I’m reading John Goddard’s book, Trout-Fishing Techniques (2003). It’s an interesting read for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that John is from the other side of the pond and gives a different prospective on fishing with the angle. In the section on leaders, John mentions that he likes to use a section of POWER GUM in his hand made leaders. According to John, Power Gum stretches up to 70% of its original length and serves as a shock absorber making it possible to land large fish on light tippets. It also prevents flies from popping off if you hook a branch because of this shock absorbing property.
I regularly read fly fishing catalogs cover to cover and have never seen the stuff. Does anyone use Power Gum? What do you think of the stuff and where can it be obtain? Thanks in advance for any input. 8T
F-C sells pre-tied sections w/ loops on them. Get them, as it is impossible to get a knot to hold in that stuff. I have a small spool I bought for steelhead and we could not find a knot that didn’t pull out.
It does work though. I do believe we landed a few we would otherwise have probably lost on real light tippet.
Here in ‘The Colonies’ we are as usually way ahead of the pack. So it is with ‘tongue-in-cheek’ We have cleverly produced a commercially type product, namely, “Trout flavored gum!” [COLOR=Black]For the gumitariust near you, inquire thusly;[i][b] http://flyanglersonline.com/lighterside/jackohman/jack48.php[/b][/i][/COLOR]
Thanks to everyone who posted information about Power Gun particularly Normand, Fisher Tim, and Tailingloop for suggesting a source and JC for the laugh. I would still like to hear from someone who uses the stuff and really likes it or from anyone else who hates it. Goddard is certainly enthusiastic about Power Gum anyone else feel that way? 8T
Ya know; I kinda forgot about it since I have it in my steelhead bag.
I’ll give it a try on my 2wt and my 3wt. Can’t see where it would hurt. After I get a few uses w/ it, I’ll post some thoughts.
Rio sells a premade leader with a light shock gum section already in it.
Personally I boil my leaders for 7 minutes to soften them. After boiling a leader it becomes super soft but not to the point of shock gum. I’ll generally use a Rio 12 foot leader and then attach a short section of tippet to the end.
If you are fishing a lot of light tippet (ie 6X-8X) boiling your leaders is a must. It is stealthy, the soft leader casts much better, and it has a lot less coiling than a stiff leader so it floats for dries or indicators much better.
if its a shock absorber you want you can tye a BIMINI TWIST…I fish with one all the time and the size fish I get are up way big compared to line size… a lot of my help comes straight from my knot choice and a nice tight small twist will do it…even if its in super lite tippet
