Sometimes it is difficult to find something to
write about for this column, other times it is
not; this is one of those times. I may not have
anything to say this week. I had thought about
writing about how if a guy fishes downstream he
takes a chance any fish may be hooked only in the
front of the mouth and may get off during much of
a struggle, but I have covered that before.
If the line is tight and a dry fly doesn't drop
into the fishes mouth he can miss the fish completely.
Some have even thought the fish has missed the fly.
This is of course nonsense. The fish expects the
fly to drop and because the line/leader is tight
it doesn't and he gets a big mouthful of water
instead. But, that has been covered earlier as
well. Sometimes a fly-fisher will even try to get
quicker on his strike. Wrong, he needs to give the
fish time to turn and roll with the fly, then just
put some tension on it. But, live and learn I say,
and have said in other columns, so I won't bring
that up.
Heck, it's winter and many of us are stuck inside
anyhow. A few can get out to fish some salmon, steelhead,
pan fish or some trout, but most are experiencing some
form of winter. That means tying flies, tinkering with
tackle, studying catalogs, thinking about getting new
stuff and trying to rationalize said acquisitions. But,
no point writing about that, we are doing it anyway.
I wondered if any have pondered some of the things
about backing for their reels. I think I have covered
a lot in past columns though. Things like, the gel-spun
stuff will cut your fingers off if you happen to get a
big fish on and he gets nasty. If you get any slack in
that type of backing it is so light it can blow in the
wind or twist and pig-tail and get caught on the rest
of your equipment. I won't have the stuff in the house,
but many like the feature of having a few miles of it
on a reel designed for a lot less of normal backing,
twenty or thirty pound Dacron type.
Speaking of that, I am sure I mentioned in the past
that twenty pound backing will give you more line on
your reel and will cut through the water a whole lot
easier and therefore put much less drag on a fish
than thirty pound will. This can be a big factor
when playing fast but smaller things like bonefish
for instance. Go with the twenty by all means. And
yes, use the thirty when you really need it, but
that is not often for us fly guys. But, again, I
think I have covered that at other times. If not,
now may be the time to re-think your backing for
your reels.
I'll tell you one thing I have trouble with. Cleaning
my fly lines. For decades I have sought all types of
stuff for the job. There are probably not many which
I have not tried too. It seems that it is not a situation
of which work best, rather which are not as bad as some
others. I have found some which, in my humble opinion,
might clean the lines, but seem to act like dirt magnets
for future events. Some also made the lines feel gummy,
at least to me they did. No, don't ask, this is your
recreation, have the fun of finding what works for you.
And I could be just that way too. Different waters can
make lines get dirty in different ways. What works for
me may be the opposite of what you really need.
I just cleaned the two Scientific Anglers Bonefish
lines we used in the Bahamas. Dry. I just ran them
through the little scratchy pad they sell for the
job. I guess it is the best thing, at least they
say so. But, I still feel I should put some liquid
something or other on them. I won't of course, but
decades of doing things that way are hard to change.
I guess you will just have to wait until next week
for something from me. Writers-block seems to have
me in it's grip. Oh, hey... You ever use mole hair
for dubbing? Start now making plans to trap one next
year. The stuff works great! Didn't I write about
that a couple of years back? Perhaps not.
~ James Castwell
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