Always had two piece because i like them being compact, never had issues or even THOUGHT about rod sensitivity..caught bass, sunfish, to trout..no issues...now i have 2 smaller one piece rods but i still prefer the two piece..

flyrods... 4 piece all the way..

Good thread, James.

Just picked up an ultra light Fenwick Eagle 5’6” one piece spinning rod...Love it.

My favorite fishing gear is a plastic pop bottle with fish line wrapped around it. I saw a Pakistani fishing along the South Fork Shenandoah River that way.

Like James
1958 at 6years old I got to go fishing with the (men) to CANADA !!
Yes it was a big deal Devlin, Ontario, Northwest Bay on Rainy lake. Never forget that.! Ice house and cat generator for power.
Reading Boco reminds me of Derwood Angus the camp owner, who filleted boneless Northerns like Boco.
Losing half the pole down the line on a cast, brought back some great memories, including cutting a Daredevil out of Grandpas ear.
He was not impressed with my father for doing that. KIDS!!

" including cutting a Daredevil out of Grandpas ear."

Those dang treble hooks!

Next time I'll do a post on how much better single hooks are than trebles.

Jim

I have been using a Berkley 6.6 Cherrywood for 30 years. It is not the sensitivity, as it has that, but the spring in it for setting the hook, so it gives more than a heavy duty. It works for trolling, drifting, casting. I have a Abu Gracia 300 on it, but if I put a Garcia 5000 on it, it will horse in pike. It is not built for the big stuff like salmon and I never was a trout fisherman as when you can catch them with canned corn, there is little point in flies and nymphs, except for the beauty and art of fly fishing.
The rod also in trolling has the action to let me know if the artificial is running true or has weeds on it.
Short sticks do not work in trolling or long casts, less leverage. I just prefer what I can use for the majority of fishing I do now. For transport, I open the window or wrap them in a grocery bag and in the bed or boat they go.

I don’t get it either James. I have been building them for over 45 years & just build what the customer asks for. I have found if I mix the blanks with a two piece rod, the bottom half from one kit and top half from a different kit, I can pretty much match the spline of a one piece rod.
Sgt C could very well be my next customer!

There is a huge difference from a one piece to a two piece. The back-bone of a one piece runs the entire length of the rod minus the length of the tip given for the action. Fast action rods are soft for just a few inches before the backbone of the rod takes effect. This is why when building a rod you find the spine of the blank first. Because it matters. you can never have an accurate back bone in a factory made two piece because you are essentially putting two separate rods together. Other things that come into play are the feel and the hookset. Even my 9' St. Croix Elite customs are one piece.

I want a fish to fight the strength of the rod and not the strength of the line. With a one piece each time the fish makes a run it is fighting progressively harder as the bend of the rod increases. Where this comes into play the most is fighting bigger fish and harder runs. The one piece will always react consistent because nothing changes. That can't be said on a two piece because the two pieces of the rod react differently and separately from each other. This causes harder strain on the terminal tackle where failure is most likely.

Casting is another consideration. The two piece rod will not load up like a one piece will. So when I am making long casts to finnicky walleye's with 1/8 oz or 1/16 oz jigs I can stay farther away thus increasing my odds with much longer casts. This part really comes into play on ultra-light rods when you are casting sometimes 1/32 or 1/64 oz jigs

Now with all that being said I have made some custom two-piece fly in rods that are matched and marked to go together exactly the same each and every time. Also with the length of musky rods going longer and longer I have started putting together a two-piece musky rod that comes apart just above the reel seat. I believe Shimano introduced this style a few years back. That rod is not finished yet but I will let you know how it feels when it's done.

I wish my son was on here and could explain all this technical stuff way better than I can. He experience in rod building is way beyond mine. Once you have fished a custom you will never go back to buying a rod off the shelf.

This thread reminds me of a real good fisherman from California who taught me a lot about salmon fishing. I remember one year he got off the plane and was so proud of this rod he had built and was explaining how good it was and why. So we go out fishing and hook about a 30 lb King salmon on his new rod and proceed to fight it the normal 5 to 10 minutes until he brings it up to the boat for me to release since it was not big enough. He is holding that fish's head up so I can remove the hook and the fish does the normal head shaking because his head is out of the water and that rod breaks into four pieces. That is the only 4 piece rod I have ever seen.

