hairwing

They use "no-hackles" ......... https://www.google.com/search?q=sri+lankan+pole+fisherman&hl=en&rlz=1C1GGIE_enUS320US325&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=FUUxUe7qKYOGyAGCzICYBQ&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=677#imgrc=p6dZ3xsgrf5JpM%3A%3BuAYYrl1WQNK8LM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpixdaus.com%252Ffiles%252Fitems%252Fpics%252F0%252F38%252F197038_b62b831f3021e53c87f7169542c322ee_mdsq.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fpixdaus.com%252Ffisherman%252Fitems%252Ftag%252Ffisherman%252F24%252F%3B290%3B290

I'm sure you have seen Steve Rajeff rocket a cast. He really puts some ummph behind his delivery. It's powerful ! I wouldn't be afraid to put a bend in the rod. A tailing loop is not a beginners fault, so I know you have some experience casting. I can only offer how I fix my tailing loops.Give it a try: I put about 50 ft. of fly line out in front of me and hook the line with my right forefinger. With the right hand in the starting position, I grab the butt end of the rod with my left hand, and deliver a zippy backcast working both hands together. The forward cast follows the same tempo. Work the line in a few false casts and watch the loops. The tail should be gone ! Shoot the line. Essentially a two handed cast with a single hand rod. If you try this I think you will find that your arm and hand movement tighten up. They aren't waving and bobbing all around and getting out of position and then trying to re-position for the forward cast. On the backcast the right hand will come up to position next to your head with no twist in your wrist and forearm. Your rod hand won't have to be maneuvered for the forward cast. The left hand is helping to get to this position. Let both hands complete the forward cast and subsequent false casts. After a few practice casts with the drill return to the hand separation for a single hand cast and use your double haul. I found a bonus using this drill in that if I just switch hand positions I can cast left handed easily. Good Luck. Let us know if you get it figured out.

So...GG34, did you fix your tailing loop?

Is a tapered fly line necessary if you use a tapered leader? Let me offer another way to look at my question and see if you think this would work or not. I will start out with a 80 ft. level line. Make a 6 ft. taper and then a 9 ft.transition to the tip. I am going to refer to the section from .040 to .009 as a leader and the 2 ft.section of .007 as a tippet. 80 ft. .045 2 ft. .040 2 ft. .035 2 ft. .033 3 ft. .019 2 ft. .017 .5 ft. .015 .5 ft. .013 .5ft. .011 .5ft .009 2 ft. .007

True but what I was talking about far as availability was an actual full length 80' Level line, not just cutting the taper off and using the shorter level running section. Use to back in the day shops sold an actual level line with no taper that was a uniform diameter the entire 80ft length. That's the line that most of us that started back in the 80's had to deal with learning to cast on and learned to hate it Well if you must have the real McCoy.....http://buy.scientificanglers.com/air-celtm-general-purpose-floating.html...it's the one priced for $18.95. Nuff said. .....and when you started out are you sure it was the line or was it a case of the "Indian and The Bow and Arrow". Some day when you have some giggle time, why don't you rig one up for reevaluation. Might give you something to think about. Did me.:-). I started out once too.

So first let me explain where I might have come up with a question like this. I probably have a narrow view of all the fly line designs because I fish mainly for trout in moving water so what I see the fly line doing and what others see the fly line doing could be based on two different perspectives. In my younger days I could wear out a line in about 6 months and it was generally the first 15 feet of the line that wore. These were the best lines available ie. Cortland 444 or Scientific Anglers Supreme. It pained me to discard the perfectly good remaining line as the fly line was and is an expensive part of the tackle. I felt somehow if I was to cut off the taper of the line I would handicap my fishing ability. I couldn't get outside that mindset and would fork over the cash. I have come to a different conclusion today. While we need the speed and the weight of the line to fight the wind and deliver the bigger flies we need to put on the brakes to all that speed or the end of the cast goes out of control. I see the taper of the line and leader doing this. Without some kind of resistance on the end, a level line will kick, and so will a tapered line. Try this for yourself, cast your tapered fly line without a leader and see the result. The effect is also magnified with heavier line weights. But too my question...considering the front taper on modern lines is only 4 to 10 feet at the most why can't this taper be done in the leader constructed of mono? What's so special about having it shaved off the coating on the end? They are shaving off the micro-bubbles, what I consider to be the most important attribute of the modern line. Those bubbles float the line. Let me add that I use tapered fly lines because I have accumulated many of them over the years and I'd bet now that I couldn't wear one out before I die. I'm passing on my thoughts for a younger generation to consider as an alternative and let them know that their fishing ability will not be handicapped by doing so and they can save a few bucks and waste not. Level line availability....you all have one when you snip the taper off let's say a DT-6-F and believe it or not if you were to flip a WF-8-F around you have a L-6-F line. I am not advocating anyone go out and start replacing their tapered lines with level lines. Sadly in my mind all of the tapered engineering is part hyperbole and marketing, but that's my problem and I can deal with it.

