BB'ers,
Well the wife is away this evening and I'm gonna settle back and watch the OLN and scream at the television tonight (really just at Andy Mill and Trevor Gowdy).
I have a question though and it concerns the way you attach the leader to the flyline. I used to use the loop to loop connectors that you'd put on the end of the flyline and hold in place with some shrink-wrap tubing. It was easy, and I thought effective. However, I poked around a little and casted some other peoples outfits and decided that the braided loops tended to cause loops in the line and resulted in poor presentations (for trout anyway).
As my knot tying became passable I switched to a short section of mono permenantly attached via a nail knot to the end of the flyline. The end of the mono would then get a loop knot to attach the leader. I still use this now, but am wondering if there is a better way. I am unsure of what size (diameter) mono to use for a corresponding line wt. Usually I go with some pretty stout material, never really using anything less than 30lb, even for the 3wt. I even tried to whip a loop in the end of my 5wt line with tying thread (a la Lefty), but I thought it was too bulky for soft landings. So my question is - What do you folks use for both your saltwater and freshwater setups? Are you proponents of the short mono piece, do you prefer to directly nail knot the leader, or do you use another method?
I was out this afternoon casting in the side yard (breaking in the new neighbors http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Wilk.gif" border="0" align="middle">) and got to thinking about this stuff - boy am I jonesing for some fishing. Another thing that I find interesting is how my rods perform when stringing them up with lines rated either 1 line size lighter/heavier than the rod is designed for. Some of the rods I had written off as dogs now seem to be much more useful. I put a 4wt WF line on the 3wt Legend Ultra (taking off the 3wt DT) and the rod performed much better IMO. Could be the differnce between the WF and DT though, as well as the quality of the line (333 vs. SA/Orvis Zebra line). Also I found that my 8wt is still really a nicer 7wt, and the 5wt is gonna be great on the Deerfield or Westfield.
Going to the NE Outdoor Writers Association Banquet and the Worcester Show tomorrow. Anyone else going to be there tomorrow? I've never hit this show, preferring to stick with the Marlboro show. Do they have a decent amount of FF gear?
Have a great weekend <img src="http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Happy.gif
Pete
Well the wife is away this evening and I'm gonna settle back and watch the OLN and scream at the television tonight (really just at Andy Mill and Trevor Gowdy).
I have a question though and it concerns the way you attach the leader to the flyline. I used to use the loop to loop connectors that you'd put on the end of the flyline and hold in place with some shrink-wrap tubing. It was easy, and I thought effective. However, I poked around a little and casted some other peoples outfits and decided that the braided loops tended to cause loops in the line and resulted in poor presentations (for trout anyway).
As my knot tying became passable I switched to a short section of mono permenantly attached via a nail knot to the end of the flyline. The end of the mono would then get a loop knot to attach the leader. I still use this now, but am wondering if there is a better way. I am unsure of what size (diameter) mono to use for a corresponding line wt. Usually I go with some pretty stout material, never really using anything less than 30lb, even for the 3wt. I even tried to whip a loop in the end of my 5wt line with tying thread (a la Lefty), but I thought it was too bulky for soft landings. So my question is - What do you folks use for both your saltwater and freshwater setups? Are you proponents of the short mono piece, do you prefer to directly nail knot the leader, or do you use another method?
I was out this afternoon casting in the side yard (breaking in the new neighbors http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Wilk.gif" border="0" align="middle">) and got to thinking about this stuff - boy am I jonesing for some fishing. Another thing that I find interesting is how my rods perform when stringing them up with lines rated either 1 line size lighter/heavier than the rod is designed for. Some of the rods I had written off as dogs now seem to be much more useful. I put a 4wt WF line on the 3wt Legend Ultra (taking off the 3wt DT) and the rod performed much better IMO. Could be the differnce between the WF and DT though, as well as the quality of the line (333 vs. SA/Orvis Zebra line). Also I found that my 8wt is still really a nicer 7wt, and the 5wt is gonna be great on the Deerfield or Westfield.
Going to the NE Outdoor Writers Association Banquet and the Worcester Show tomorrow. Anyone else going to be there tomorrow? I've never hit this show, preferring to stick with the Marlboro show. Do they have a decent amount of FF gear?
Have a great weekend <img src="http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Happy.gif
Pete