V Prong Weed Guard Angle

I was watching one of Puglisi’s online videos showing how to tie the EP Permit Fly. He tied in a V-shaped piece of mono just behind the hook eye for a weed guard. He said it was important to make the prongs stick out perpendicular to the hook, instead of sloped back towards the hook point. But he didn’t explain why.

I always thought that the guard should be sloped back at about a 45 degree angle. I thought this would allow the fly to slither through the grass better without collecting vegetation. I also assumed it would cause less interference when hooking the fish. Which angle do you prefer, and why?

I think this is going to be a touchy subject, but personally, I like the Metz wire weegards. They’re just like the ones you would see on a bait hook, that rest just behind the hook point and spring loose when pressure is allpied. They have worked well for me.

Here’s a pic of the type of weed guard I’m describing. I like the basic idea. It is easy to tie, and it is easy to add to flies that I already have. I imagine the 2 prongs protect the hook better than 1. They may cause less interference with hooking a fish, too.

Here’s my guess.

Through a day’s fishing, the weed guard is going to deform and angle back even farther than how it was originally. If tied in at an angle, the guard will deform to the point where it isn’t serving it’s purpose.

If tied in at an angle, the guard will deform to that 45 degree angle you really want.

Or something like that.

I tie mine bass flies like that and they work great

Without seeing the video, my guess is that the EP Permit Fly is a crab pattern; so tie the V prongs perpendicular & up to keep the weeds off the hook point, but as long as they bend back to cover the hook point. Permit will crush them anyway. If it’s an Everglades Special or a EP baitfish pattern it might help to put the V prongs back on a slight angle. As long as there’s a weedguard tied in it should work long enough to get the fly shredded by the gamefish & keep some of the water debris off the hook point.

Personaly I use single strand of #80 Ande mono for the weed guard on my spoon flys. So far Ive had one guy tell me he finely wore off the weed guard, but it took something like fifty+ red fish to finely wear down the weed guard. Plus the spoon is still going strong and is fished primarily in weedy circumstances. The ‘V’ guards are neat looking but more trouble to tye in and have my doubts weather they are any more effective at keeping weeds off the point. The "V’ guard may how ever be better at righting a fly when crawling along the bottom, never tested that idea just a thought tho.

On the topic of V-shaped mono weed guards, I found this and thought maybe you’d find it interesting. Though they’re using the method for tying the guard in as an over the hook or single post guard, it could be figure eight tied in to achieve the V-prong.

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/showthread.php?t=726954