OK well.... let's see what other folks have to say.

Is a tapered fly line necessary if you use a tapered leader?

Gary has been getting a kick out of his audiences at the recent fly fishing shows. He's got pics posted on his website from the Denver show and the Marlboro show showing "the casting devils" posed at the ropes. I got a kick out it, and when I came across Joe assuming the pose in some of the recent inaugural images I had to chuckle. No connection other than my warped sense of humor. Personally I like Joe Biden and didn't in anyway mean to put the guy in a bad light. I guess Gary is bypassing the Somerset Show. I would have loved to have seen the "East Coast Casting Devils" do their thing. Oh well. Here is the Borger site. You'll have to scroll down a few posts to find the "Casting Devils" he's talkin' about. http://www.garyborger.com/ Be Happy !

So......did Joe teach Gary Borger or.....did Gary teach Joe Biden??? Wink Wink

I like these foam boxes. Get a couple of the large or medium size for your stock flies to carry in your vest and have a shirt pocket size for those times when you shed the vest or pack and want to go light. Hook a few hatch-matchers in the pocket size and you don't have to lug all that stuff.... wears you out. You can sit on the box and it won't break, plus it floats, its super lightweight, accommodates both hackled dry flies,nymphs, wets and streamers, and closes tight with magnets to keep critters out. Most come in different colored exterior so you can pick the box you want if you load the boxes with different patterns.

If I was into the natural furs, I can't think of an easier way than to acquire them than a box spring trap. I put one in my garden when the varmints start to plunder the tomatoes for some control, but the results sometimes can be too much. I recall the first time I set one, I had squirrels, raccoon and skunk the first three days, plus a red fox at the trap looking for a free meal when one of the animals got boxed. Thing is that this is one of those "set it and forget it" type of things. I smear some Skippy on a paper towel, load the trap and check on it the next morning when I retrieve the newspaper. I practiced catch and release with the traps because I have enough of that stuff to last a lifetime, so if you need to harvest the varmints I'll leave how they are dispatched to your imagination. Harbor Freight has these traps for cheap. I consider 10 yards a pretty good shot with an air gun....your not going to get that close to most of these critters.

Yelpin' Yimmany.........our dog Poppy says, "Come any closer Willy and you'll be fly tying material". They played in the yard for about 1/2 an hour a couple of weeks ago.

I use Poly Pro Yarn...light grey for bwo....white for trikes. You can tie really small flies with this stuff. Specific gravity is less than water...so it floats well. It's durable.

The shuffle, be it "the San Juan".."the Yellowstone" or whatever river the trout feed underneath an anglers feet has been immortalized in Schubert's "Die Forelle" as an unsporting way to catch your trout. I think most of you know the tune, but most don't know the words probably. Have a listen. I fish upstream for the most part on small to medium moving water. You just won't scare as many fish. I'll fish down and across for presentation purposes when needed but I'm generally moving in an upstream direction.

Whoops...I was afraid someone would catch Mel's plea to go out and buy a shooting head. I debated even using the vid in that other thread but thought the "downup" instruction was about as simple as you could get teaching the double haul movements. I also noticed someone unfamiliar with the shooting head system would get confused when he mentioned overhang. I wish I could have edited out all the shooting head stuff but it's not my place. My apologies for misguiding you. Learning to fly cast on a forum is extremely difficult and what I have seen is that most discussions result in misinformation being passed to the learners; or instruction that is overwhelmingly technical to the point that even the experienced fly casters can lose track of the idea. Forum discussions are all to opinionated at times. My advise is to buy the book "The Cast" and put some time in reading it and applying what your learning out there back of the house on the lawn. Then get another book and read and study further, and another, and another and search more internet fly casting sites and practice, practice, practice. Fly casting will become a simple pleasurable pursuit but it won't happen with a quick fix, and in my case, it didn't happen overnight but I plowed through all the problems and frustrations keeping my shoulder to the stone.

Creepy good looking flies! You are talented.

or fingernail polish by golly!

Danville 6/0 Flymaster and Uni 8/0 are great tying threads. I tie all my trout flies with them sizes ranging from 2/0 to 28's. When they start producing hooks in the size 40 range I'll look into the micro-threads :-).

