Lefty Says, TFO Rods, Floods and Bugs, Rio HeadCase, SA SL Mono, Simms Fleece Bib

Hello Mark,

        Dick Sagara suggested I write a little something about TFO rods for your web site. I hope this e-mail is okay.

        I enjoyed our conversation on the phone the other day.

                               All The Best,

                                 Lefty

Temple Fork Outfitter Fly Rods

Lefty Kreh

        Temple Fork Oufitters (TFO) rods have become one of the best selling on the market today. I think there are a number of reasons.  TFO has put together a team composed of some of the best fly fishermen in the country. Bob Clouser, Nick Circione, Ed Jaworowski, Flip Pallot, Mike Kinney and Bob Meiser. Their experiences range from freshwater to the deep sea and the use of both one and two-handed rods. Best of all TFO’s president Rick Pope encourages input from all.

        On the TFO web site there is a suggestion how to select the right fly rod. It’s titled Rod Power Matrix and has a description for each family of rods including describing their various actions. Explaining a rod’s action is difficult since so many interpret the report differently.

        As one who helps to determine what rods TFO needs and who does the final testing I would like to outline my concept of the function of fly rods.

        Fly rods are designed for three different missions:

          Rods for the first group are designed mostly for delicate presentations mainly for fresh water trout.
They cast light lines, almost all flies are rather lightweight and are delivered at a relatively short distance. These rods cast fly lines from two to six-weight.

        TFO’s Finesse rods fall in this category. They have a relatively slow action (unlike years ago there are no really slow action rods) that will throw a tight or open loop.  It’s my observation that most trout are lost when the tippet breaks on the strike, or the fish suddenly surges away during the fight. We have designed these rods so that with reasonably good technique a 5X tippet will hold on most trout.

        The seven-weight TFO rod can be compared to the 16-gauge shotgun. It isn’t enough for waterfowl shooting and too much for quail and rabbits. There are some special uses for it and that’s why TFO carries it.

The second category of fly rods is designed mainly for transportation. The angler needs to cast a relatively long distance or deliver the fly into a stiff breeze.  This would include throwing air resistant bass bugs, steelhead patterns, and flies for Atlantic salmon and Clouser minnows for a host of species. Such rods have a relatively fast taper but can flex well into the butt section.

There are special fishing situations where strong fish are encountered, especially in deep water where the rod must be capable of lifting the fish to bring it to the boat. This requires a strong blank but one that flexes and casts well. The TiCr X and Axiom are good examples. Both are capable of landing truly strong fish.

Transportation rods are designed to cast fly lines from eight to ten-weight.

TFO has made a remarkable family of rods, the BVK series. These rods are fairly fast, super light yet incredibly strong due to some magic within the blank and customers have been amazed at how well they cast.

 For example, an eight-weight BVK weighs about as much as the conventional six-weight rod. Yet, my friends on the Outer Banks of NC have been catching albacore (Little Tuna) weighing more than 12 pounds. While testing prototypes I used a 20-pound tippet and tried to break the BVK—no luck. Of course any rod you “high stick” can be broken. But many TFO customers are amazed how strong are these rods. Customers tell us they throw a long line as well as any rod in their class.

The third category of fishing rods is designed for fighting and lifting fish. Such rods are used on giant tarpon but more often offshore where a good cast is required but once the fish is hooked it dives and must be physically brought to boat side. It was established years ago with stand-up tackle that when fighting strong sea fish the longer the rod the more leverage the fish could apply against the angler. Stand up rods became shorter and incredibly big fish have been landed. The upper portion of the rod tends to weakly bend so the angler uses the butt of the rod to apply maximum leverage. The rods handle fly lines for 11-weight and up.

The TFO team realized that many fly rods fight fish well but perform badly when cast. We have designed some three-piece rods where the tip is a special material that delivers tight loop casts even at relatively long distance. The middle section is a slower stronger material and the butt section of another powerful material and incredibly strong. TFO’s Blue Water Series has become one of the most popular offshore rods today. And the Baby Blue Water has fast become a sought after rod for giant tarpon on the flats. So far as I know, no matter how large the fish—no one has reported breaking one.

Finally, no one in the industry has a better rod repair program. No matter how the angler breaks the rod, if it is sent in with a small amount of money, within 24 hours of receiving the rod at TFO headquarters it is repaired and returned. 

I hope this gives a little information as to why TFO has been so successful and has so many customers applauding their rods.

Lefty Kreh