shock gum help

I have experimented with rio shock gum to perhaps allow me to use lighter tippets with frusterating results. I first tried using nail knots and surgeons knots to tie it to the fly line...I thought - this stuff is so bad I might as well glue it to the fly line...but really, thats what I eventually came to doing. I would tie the line to the shock gum with tying thread...with many many wraps....and then apply zap a gap. This worked far better than any other way so far, but it is still not as good as it could be. I am wondering if there is a special glue I could use or even another way to tie the stuff to the fly line )( although I am quite confident with the tying thread )

thanks for any help
Ian

[FisherTim]

Can't wait to see the suggestions. I tried it on one steelhead trip and gave up. Tried every knot I know and then some. Can't remember the last thing that aggravated me as much as that gum tippet. Still have quite a bit somewhere in my bag. Seemed like a good idea.....

[Jim Hatch]

Hi Ian,

No flyshops in my neighborhood and I'm
not familiar with the shock gum. I'm just
curious if it might be something that would
work for legging smaller spider patterns.*G*
Warm regards, Jim

[biot midge]

Ian,
I don't have any experience with tying the stuff, but instructions were only a google away. [url=http://www.burfish.com/catalog/2-2060.html:ee063]http://www.burfish.com/catalog/2-2060.html[/url:ee063] Go to the link and scroll down. Sorry about the angry face, I forgot to change it.
Steve

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"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went"-Will Rogers




[This message has been edited by biot midge (edited 04 July 2006).]

[RickB]

I posted this question a while back. The best answer that I got was to use the braided leader loops designed to go on the end of the fly line. That seems to be a good solution although I haven't tested under fire yet.

Another option is to check the leaders that already have shock gum built it. Some furled leaders have it built in and RIO makes a leader with it built in. Also, Hook and Hackle (a friendly neighborhood sponsor) carries pre-looped shock gum sections.

As for glue, I use plio-bond on my lines and leaders to add extra protection for braided loops and whipped loops when I use them.

Jim, this stuff is about as thick as a small rubber band and is much more expensive than traditional legging material that you get in a fly shop. It has a milky kind of appearance and I haven't tried to color it with a marker but I guess you could.

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Fish more, work less!

[rainbowchaser]

In Advanced Fly Fishing Techniques Lefty Kreh shows how to put a section of shock gum in a leader butt. This is done by putting the leader material and the shock gum side by side and tying two oppossing nail knots and sliding them together and then doing the same thing on the other end of the shock gum. This will probably be clearer if you can get a look at the book and the illustration.

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all leaders tangle; mine are just better at it than most. Jim

[J Castwell]

If you need that stuff, ya got problems.

[Donald Nicolson]

I can't say that I've heard of shock gum being used over here for sea trout or salmon fishing.
It is usually used by dry fly fishermen when having to fish with a very light leader, especially to very wary chalk stream trout.

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Donald/Scotland