**December 15th, 2008
Line Control By James Castwell
—**
My apologies to those of you who are tired of seeing these
basics pounded so often. You know I have to do it though.
Looking back over the years I still remember some of the
new things I came across. Wonderful, almost magical and
hidden bits of truth and sage wisdom. To me those nuggets
were equal to any other nuggets I might have found. Nuggets
of wisdom. Nuggets like you should learn how to control your
fly line.
Ok, just what the heck is that, fly line control. It is all sorts of
things. Depends if you are fishing some breakers on the edge
of an ocean, a mirror calm lake, (or a windy one) or a tumbling
stream. All different things to do but they all fall under fly line
control. The biggest point here is that you should do some.
When we start out we may do a few things the hard way and
may get a few things right by choice, more often by accident.
It may take a while for us to put names on the various elements
of it all. Naming the facets of fly fishing is a huge leap forward.
It will give you a reference point, a place where you can be on
the same page with others you talk with or when read about
fly fishing.
Years ago I met a very well known outdoor sportsman, Joe Brooks,
at a TU dinner in Michigan. Why he was sitting all by himself at a
small table beforehand I have no idea but I took my shot. As we
started chatting he asked basically what I thought one of the most
important elements of fly fishing was. Now, talk about an ice-breaker,
talk about a way to open a conversation with someone you have
just met, about a way to give them a chance to expound on their
great/not so great wealth of information.
He was one of the kindest, gentlest and warm personalities I
have ever met. I said that I thought that handling the fly line
after the cast was. That keeping some small bit of tension on
the line without necessarily actually moving it, to maintain a sort
of constant contact with the fly, however so gentle. I said that the
little finger retrieve moves when fishing on a lake that kept the
surface coils from forming were very important.
Keeping my rod tip down, almost onto the water when I
am trying to strip a fly in short little jerks, keeping the line
from the rod to the water straight so the little jerks actually
move the fly that way and don’t just swim it right back to me.
These small things can often make the difference between a
fish taking a fly or being able to detect it if he does.
Following the drift of my line when on a stream and throwing
little half-coils of line to the surface to maintain integrity with
my fly as it either sinks or drifts on the top. Either way, that
tight attention to the piece of line from the rod tip to the water,
that often short piece of fly line can be the most important
element on any given cast and retrieve.
“Mending,” Joe said. “That’s all covered under the heading
of mending, mending the line.” Of course he was right. It is
all mending the line of some sort. But, even with such a trivial
sounding name it can be very important. And, do you remember
when you first came upon the idea of mending your fly line? I
hope you can; it was one of those big ideas you had. ~ James Castwell
Till next week, remember . . .
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Originally published December 15th, 2008 on Fly Anglers Online by James Castwell.