Your spot on James. Today’s methods and materials make the two piece as good as any single. With my relationship with St. Croix I have a shop full of rods and every one is two piece.
As for these sensitivity gurus... you know more about what is happening underwater and know it sooner when you use the proper line and know how to use that line in your fingers.
You are on point with single hooks as well. On both of these topics there is a long list of my clients who will also agree after seeing the proof first hand.
I have never had a two piece rod come apart during use. Learn to put them together properly and that situation is non existent.

Osky

ToTheWoods, what you're calling the "spine" of the rod is actually called the spline. You can find it on a rod blank this way: Hold the blank section at an angle, with one end resting on a desk. Holding the other end in your left hand, take your right hand and use it to flex the rod and then roll it under your hand. As the blank rotates, you can feel a slight jump at a line where the blank is strongest.

In making a rod, you match up the spline of both rod sections (assuming you're building a two-piece rod) and mount the guides 180 degrees away from the spline, so the spline runs opposite of the direction you will cast.

In years back I made myself a few fly rods, but could never equal the quality of the best commercial rods, like Sage or Loomis.

I see that none of the one-piece rod afficianados has explained why fly rod makers are going to four-piece rods.

Jim

Jim you should be able to match the quality of the Sage SP rods. I won't go into how many I saw break one year. Could have been cheechako reach ups?

My guess as to four piece, is they fit in a backpack. Flyrod fishermen tend to walk a little more than boat fishermen.

To The Woods said it best IMO. James you’re entitled to your opinion just like everyone else even when you’re wrong, as you are on several points, as usual. First if you are dead drifting a nymph you must have slack in the line if not then it is not a drag free drift and the slack precludes you from feeling a subtle take, that is what strike
Indicators are for. Second TTW was correct when referring to the SPINE the same term used in wooden shafted arrows. SPLINE is the term used to describe the parallel grooves milled into the end of an axle or pinyon gear.
It is used to prohibit rotation while it allows two parts to float with relation to each other for backlash and travel lengthwise. Splines have a multitude of applications in mechanical devices.

I've been wrong before, but am only partly wrong this time.

Both "spline" and "spine" are used. It was "spline" when I learned to make rods, and some people still use the term.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLRZQp3l6L8

"SPLINE
"
The spline of a rod is a slightly thicker area of the rod where the material is overlapped. Since the area is thicker, that portion is slightly stiffer. There are different opinions about using the spline when placing the guides. Since one part of the bank is stiffer, some rod builders say if you don’t use the spline, the rod could roll in your hand under pressure, or may not cast as well. Others say, the difference is so minute that it doesn’t really matter. It could be considered that a rod that is built using the spline would be slightly more contestant than one that doesn’t."

https://marklassagne.com/bass-fishing-articles/fishing-rods-the-confusing-difference/

http://www.rodbuildingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17766


So I was wrong to correct ToTheWoods...and you are wrong to correct me.

Jim

I use pretty much all St croix rods. Always have at least five rigged up.

I have a bunch or two piece and one piece and prefer the one piece rods.

James I am well aware of how to find the spine of the rod having built more than a hundred under the tutelage of my son who is the real master. I cannot tell you why the fly rods are going to multiple piece rods but they have been like that for eons.

Your issues with building your rods better than the manufacturer may be you were using the exact same components or possible even cheaper components. Manufactured rods are built to accommodate the majority of users. For some this may restrict the potential of the rod to some users. Example.... on an 8.5 musky rod you will like find that a store bought rod from St. Croix will start with a 12mm guide nearest the reel seat constricting to 2 10 mm to a long run of 8mm finally ending at the tiptop with a 6mm. This does not constrict the line and "settle" the line down fast enough to get the maximum casting distance out of the rod because it is not efficient. A good custom with have a 12mm followed by a 10mm followed by an 8mm and 6mm the rest of the length. This "settles" the line faster thus allowing for more precision casting with longer distance. It also reduces fatigue to the user as well. You are not trying to cast hard to get farther each and every cast.

Not that I have built many two piece rods but I have built a few for a friend who does a lot of fly-in trips. I never built one with the spine of the two pieces being opposite of each other. Although I wouldn't think that it would matter as the lower half of the rod is basically a stop for the action of the rod. The top piece is essentially doing all the work for the rod.

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with a two piece rod. It does have a few applications where the loss of efficiency is warranted. But as far as having a quality, efficient, precise rod the one piece will always outperform the two piece.

I too have several of both configurations. I take the one piece rods which I like the best unless I need one that breaks down for travel purposes.

The only rod I ever broke was a 2 piece and it broke right where you'd figure it would, beside the splice.