Why Shadow II and ShadowX Tip Sections Break: Czech Nymphing Rod Guide

Introduction:

This blog post was originally published on the ECHO-Website. We thought that it might be interesting for the Czech-Nymphers out there ....

SHADOW II and SHADOW X TIP SECTIONS

You’re likely here because you either heard of, or have experienced a “top section breaking issue” with ShadowII and ShadowX rods.  We wanted to take the time to explain how we see these top sections break, and the general nature of competition-style Czech-Nymphing rods.

These style of Czech-Nymphing rods are built to the specifications of our design team members who are all among the some of most experienced competition anglers that employ these style of Czech-Nymphing tactics.  In order to get the rods to perform in the manner they require, an extremely sensitive top section is required.  These ultra-light top sections have tremendous advantages in detecting strikes & feeling the contour of the river bottom.  Where the subtle take of a laid-up feeding trout wouldn’t be felt with a more robust graphite.  To contrast this, the lower sections of the rod are “beefed up.”

Why Czech-Nymphing Rods Break

The unfortunate downside of this high modulus, lightweight graphite on long rods like this is that it can be a bit of a learning curve to get used to landing fish without pointing the rod straight up in the air, where the tip section is taking on nearly all of the load of the flex.  If this landing technique is employed, the tip section will break even on small fish, especially if the rod had been nicked or suffered any type of minor injury that would be of no consequence on standard rods.  We find that those who are used to landing fish on shorter, standard fly rods with standard-weight top sections often end up breaking multiple sections before dialing-in their landing technique.  So if you fall in this category, you’re in good company.

Proper Fish Landing Technique

To help your landing technique, we suggest not putting the rod at an angle above 60deg paralell to the ground.  By using a combination of side pressure, and by using longer-handled nets, you can get your fish landed without putting fatal levels of stress on your tip section.

Here's a helpful videos to assist you with common mistakes made with Czech Nymphing rods.