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wind casting heavy flies

4K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  juro 
#1 ·
Here's a purely situational thing that I've ran up upon several times after smallies but never with a flyrod: Big crosswind 15mph+ blowing left to right, sight fishing smallmouths on logs with heavier crayfish imitations 45-70 feet out, in a boat with another person. I'd be using my eight weight with a bassbug floating or a full-sink line. NO SHOOTING HEADS. Whats the best aproach?
 
#2 ·
flyjkol said:
Here's a purely situational thing that I've ran up upon several times after smallies but never with a flyrod: Big crosswind 15mph+ blowing left to right, sight fishing smallmouths on logs with heavier crayfish imitations 45-70 feet out, in a boat with another person. I'd be using my eight weight with a bassbug floating or a full-sink line. NO SHOOTING HEADS. Whats the best aproach?
I refer to 'crosswind' as one that blows into your casting side and you said 'left to right'. So by this definition, you are either a lefty or you mean a wind that messes you up but not necessarily by blowing the line into your casting side.

Also, heavy flies, average casts, in a boat.

Hmmm... do you mean that you are the "other man out" while one right-handed guy easily casts off the bow (outdrive usually drags the stern to the face of the wind while the lighter bow swings)?

So therefore you are on the stern trying to cast but the boat is in your way, correct? Either that or you are a lefty and have the wind blowing everything into you when you cast at the stern.

Please confirm that I understand your situation correctly so I don't misinterpret the question.

Good scenario!
 
#3 ·
Sorry for the confusion. I am a right hander,fishing off the stern, who as you said does not have trouble with the wind blowing the line towards my casting side, but rather trouble with the line landing in piles in front of me. Should I widen my loops, or is there something missing in how I throw a tight loop? I am worried, however, that with a wider loop I wil be constantly throwing the fly more towards the bow than anything.
 
#4 ·
flyjkol said:
Sorry for the confusion. I am a right hander,fishing off the stern, who as you said does not have trouble with the wind blowing the line towards my casting side, but rather trouble with the line landing in piles in front of me. Should I widen my loops, or is there something missing in how I throw a tight loop? I am worried, however, that with a wider loop I wil be constantly throwing the fly more towards the bow than anything.
I see, right hander off the stern in wind but not at you - you must be anchored off the bow with the stern swung to the lee. So there is no cross-wind in fact the wind is in your favor (?)

Pile ups on the water... not enough energy to turn the fly and leader over or if the line is piling up then you might need to look at a few other things...

Are you double-hauling?
The haul can put incredible energy into short casts like the ones you are making here.

Are you using an appropriate leader? Short, stout leaders will turn over the fly better, if it's the leader that piling up.

Did you consider cutting off the level tip of the flyline? You get a more direct transfer into the leader without the level tip, usually a foot or more.

Have you tried over-lining the rod a bit? If the rod is not flexing it's harder to get the energy transfer from the lever into the loop. If the rod is too stiff you are trying to push the rod harder and that usually doesn't work well with a wind-resistant or heavy fly. It does however work better to bend the rod and let it do the transfer to create a loop with a lot of dynamic tension.

Is there another pattern they would take that is less wind-resistant? If the cast is fine without these flies on the leader than maybe you could try another fly that they can't resist.

Have you tried sinking tip lines? A hybrid tip combines the grains of a floating head's rear half with the sinking front half, but in a way that the two are matched to form one head. This usually results in a line that gets the fly down while casting like a WF line.

Fish in the wee hours... smallies love to cruise the shoreline eating things on the surface at dawn and dusk ;)
 
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