Post by scanny on Mar 10, 2010 15:39:58 GMT
A few thoughts on a couple of days with the 12ft Dtx
I got the 14ft in November and have been making progress with it on both floating short Spey and shooting head lines. My favoured set up its a cut back Hover/Int 38gram shooting head with a 5ft tip. As the summer draws nearer ill move onto the floating MacKenzie line which seems to work seamlessly on it.
I opted for a 12' as i thought that it would cover some of the spate river back home and the current river i fish just now. Cast ranging from 15-25 yards cover it just fine so the 12' would be perfect.....little did i know it would cover far more.
Immediately it feels completely different fro the other 12' rods i have tried, being stiffer yet with a softness in the top 5ft for delicate work. i put an Afs 8/9 S1 on it with a 5ft poly fast sink with 6ft of leader and a 3" monkey. The first cast went out well, with none of the usual adjustments required when switching between rods. From there it got better and better. A few jump rolls to find its loading point and then started shooting, with 3ft of overhang. It retains the same loading as the 14' with it preferring you to merely move it through the casting stroke and not adding much power into it, it consistently 5-10ft less if i tried to load into instead of just leaning into it and delivering the stroke. It covers almost the same range as the 14ft rod does in my hands, but it feels like using a trout rod. After 3 hours i felt fresh and could have continued all day, where as using the 14' , another superb rod, i do have twinges in my thurassic, albeit a lot lesser than with my "old" rods.
With a new rod i almost always end up with a few casting knots and the fly coming back in for inspection upside down with a knot around the tube hook. Not so with the 12, it hasn't killed and anchor or fluffed a lift all week which i am delighted with. Any adjustments made are simple to employ and easy to rectify.
The most impressive feature is the power in the blank, i didn't have to roll up at all using half inch brass bottles, 1"coneheads or long winged flies like the monkeys. its lifts the line out first time even in turbulent flow.
I had a few more hours yesterday between fluid mechanics and pretty pictures lectures so got some casting in, ive managed to start loosing flies in the far side trees it casts so well.
With some more practice and my casting technique improving, the rod can easily cast further. It will cover 90% of the water i currently fish and i would give it a try on larger rivers. it could cover lies in the Trap, boil and Steps and Alders on Newtyle.
It pips the 15 to the nicest Dtx in the range i have tried
I got the 14ft in November and have been making progress with it on both floating short Spey and shooting head lines. My favoured set up its a cut back Hover/Int 38gram shooting head with a 5ft tip. As the summer draws nearer ill move onto the floating MacKenzie line which seems to work seamlessly on it.
I opted for a 12' as i thought that it would cover some of the spate river back home and the current river i fish just now. Cast ranging from 15-25 yards cover it just fine so the 12' would be perfect.....little did i know it would cover far more.
Immediately it feels completely different fro the other 12' rods i have tried, being stiffer yet with a softness in the top 5ft for delicate work. i put an Afs 8/9 S1 on it with a 5ft poly fast sink with 6ft of leader and a 3" monkey. The first cast went out well, with none of the usual adjustments required when switching between rods. From there it got better and better. A few jump rolls to find its loading point and then started shooting, with 3ft of overhang. It retains the same loading as the 14' with it preferring you to merely move it through the casting stroke and not adding much power into it, it consistently 5-10ft less if i tried to load into instead of just leaning into it and delivering the stroke. It covers almost the same range as the 14ft rod does in my hands, but it feels like using a trout rod. After 3 hours i felt fresh and could have continued all day, where as using the 14' , another superb rod, i do have twinges in my thurassic, albeit a lot lesser than with my "old" rods.
With a new rod i almost always end up with a few casting knots and the fly coming back in for inspection upside down with a knot around the tube hook. Not so with the 12, it hasn't killed and anchor or fluffed a lift all week which i am delighted with. Any adjustments made are simple to employ and easy to rectify.
The most impressive feature is the power in the blank, i didn't have to roll up at all using half inch brass bottles, 1"coneheads or long winged flies like the monkeys. its lifts the line out first time even in turbulent flow.
I had a few more hours yesterday between fluid mechanics and pretty pictures lectures so got some casting in, ive managed to start loosing flies in the far side trees it casts so well.
With some more practice and my casting technique improving, the rod can easily cast further. It will cover 90% of the water i currently fish and i would give it a try on larger rivers. it could cover lies in the Trap, boil and Steps and Alders on Newtyle.
It pips the 15 to the nicest Dtx in the range i have tried
I told her you were teaching her to speycast with it on Sunday so she wasn't too unhappy 
