Every setup has its flaws. sometimes I have focused so much one one aspect of my setup, that I carelessly let it not be true to the rest of the rod. In this instance... tippet.
I started reading a book last week and the first twenty or so pages are all about fly to line connections/construction. I quickly realized that there was in fact someone else out there who had thought about this as much as I had. (much more actually) now I've been thru many tippet phases in my life; at one time, I had charts of numbers relaying lengths and tippet sizes to construct various leaders... I actually used to blood-knot five or so tippets together and think I had the best shit. Eventually, I came to my senses and realized that there were these tapered mono leaders I could get for just a couple bux. Years later, I began using furled leaders made by Kathy Scott. Those short green magical thread wonders were now the shit, and remained my choice for years. (I still can't give up these yet) The last couple of seasons, I have been making my own. Not exactly furled, but close enough. Using a drill and about 20 feet of fine nylon sewing thread, I could make a pretty sweet 6 foot or so furled leader. They work almost as good, and are free.
My reading pointed out one very serious flaw. At the end of my fly line, I had been using one of those straightened hook/eye pins, that you then can attach something to. Hinge! It creates a loose hinge!. your line and leader won't act together as an extension of your cast, the hinge can screw up a perfect cast, knot up mid cast, and not provide the delicate presentation as your line lays down. My rod doesn't have any hinges in it.. my line shouldn't suffer the same downfall.
What I did is simple... I threw that little hook pin away. The end of my line is now a simple loop made with a razor and some 14/0 thread wrapping it. My saltwater setup was much easier.. the line had a core that was easy to separate, keeping the size of my wrappings down. Trout setups.... a little different. my 2 main rigs are a 0 wt and a 000wt. finding a core may be impossible. anyways, my outcome looks great and is not bulky at all. now the leader.. I wanted something besides nylon this time, so I started with a 9 1/2 foot 6x tapered leader and cut off about 24-30'' from the fat end. Then I took a lighter and made a mono eye at the end. this little ball was slid into one of those leader connectors that is essentially a Chinese finger trap. a dap of superglue, some fine trimming, and now it will attach to my fly-line without a hinge.
Fishing with 6x is a little much for my style, and besides, I'd rather not have to make one of these setups every couple of trips out. so simple.. and again free. I took a sz 14 dry hook (thin wire) and cut off the eye. after filing this miniature ring to reduce sharp edges, It became my means of attaching 6x to an 18-24" length of 10x midge.
It works great!
A sz 16 elk-hair cadd grabbed me 5 natives pretty quickly. one badass hit like some sorta shark video... straight outta the water like a rocked. one of the best trout strikes i have ever seen... here he is..
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| little rocket |
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| awesome fall colors. |
''''''On a side note""""""
Clydes opens this weekend. I plan on becoming quite drunk on homemade "White-Out" white lightening Apple jack. If you haven't a clue... Cool, More for me. If you wanna learn... Go spend a few bux on a gallon of regular hard, freeze, press, freeze, press, etc. the end result is hard cider that is super thick, super apple, and super strong. a gallon usually produces maybe a pint and a half. (its easy to carry fishing)
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