everyone posting their preferences is the wide range of skill levels and experience, as well as casting style and fishing methods - it is a very complicated can of worms.

This community has a fair number of very experienced casters as well as industry types who's suggestions will be well respected. Their opinions of rod/line combinations should be a key part of this project. However, Moose's first post outlines a poll of Forum user's preferences and experiences - this also sounds useful to me - especially if it includes the member's experience and relative level of skill. For example, a newbie might gain some real insights from another's beginning experiences than from more experienced casters.

Therefore, if Sean can set it up so that the "notables" as Moose puts it, give their preferences and the general membership can also relate their experiences with different rod/line set-ups we may have something very, very good.

 

[Moose]

I think we're all on the right track...

..and this thing, if done correctly, will have multiple tables that a person can pour over.

I think we are all correct in making some good points:

There should be "Pro's and notables" giving rod and line reviews with recomendations so we can see what these rod were intended to do and can do in accomplished hands. They should, however, be true fishing reviews of rod preference and not "Here are all the rods my company sells and the sales pitch on their attributes".

There should be a poll of "everyday spey guys" posting what they like and why. This should be headed by notations of the persons level of expertise, like # of years experience, how often they fish and where, etc..

There should be notations of ease of use and style preferences to guide the new caster (this thing should be usefull to all) included in both the pro and everyday guy category.

There should be cross referencing so I can look for reviews of 1 rod, reviews of rods for skagit casting, reviews of rod/line combos for novices, etc. A search function so I can search for the Sage 7141 and see that many guys with my casting style like this rod, etc..


OK Peter, get your pencil out! Sorry, I was an English major and only took a couple of statistics classes. I like to just come up with ideas and dump them in the lap of someone more competent than I :devil:

 

[DLoop]

I worry that this could get so complex that it may never sees the light of day. But this is 'brainstorming' so this is supposed to happen. It is good to have all these ideas.

Sean, you may want to be thinking about how you can 'chunk' this into pieces that you can deliver incrementally over several months. Maybe Release 1 just tries to get a complete list of all Spey rods and all Spey lines. Release 2 adds manufacturer recommendations, Release 3 adds notable's recommendations, etc... Each release will probably generate a bunch more feedback that will influence the outcome of the next.