by Jeremy Devries

Created on: February 28, 2009

First off, whoever wrote the title for this article should be shot. There is no such thing as a fly "pole" and anyone calling it a "pole" identifies him or herself as a complete imbecile that knows absolutely jack about fly fishing. Fly fishermen will only refer to their fly fishing ROD. Now,..as to the funny little "code" that is written on the side of a fly rod, the answer is quite simple and easy to understand.

If you have ever picked up any fly rod, you probably noticed that above the cork, (also correctly called the grip), there was a series of numbers and letters. The letters largest in the signature area are usually the signature from the rod manufacturer. For example, your fly rod may have been a Sage, Winston, Orvis, Loomis, Thomas and Thomas, Powell, Scott, Temple Fork Angler, Echo, St. Croix or many other different brands. This part of the "code" is easy to recognize and is may have been followed by a more specific model name. An Orvis Rod for example may have said "Power Matrix", "Zero Gravity," or "T3". Likewise, your Sage rod might have said "Z-Axis", "XP," "SP", "VPS" or many others. If you don't even know what brand of rod your using and just call it a pole; why do you think you deserve to catch a fish?

The next thing you may have found on in the signature area is a series of numbers and letters mixed together. These letters and numbers are in weird variations from one manufacturer to the next but will all contain the same basic information. The length of the rod, the weight of the rod, the type of line that would most likely be used with that rod, and the number of pieces that the rod has.

A great generic code that most rod manufacturers is displayed on Echo Rods so we'll study it as our example. Echo Rods are mid to lower price point rods made my Tim Rajeff, and are coded the way all fly rods should be coded: 609-4 for example. The first number is the rod weight, a 6 weight. The second 2 numbers are the length of the rod, in this case 9 feet. The last number after the dash is the number of pieces, in this case a 4 piece rod. Further illustration of this code is a 386-4. The rod would be a 3 weight, that is 8 and 1/2 feet long, and break down into 4 pieces.

Rod manufacturers have tried to make their rod coding idiot proof, by often adding the actual measurements and weight to the rod in written format. Therefore, you might see a rod that actually says right on the side, 9 ft, or 81/2ft. You might also run across rods that actually spell out the

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