Rod review of several new tapers.....

[GANGGREEN]

I've learned a lot on this forum over the last year or three and would like to return some of the favors offered by so many knowledgeable posters here. I recently built myself 3 new bamboo rods after a friend offered to lend me his tools for a couple of months and I've now fished all 3 and can give my thoughts on them for anyone who's considering different tapers for a purchase or a build of their own. For what it's worth, I'm a good but not a great fly fisherman and I don't have much experience with bamboo at all, so take the recommendations and review for what they're worth. I tend to like faster rods generally and I do a good bit of indicator nymphing and a bit of dry fly fishing or dry-dropper fishing so accept the review from that perspective.

Drigg's River 7'2" 4/5 weight. I think I got this taper from Hexrod but would have to look at my notes to see which Drigg's River taper this is (if there are more than one floating around out there). I love this rod, really love it. I think I'd say that it's a medium-fast taper and it casts a 4 weight or a 5 weight equally well. I've fished it a few times and have caught a fair number of trout on it. It casts well (assuming nymph(s) and indicator), roll casts well and fights decent-sized fish very well. My previous experience was with a 7' 4 weight Sir Darryl Special rod and I was always worried about hooking a fish that was too big or having a set develop in the rod, but I don't worry about those things at all with the Driggs. I'd say that this would fish best on a small-medium sized stream, but I've used it some on a medium-large stream (from my perspective) and it fishes very well even there.

PHY Perfectionist 7'6" 4/5 weight. Again, I don't recall exactly where I got the taper for this one and would have to look at my notes as I know that there are many tapers out there. Frankly, I'm not sure that this taper is really well-suited to heavier nymphs or indicators. The only time that I've fished it so far was on a day that the water was really high and off-colored, so I fished it with heavier nymphs than I typically would (2 of them) and a heavier indicator than I typically would (used a larger cork style indicator, versus the New Zealand wool that I might otherwise use). I also fished it with a 4-weight line that day and I struggled a bit to cast it well, though a friend who fished with me that day said he was paying attention and thought my casts looked really good. I did catch a number of fish on the rod that day and I thought it fought the fish well, so that wasn't an issue in any way. I THINK that this rod will probably fish a dry fly or even light nymphs really well on a 4-weight line, but I think I was asking too much of it on that day and should have fished it with a 5 weight. In the yard it casts a 4 weight reasonably well and really casts a 5 weight very well (tried two different 5-weight lines and it cast one noticeably better than the other). I'm happy with the rod and think I'll end up really liking it, but this one's going to require another day or two on the water before I feel confident suggesting that it works best with this line or that or fishes better with this technique than that one since the one day that I fished it was so unusual (very high/fast and off-colored water).

Dickerson 8013. This is the 1949 taper from the Lovely Reed. I could tell even before lining it up or casting it that this rod was "more rod" than the previous two, but when I yard cast and then fished it with a 5-weight line, I was blown away by how well it casts and mends line. As I said previously, I really like a faster action rod and this one is and I can absolutely bomb my casts with it. It's a bit heavier in hand than the previous two rods I've described, but with a well-balanced reel (I used a Pflueger Medalist 1494 with backing and 5-weight SA line) it didn't strike me as particularly heavy when I fished it. Although it was just a bazooka for me, I didn't notice that it was at any disadvantage with shorter casts and again, I fished it with one or two smaller nymphs and a wool strike indicator. It handled the fights very well, although in fairness, I didn't land a fish larger than 12" or so on the day that I fished it, although I did lose a 15" rainbow at the net which fought like a champ. This rod also roll casts really well, which surprised me a bit for whatever reason. I don't think this rod would be a lot of fun on a smaller stream even though I do like longer rods even on smaller streams at times, but on a medium or larger stream, I think it's going to be a blast and may be my favorite of the bamboo rods that I've used, cast or own so far. I was watching a video yesterday of a guy catching big trout on a bunch of Dickerson rods and he had it listed as a 4/5 weight, so I then went out and lawn cast it with a 4-weight (which I hadn't previously even considered) and was thrilled that it also cast very well with a 4-weight line. I'm not sure I'd try to fish larger flies, dry-droppers or 2 fly rigs with a 4-weight line, but for small-medium sized dries, I think it would likely fish very well that way.

