Posted by Kit (12.239.251.140) on October 10, 2003 at 19:50:41:
In Reply to: Re: Tip of the week posted by Robert McMahan on October 09, 2003 at 22:44:14:
UMM lets rethink this. The solution is one that works. Certain flys will always twist your leader. Parachutes, anything with a big wing, some large flys, many types will twist your leader. Bad casting will do the same thing and is the leading cause of the infamous wind knot. Too tight of a loop on the back cast will cause a wind knot. What causes this is your timing is to fast. Just like good women once told me once slow down big boy. What I am saying is that some leader materials will not twist as easily as others. I know that Jim E. is not a big fan of using Berkley fluorocarbon line as leader material. I love it, but only when I nymph fish. One of the major problems with fluorocarbon material is that it sinks. If I see a big fish eating dries only yes I am going to rip of the nymph off and tie on a dry fly. The fluorocarbon will work just fine for this. If I am going to fish only dry flies that day, I would us something like Orvis nylon leader material or even Bass Proshop leader material; it’s a lot cheaper. I will run this material through a leader strengthener if for no other reason then to take the shin off it. I don’t like shinny things fishing or hunting. I always go for dull items in this regard. Unless I am having a big meeting then of course go for the shine, Ha Ha.
As most guys always say size doesn’t mater, yea right then why do we always lie about it. Well size does mater, you always want to use the smallest size leader that you can get away with or better yet feel comfortable with. When it comes to trout fishing smaller is always better. But that is ok if you are casting a midge but what do you do when you are casting a size 2 streamer at a king salmon in Alaska? You adjust the size of the leader to the fly. A size 2 leader would call for, at the least, a 10 lb tippet. Could you use 8lb tippet yes but you will have to adjust your casting style to make it straighten out with out the hinge effect you get from a wrong setup of tippet and fly size. Could you use a 2 lb tippet? No way the fly would break off on the back cast.
So the make up of the tippet material, the type of fly we are using and the casting style that we have at this stage of our experience all tell us why our leader twist. Does this mean that this sport is more then I can handle. NO! It means that this sport unlike dunking worms takes more brainpower. You would not have even started if you didn’t already have what it takes. Now all you need is the same as all of us have gone through that is practice experiment and enjoy it when it all comes together.