Persons who enjoy fishing often use a type of fishing pole that is referred to as a flyrod. Here are some distinguishing characteristics of flyrods, as well as some background on the origins of this very popular basic of the fishing sport.
Used in a form of fishing that is referred to as fly fishing, flyrods are specifically designed for the casting of a fly line. One of the things that set flyrods apart from many other types of fishing rods is the location of the reel. Fishermen who are use flyrods will note that the reel is found at the butt of the rod, rather than further up the pole portion of the rod. In fact, the reel is found below the handle or grip for the rod. The point of having the reel located at the end of the flyrod is meant to provide the fisherman greater leverage when casting the fly line.
Flyrods also tend to have more line guides than most other rod designs. This is another example of a mechanism to allow the fly fisherman a greater degree of control when it comes to casting the fly line. While there is some variance in the length of flyrods, just about all models are somewhere between seven and nine feet in length. However, there are examples of flyrods that are as long as fifteen feet. There is no special type of line that has to be used with flyrods, although most fishing enthusiasts would recommend a lighter type of line that still held a lot of strength.
There is some evidence that the concept of a flyrod dates back to more than two millennia. Certainly fly fishing was known and practiced in Africa as far back as three thousand years ago. While early details are sketchy, it seems as if a design using bone hooks along a bamboo pole to maintain control of the line were relatively common well into the Common Era. The exact date of the development of the concept of a reel for the fishing line is not known, but it was in common use by the early years of the twentieth century.
Historically, the material of choice when it came to the construction of flyrods, bamboo is still one of the materials often used, although the use of fiberglass became more popular after its development in the mid-twentieth century. Today, more and more flyrods are made using carbon graphite, and may soon surpass both bamboo and fiberglass as the medium of choice for the manufacture of flyrods.