So that's my review. Obviously everything is a matter of perspective and we all fish different streams for different species with different flies and techniques, not to mention that we all have different aptitudes and casting styles, but FOR ME, so far I think I like the Dickerson 8013 the best, the Driggs River next and the Perfectionist last, but I really enjoyed all 3 and would recommend them each depending on what a person told me that they were looking for.

[Canewrap]

Based on your review of the Dickerson 8013, if you were to make another rod I would strongly suggest the Dickerson 8014 Guide (from the Lovely Reed). It has a lot of the same characteristics as the 8013, but can handle bigger flies and if you're up for trying hollowing, it responds well to hollow building it.

Also, speaking for myself, I really appreciate you taking the time to review the rods that you made. The only improvement I can see is to note where you got the tapers from when you make a rod and include that. There are some fantastic versions of those tapers published in different places and some less so wonderful versions, largely due to the fact that some postings forget to mention whether they took the measurements over varnish.

A side note on tapers that mention that the measurements were taken over varnish. I no longer subtract .006 for the whole taper (like the Lovely Reed says to do with some of theirs) or do a combination of .004 for tips and .006 for butt sections. Varnish thickness changes with diameter (on that I think we can agree), so I have found a much more reliable approach is to multiply the taper numbers by .98 to reduce the diameter by a uniform 2 percent. This seems to most closely follow the graduated approach to accounting for varnish.

[GANGGREEN]

Thanks for your thoughts, they're much appreciated. I actually think that 8013 would probably be a fabulous rod if it were hollowed. Don't get me wrong, I love it anyway, but think if you could shave a few ounces off of it it would be that much nicer (I should have said a few tenths, obviously you can't shave ounces off of it tapered or not). As for the tapers, you're right and I will try to figure out which ones they were, although I know that both the driggs river taper and the perfectionist taper that I used were for unvarnished blanks, so I think the measurements were pretty accurate.

[Canewrap]

I know more than a few rodmakers that would agree with hollowing the 8013. In fact, I cast a copy of that taper back in 2000 that had the butt section hollowed and it improved the balance immensely. It is a great taper and hollowing it makes it more so.

[DonT]

The 8013 is in fact really good hollowed as is the 7613. These are my two personal rods for bigger streams. They tend to be 5/6 wieihts and I normally fish them with a wt forward 6. I just finished an 801610 with the butt and mid hollowed that I am going to donate to a local auction and it is a rocket, although noticeably heavier in the hand. I am going to build one for myself soon.

[GANGGREEN]

I don't doubt what you gents are saying about the 8013 benefitting from being hollowed. I've never done a hollowed rod, but this might be worth considering going forward. My comment to my buddy about the rod after I fished it was simply "wow", but I did acknowledge that it was a bit heavy in hand and not especially well-balanced. Although I don't need more rods and don't know when I'll build more, I am inclined to really concentrate on the other Dickerson tapers though because of how well this one suits me. Might have to do another 8013 but hollow it in search for that perfect rod or I may have to consider the 7612 or 7613 or one of the 3-piece rods to try something different. I'll definitely be doing more research on Dickerson and his rods though.

[GANGGREEN]

I'm also all ears if anyone wants to turn this thread into a discussion of sorts of some of the other Dickerson tapers. So far I haven't fished bamboo for steelhead, smallmouth bass or anything other than trout and as such I'm typically fishing 3, 4 or 5 weight rods, which seem to be plenty for the types of streams and the fish that I pursue. That said, I already have a Driggs River, a Perfectionist, a Dickerson 8013 and also a W. Powell 7'6" 5 weight in this range, so I guess it wouldn't hurt me to also consider some other things. I've also never built a hollowed rod or a 3-piece rod and those things will also be under consideration when/if I build anything else. To this point I've always borrowed a friend's planing forms and rod-building tools, but I'm always on the lookout for a set of reasonably priced used tools too and when/if I find them, I'll definitely be on the search for a new taper or two to consider (although I wish to build a rod for each of two of my brothers before I build anything else for myself).

[DonT]

The 7613 is really good.

