TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER
Recent I have spent several days inventorying the books here at FAOL. There is a vast collection of fly-fishing books; most of them plough the same ground with a new plough. This started me to ponder what is the most profound advancement that has been made in fly-fishing in the last 50 or so years?
Many of the books in our library are dedicated to fly tying techniques, materials, and patterns. Clearly, books on fly patterns outnumber every other type of book dedicated to fly tying. From the sheer volume it would appear that advancements in fly tying might well qualify as the most profound advancement in fly-fishing. While it’s true that fly tiers are some of the most inventive folks that populate the fly-fishing community, however they are not really doing anything different that Izaak Walton or Charles Cotton. The materials may be different, some of the techniques are different, but basically they are still wrapping some type of material on a hook in an attempt to make something that a fish will eat. No, despite all the wonderful flies that the modern angler has at their disposal, I don’t believe that the advancements in the fly tiers skills are the most profound advancement in fly-fishing.
The library contains a number of books on ‘how to catch’ a variety of fish. There are lots of books on trout fishing, a fair number on salt water fishing, bass and warm water species have a fair representation, and there are even books on catching pike and carp on a fly. While our angling repertoire has expanded in recent years we still have to give the fish, no matter what the species, what it wants to eat and give it to them in a manner that will induce them to eat it. How to catch different species of fish with a fly rod and fly has added a great deal of variety to fly-fishing but is not the most profound advancement in the last 50 years.
There are a startling number of books on entomology and similar tomes dealing with the food that fish eat. Certainly the average angler today has a greater grasp of the food that their quarry consumes than at any other time in our collective memory. While this has resulted in more and better imitations and a better understanding between the foods fish eat and the way that the angler approaches the various species it is hardly revolutionary. Even a cursory examination of the older angling literature will reveal that this has been the practice of successful anglers since man began to trying to catch fish. The great strides made in identifying and imitating the various foods that fish eat has been historically profound but not, in my opinion, the greatest advancement in our recent history.
Amidst all the books on techniques, the how to books covering everything from tying the perfect fly to how to make the perfect cast, there are a few books that touch on what I consider the most important advancement in fly-fishing, not only in the last 50+ years, but in the history of fly-fishing. It has nothing to do with the flies we use or how we tie them, the techniques we employ, or where or how we fish.
The most profound advancements in fly-fishing have occurred in the equipment that we use, and more specifically the fly lines and leaders. When I started seriously fishing with flies I owned and used a fiberglass fly rod. That rod was heavy, something in the 4 or 5 ounce range, and was better suited for poking bats out of a chimney than casting flies. In the intervening years I have owned bamboo rods from some of the finest rod makers in the business, graphite rods that are the top of the line, and while they are more pleasant to use than that old bat poker the improvements have been mostly in decreased weight and improvements in material and tapers. These are subtleties that are lost on all but the most discriminating anglers.
The fly reel that was attached to the butt of that old fiberglass rod was basically the same design as the most expensive fly reel that I have owned since those days. The drag on my newer reels may be more sophisticated, the tolerances may be more exacting, and certainly the cost is greater, but basically, even the most expensive modern fly reel is just an expensive winch that stores our fly line when we are not casting it.
No, the real advancements that have contributed the most to modern fly-fishing practice have nothing to do with rods or reels. The biggest advancements have been in the fly lines we wind on our reels and the leaders that we use to attach our flies to the business end of our fly line. [You can read a history of the modern fly line at flyanglersonline.com/features/readerscast/rc150.php]
When I started fly fishing you could purchase a level line, a weight forward or a double taper, and you could have any color you wanted, provided it was some shade of green. You had to understand a complicated letter system – HCH, GBF – in order to buy a fly line for your particular fly rod. You could buy one type of fly line; floating, which was somewhat of an oxymoron. All that has changed radically in the last 50+ years.
The modern fly line is a marvel of design and function. We can purchase a fly line that will float, sink slowly, or sink quickly. Our fly lines are available in double tapers, weight forward tapers, triangle tapers, and a variety of other configurations designed for specific angling situations. Our modern fly lines don’t need to be dried and dressed after each time we use them. They don’t rot, they can be left on the reel from one season to the next, and with any reasonable care they will last for many years. There are lines that remain flexible in extremely cold temperatures and rigid when used in extremely warm temperatures.
While I consider the modern fly line one of the major accomplishments in fly-fishing it is really what is attached to the end of the fly line that is truly the one thing that has revolutionized fly-fishing in the last 50 years. Prior to the introduction of the materials that make up modern fishing leaders natural fibers were used. Starting with horsehair and later silk gut these materials left much to be desired. Horsehair had many issues; breaking strength being just one. Silk gut had to be soaked before it could be used, and obtaining anything approaching the small sizes that we routinely use today was out of the question. Like horsehair breaking strength was uncertain, especially in the smaller diameters.
In 1939 DuPont began marketing a new material they called nylon for fishing lines. This early nylon was stiff and wiry which made it ill-suited for fly-fishing leaders. It had great knot strength and low visibility in the water. By the late 50’s DuPont had a softer, less wiry monofilament and soon this material was being spooled up for tippet material for fly-fishing leaders. In the intervening years further advancements made monofilament leader material the standard of the industry. For the first time in fly-fishing history the material that was used to attach the fly to the fly line did not need to be soaked before it was used, it was available in sizes suitable for the smallest flies, and it was strong, even in the smallest diameters. Leaders were the final link in the chain, and really the most vital link in the entire chain.
Further developments have occurred in recent years. Fluorocarbons, compounds that contain only carbon and fluorine are bonded together in a strong carbon-fluorine bond. Much like nylon monofilament, but with a lower optical density that makes it less visible in the water. The surface is more resistant to fish with sharp teeth, and it is denser than monofilament nylon, so unlike nylon monofilament, it sinks.
I am grateful for the modern fly rods, new and innovative fly patterns, light-weight fly reels, and all the other modern equipment that we have today, but the one invention that has truly revolutionized fly-fishing is the length of synthetic material that connects the fly to the line. Leaders, the one piece of equipment that most modern anglers take for granted, is truly the one innovation that is the most profound advancement in fly-fishing equipment in the last 50 years. When attached to a modern fly line it has changed fly-fishing like no other innovation.