cjboffoli
PDieter: I actually go by Christopher, not Chris.
While I can’t say that I have 40 years of experience fly fishing, it just seems that you and I were trained differently. When I learned to fly fish in the Northeast (about ten years ago), height (as well as gender, casting ability, etc.) was something that was taken into consideration in choosing a fly rod. I’m not saying it is the only factor, nor the most important. But if you stop and consider the geometry and mechanics involved in fly fishing it might seem a bit more plausible to you.
I cannot speak to the random opinions of your selected focus group, but I assure you that I am not confused. I don’t know you or your friends, obviously, so I’m going to have more faith in the certified Orvis guides who taught me. But my experience around anglers has also taught me that if you ask 20 different people about fly fishing you get 20 different opinions.
If you consider that taller people can have longer arms and shorter people vice versa, this can absolutely have a bearing on their casting strokes and the kind of action they would want in a fly rod. For example, a tall man would probably want to seek out a medium or slow action rod to compensate for a longer stroke and increased line speeds.
In just five minutes of Googling, here are just a few of the links that I found that mention an angler’s height in relation to the length of the fly rod he or she is using:
http://www.flyrodreviewblog.com/
I guess you can now say that you’ve been fly fishing for 40 years and you HAVE heard someone link height to fly rod choice. ;-)