Thomas & Thomas Vector Rods

The series of fly rods christened Vector further the trend toward multi-piece fly rods. Vectors are available in both freshwater and saltwater models and all are designed around a three-piece rod blank construction.

Saltwater Vectors come in 9-foot models for a 7-weight line on up to a 12-weight model. What's even more interesting here is that the same 7 through 12 line weight fly rods are also available in 8.5-foot models.

According to the 1999 Thomas & Thomas rod catalog, the shorter Vectors "are especially useful under conditions where the casting target is restricted, such as fishing the mangroves."

Most saltwater fly rodders don't encounter such obstacles, so it's interesting to see Thomas & Thomas design rods meant for what others might classify as a "niche market." It will also be interesting to see how the shorter rods are accepted by the saltwater fly fishing community.

Though an 8.5-foot fly rod will result in shorter casts, boaters might find that the short rods are an advantage. All fishing rods are levers, and as I've said many times before, all anglers are on the short end of the stick. Fly rods present a particular design problem because we need the low fulcrum (the grip) in order to cast, but that long stretch from the grip to the tip gives a distinct advantage to fish during a battle.

As a fly rod bends under stress, the lever length shortens, but not so much that things get noticeably easier on our end. A shorter rod will give you more fish-fight power from the get-go, so perhaps Thomas & Thomas is looking beyond the mangroves to the growing flats boat fly fishing market where an 8.5-foot fly rod can come in handy to lift striped bass and bluefish, and still give anglers casts long enough to hit the target.

Thomas & Thomas says that the design of the taper on the new Vector rods affords increased line speed, making the 9-foot models candidates for shooting heads. In fact, Ken Kuhner of Cold Spring Fly had a chance to test the Vectors at the Salt Lake City trade show, and said the design was influenced by Nick Curcione. "They handle shooting heads well," Ken said, "and Nick was stressing that at the show." Ken said the rods have a narrow diameter that cuts through the air, adding more velocity to a shooting head cast. He says he'll have both the 9- and 8.5-foot models in soon, and some of the 8.5s are going right on his boat.

Thomas & Thomas also points out that all Vector rods are built with oversize guides. It wasn't more than a decade ago when most 9-foot 9-weight rods were still being built with Size 16 stripper guides. Nowadays, large-guide fly rod design is common. We can thank custom rod makers for making the point and saltwater fly rodders everywhere for driving that point home.