[3creeks]

I'd also like to add my thank you for taking the time to share your impressions. I've got an 8013 roughed but it's 3rd in line. I'm tempted to bump it to the top now!

[mrampant]

I have done the Dickerson 7613 and hollowed it quite a bit; I was pretty excited with the result; and got quite a few good reviews from some other makers as well as notable casters. I also tried it in a 3 piece although it is more impressive than the solid 2 piece it lacked the oomph compared to the hollowed 2 piece.
A friend liked the hollowed 2piece and I made on for him tweaked it slightly to make it a little more robust and it was a very nice rod; so much so I wanted to keep it for myself.
All up the first 2pc hollow one was a reduction or somewhere about 30-35% lighter blank the second one was 27-30% lighter than the solid. It seemed A good 5 wt rod for someone going from graphite to experience what was possible with bamboo.
Cheers

[GANGGREEN]

I should mention that I fished the Perfectionist again since I did this review (which was only the second time ever now) and tried a different line that the rod likes much better. It was an entirely different experience and a good one. I caught 5 or 6 trout on it, including two 13-14 inchers (a Brown and a Rainbow) and it handled them really well, although that's obviously not the same as a 20" wild Brown. If you still held a gun to my head and made me give up one of these three rods, I'd probably still give up the Perfectionist, but I'd do it begrudgingly as I like all 3 of them VERY much. As I've said before, we all have different styles of casting/fishing and not every rod suits each person equally well, but all 3 of these rods are super for me. Obviously, there's at least some effect of fishing a rod you created and being so pleased with the experience that your perceptions are somewhat shaded, but I don't think that's going on here, these rods fish and cast objectively well for me.

I really appreciate everyone's experiences with these tapers and with others and also the information about the hollowed models. As I said, I'm new to this and don't have the tools myself, so I can't just rush to the shop and start experimenting on another rod, but I'm taking it all in.

[RobinCostelle]

Thanks for the summary G. These are some very interesting tapers that I would like to own someday. I'm really considering a Driggs. I unfortunately don't have many bamboo flyfishers near me to try different rods, so I kinda have to guess at what I would like. Good stuff, Thanks-Robin

[sanderson]

I've built 35 rods, 20 are Dickerson or Payne tapers. However, when I go through and re-cast rods, the ones that I really love to cast are 1. Driggs taper from Cattanach/off the young forms, and 2. Perfectionist from Howells book. The rod I grab to fish most often, a Martha Marie. I'm starting to think I under valued the Young rods.

[chsparkman]

I agree with the assessment of the 8013 (1949) from the Lovely Reed. Fantastic taper and an awesome rod when hollowed. The 8615 6wt from the same book is also a great rod and probably my favorite at the moment. I love the Dickerson tapers, including the 3-piece tapers.

[Godfroy]

A side note on tapers that mention that the measurements were taken over varnish. I no longer subtract .006 for the whole taper (like the Lovely Reed says to do with some of theirs) or do a combination of .004 for tips and .006 for butt sections. Varnish thickness changes with diameter (on that I think we can agree), so I have found a much more reliable approach is to multiply the taper numbers by .98 to reduce the diameter by a uniform 2 percent. This seems to most closely follow the graduated approach to accounting for varnish.

Thank you for that suggestion. Paul.

[fireman10]

Out of the 65 rods I have made the Dickerson tapers and specifically the 49" version of the 8013 and the 7613 are by far my favorite rods. I made the 8014G and am not as happy with it as the others but it makes an excellent stillwater rod. Ive made several as solids and have hollow fluted the last few ive made. I just hollow the butts and have enjoyed how this impacted the feel of these tapers.

[GANGGREEN]

Interesting. I'm thinking that the 7612 or 7613 might be next for me. I really have enjoyed the 8013 and if these are similar tables, I would enjoy them too.

[Canewrap]

Out of those two I think the 7613 is your best bet. The 1970 taper from the Howell's book is a favorite of mine.

[DonT]

The 1950 version 7613 is another notch faster rod than the 8013. The 7612 is a very nice 4 wt but is not really in the same category as the ‘13s.

[Canewrap]

I agree with the 7612 comment. I made one and wound up giving it away. The same for a 7012. If you liked the 8013 you'll love the 7613 taper.