I was finishing off some flies for a swap today. I
was using black thread. It was a 200-yard spool that
I had been using for a while. I know that I had tied
about 200 flies with it at least. I am not sure who
made it as that part of the label is worn off.
I was wrapping thread on the hook when I noticed that
there was more tension on the thread. I stopped and
looked at the thread and the center of the spool was
a little rough, but I got the thread straightened out
and continued tying. I tied about three more flies and
this happened again.
I pulled the thread out for about 8 feet and got it to
working again. I tied a few more flies and then it was
stuck again. Again I went through the unwrapping the
thread stage but I noticed that the area in the center
of the spool was getting wider and that it was getting
rougher.
Being a cheapskate at times, I decided that I would
continue to try to use the thread just because I did
not want to waste it. Also I felt that I should be
able to control that little bit of thread left on
the spool and get my FULL moneys worth.
I did unwrap the thread and tie a few and then go through
the routine again. Sometimes, as my wife says, I am not
too bright but I am persistent. I got to the point where
there were three layers of thread on the spool and the
thread was bound up to where I could not get it to move.
I went into my exam room and put the thread behind the slit
lamp which gave me about 40X magnification. I was going to
figure out how to unbind this thread and finish the spool.
Understand that I have tied 14 flies in two hours. Usually
these take 3 to 4 minutes apiece to tie.
You must understand that it is the principal of the thing.
I looked at the spool and noticed a crack in the plastic in
the center, or so I thought. I tried to bring the thread out
of this crack but I could not get it to move. The biggest
problem was that I could not see where the thread went when
it went into the crack so I could not try to pull it through.
At this time I see defeat on the horizon, but I am not done.
I know that I have one empty spool in the tying room (my
office). I go get it and my scissors and think "I will cut
the tread at the edge and then I can wind it on this spool
and save some of it at least." I do this and wind about three
feet of thread before it nose dives into the crack. I pull
it off and toss it away. I decide to cut near the crack and
wind it on the other spool. This nets about 5 feet of thread
before it disappears into the abyss.
At this point, I admit defeat. I am not done as I cut all
of the thread off the spool. Now I can see what is going
on. The spool had split in half along the center line. The
thread had gone into this area and over some of the knobs
that held the two halves of the spool together. I never
would have been able to get the thread out. Over time
the tension on the thread had pulled the layers on the
middle of the spool down into the crack and they were
hopelessly entangled in the center of the spool. I did
pull the spool apart and then put it back together and it
was fine. Someplace along the line I must have done
something to pull the spool apart. I really can't complain
with the number of flies that I tied with this thread.
I guess it is not so much different than casting innumerable
times to a spot because you know that a fish is there, or
if fish had good sense one would be there. I have to
justify the time I spent (wasted?) trying to get this
thread to work.
I hope that your thread unwinds smoothly all of the time
and you can get out on the water. ~ Rick
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