About John Symonds

I mainly fish the rivers Wye,Usk and Ithon for salmon, trout and grayling. Also fish in Ireland on the rivers Moy, Suir and Blackwater. Specialist skills photography and graphic design relating to fishing, casting and fly-tying. Qualifications include Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor (APGAI) single and two-handed fly rods, International Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) two handed casting instructor and Level 2 Angling Trust Coach.

Author Archive | John Symonds

Casting Criteria

To execute a cast expertly there are a number of  casting criteria which have to be fulfilled. These are: ontinuous tension -To maintain control of the fly-line it must always be under tension. cceleration – During the power stroke the rod-tip must be continuously accelerated and then brought to an abrupt stop whilst the rod-tip […]

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Fly lines

A fly-rod can be considered to be a spring with a selected stiffness. The amount of stiffness is calculated by the fly-rod manufacturer and all manufacturers design to the same stiffness scale so that in theory all fly-lines and fly-rods are balanced and interchangeable. The scale most widely adopted is called the AFFTA (American Fly […]

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Fly rods

There is no such thing as an ideal fly-rod because the performance characteristics depend upon personal preference. For instance the amount of flex of a fly-rod can determine whether the loop is wide or narrow, with a wide loop being preferred for delicate presentation and a narrow loop for distance or accuracy. The tighter the […]

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