My 14 year old son is affected by ataxic cerebral palsy and his hands tremor badly when he’s trying to perform small motor functions. He’s not able to tie any knots at all.
My question is; is there a product that allows a quick connection between the hook and tippet similar to the barrelswivel/quick-lock snap/snelled hook system used in bait casting? Or, has anyone ever tried to snell flies and use the metal snaps on a fly rod?
I can tie all his flies snell style, but I want him to be as independent as possible while he’s on the water. My concern with the snap locks is the weight. We mostly fish in fresh water so this may not even be a problem, but we do plan to get after some trout this summer and I want him to have a chance to get a few on his own. I think a snap lock would tend to drag his fly down and be detrimental to a good presentation.
I’m also looking toward the future, I don’t want him to miss out on fly fishing just because his dad isn’t there to tie the knots.
Thanks in advance for the help that you can (and will generously) give.
The innovative, lightweight No-Knot Fas-Snap is designed to be tied directly to your tippet or mono line. No-Knot Fas-Snap will not inhibit casting or presentation and it even floats with a dry fly! 30 per pack.
If he can handle a loop to loop connection you might consider tying his flies with a loop of monofilament projecting over the hook eye and putting a loop on the end of his leader. Simply put leader loop through the fly loop and push fly through the leader loop. Pull tight. To change flies just push on leader loop knot to open the loop and push fly back out.
I’d also suggest the Fast Snaps, but find a few locally and see if he can make them work before you buy a bunch. They are pretty small.
If that’s a problem for him, either go ‘loop to loop’ as Rainbow Chaser recommended, or try a Duo Lock Snap…they are just light wire, and the small ones are small enough for subsurface flies…probably okay for larger dries too, but not those 16s or 18s.
Tim,
I have 3 packs of medium and 2 packs of small “Fas-snaps”, if you’d want to give them a whirl, and I have a magnetic ‘thingie’ like in the dot ad to set the hook on and run the tippet through to knot (tippet threader). You’d be welcome to try it out too.
Betty
Rainbowchaser’s idea is an excellent one too!
Had another thought this afternoon …
Possibly the combination of the tippet threader (magnet thingie) and a Ty-rite (thing that looks like a ball point pen, with a spring controlled hook inside it) might work? If the barrel on the ty-rite was enlarged, making it easier for your son to grasp, he could twist the “pen” part, and form a knot. The combination of ty-rite and fas-snap is another idea that may work. That way he could hold the fly with the ty-rite, and snap it on the fas-snap.
I knew you all would help. That’s why I love this site.
I’m willing to give all these ideas a try. I imagine any one of them will work for him. The dexterity is there, just that his hands won’t quit shaking. So, it’s likely he’ll find the idea he likes best and stick with it.
Catman and Betty, thanks for your kind offers. I’ll be in touch with you pretty quick.
I saw charles Meck tie a fly that way for an easily adjusted indicator fly and he suggested then that it would also be helpful to those who had problems with knots in cold weather. If you tie some you should make the tail a little longer and thicker than usual to balance the mono loop in front. He attached the mono with a half hitch at the rear of the hook using both strands around the hook and then wrapped over with thread and coated it with Sally Hansons. I tried it and found that I make a hump at the half hitch, I used a drop of super glue at the back of the shank and one behind the eye nd then covered with thread and SH.
I was aware that none of the solutions offered here would help much if the tippet was broken off too short or the entire leader damaged but couldn’t think of any better ideas until I realized that I had solved that same problem over ten years ago when my dad’s arthritis prevernted him from repairing tangled perch rigs when ice fishing. I tied a fairly large loop in the end of his line and then made up several perch rigs with a loop on the top end and a snap swivel at the bottom. When one rig became tangled or lost a hook it was easy to take the sinker off the snap swivel and replace the rig with the loop to loop cannection and put the sinker on the new snap swivel. We wrapped the pre-tied rigs on one of these
They are called tackle tamers and widely available.
If you make up several tippets with clips or loops and maybe at least one spare leader cut back to the start of the tippet with a loop there he can change out the tippet or leader if needed.
Here’s the fly, with about 15 inches of tippet tied to it; and the fas-snap tied to the butt end. The leader has a 3mm ring at the tip end, and is big enough for the snap to fit through. I also did the leader with a line of mono through it, so it was a bit stiffer to make it easier for Michael to handle.
This shows the above plus the tackle tender, with the other flies attached. The white spot is a piece of velcro to hold the end of the tippet in place. The hook has its own keeper.
Thank you so much to rainbowchaser for the tamer idea!!
What a fun project for a cold day. Tomorrow will be off to the Post Office, and sent to Michael.
I’ve been using Rainbowchasers and Betty’s ideas for some time now when fishing midges as I can’t find the eye of a size 18 or 20 to tye them on! but I’ve never thought of using it for larger flys (Doh!!). I have a spare “Tackle Buddy”, much like the “Tackle Tamer” they show. I’m going to load up the spare “Tackle Buddy” (holds 15) with my fly’s for the day, maybe 2/3 of each, for my next trip. These 2 very smart people have just solved a problem for me too!
P.S. I think the “Fast Snap” gives a little more action to subsurface flys.
How do those tackle tamers work??? I can’t quite tell from the picture. How does the fly attach to it? And how does the other end of the leader attach?
I was wondering about how to make my own from a swim noodle.
Here’s the fly, with about 15 inches of tippet tied to it; and the fas-snap tied to the butt end. The leader has a 3mm ring at the tip end, and is big enough for the snap to fit through. I also did the leader with a line of mono through it, so it was a bit stiffer to make it easier for Michael to handle.
This shows the above plus the tackle tender, with the other flies attached. The white spot is a piece of velcro to hold the end of the tippet in place. The hook has its own keeper.