"The Cast" is a great book. Sift through a bunch of fly casting instruction books though and I think you'll find most have the same talking points. You won't find too much magic. Your goal is to get the fundamentals right and understand them so that you can critique the results of your distance casting efforts. Books are one way (read all you can get your hands on), and I find the web a good source to expand my interpretation of all the talking points also. Here is just one that I Iike to visit: http://www.virtualflycasting.com/intro.htm You want more distance and learn the Double Haul. First make sure your not asking more from your equipment than it is willing to give. Don't really expect to see that fly line backing with a 2,3, or 4 weight outfit. A 6, 7 or 8 weight rod with a little backbone that will aerialize 70 feet or so of line will do a much better job at the distance game. Second, make sure the rod guides are not worn; and both the rod and line are clean. The line being stretched a bit to remove the memory coils. Now (with a little authority) say the word....DOWNUP !!!!!!!!! Go here..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcE-9WPuZ04&playnext=1&list=PL81D67A181DC98531&feature=results_video..... for simple double haul instruction. And let me add a few cautions..... Beware the guys telling you you only have to cast 10-30 ft. to catch fish, beware the physicist, and beware the pro charging you a hundred bucks an hour and can't get it to his backing. Fly casting is an essential part of the game and it's fun.

Sand County Almanac...Aldo Leopold...is a great look at the conservation movement. Lots of mental images, ie...... a dog with it's nose in the air sniffing "olfactory gold" on the bird hunt. The book is filled with written images. After reading the book through, I learned to respect the opinions of the scientist, they examine the ecosystem in a different way than layman and really proof the data before making decisions and offering opinions about mans good or bad influence. The Snowfly....Joe Heywood...fiction and a great story that will take you on a lifetime journey .E. Hemingway was alive and well and Heywood's image of the old man with his arms crucified on the river bank unable to master the hatch reminds me of the Pulitzer..."The Old Man and The Sea". Fly fishing in Vietnam during the war? The Riders of The Purple Sage....Zane Grey. His novel made it possible for him to fish without financial burden. Great story about the early American Cowboy west. Grey will bring you into the past with incite at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Grey was a prolific writer and a great fisherman. You can look farther into his writings and writings about him and it will keep you reading for quite some time. Where The Pools Are Bright and Deep...Dana Lamb...great east coast stories from an author that could handle his experiences with eloquent words and images. I would have loved to hunker down with him in a north country tavern during a spring blizzard and had his conversation augment some good ole Irish Whiskey. The River Why...David Duncan...took me some time to get into it, but I loved this one. There was something weird about the picture and conversation of someone floating... rescuing a dead fly angler and being dragged uncontrollably along the rivers banks but seems the whole novel is filled with these mental challenges. Your gonna have to float along with this one. Anyway, there's a few ideas from me. Seems the titles are endless and we don't have the time to read them all. At least not me. Hope you find some good ones to your liking.

Hey there kid.... If I were you and did the kinda fishing I think your into, I'd look to the genius of Larry Dahlberg and Barry Reynolds. Both of them have done their homework way beyond what most do. Google 'em up if you want some Pike patterns that work. or look here: http://www.google.com/search?q=larry+dalhberg&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1#hl=en&tbo=d&tbm=bks&spell=1&q=larry+dahlberg&sa=X&psj=1&ei=zkjFUKHCJ6XzyAHe24HYDg&ved=0CDgQBSgA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=84f5a3ef8815437a&bpcl=39650382&biw=1241&bih=606 http://www.google.com/search?q=barry+reynolds&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1 These guys are good!

PT, You who are on the road Must have a code that you can live by And so become yourself Because the past is just a good bye. Teach your children well, Their father's hell did slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you'll know by. Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you. The books look well read ! .....Cool.

Some from the shelf of my library. These books can be found on the internet...cheap! Fishing Flies and Fly Tying, Blades Trout, Bergman Fly Tying, Sturgis Flies, Leonard How To Fish From Top To Bottom, Gordon Noll Guide To Trout Flies, Noll Match The Hatch, Schwiebert Nymphs, Schwiebert McClane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia, McClane Selective Trout, Swisher and Richards Art Flick's master fly tying guide, Flick Salt Water Flies: popular patterns and how to tie them, Bay Streamers and Bucktails the big fish flies, Bates Hatches, Caucci and Nastasi I don't know how many patterns in this list, but it's a bunch! BTW...Someone got me a copy of "The Fly Tiers Reference" for xmas one year. Cost them something like $100 bucks. I brought it back. I didn't find a thing in there that was new. You can buy all the books I listed for less than that one book. YMMV.

A rising and hooking or fading cast is one of my favorite tools. The rising loop gives the leader and line the opportunity to float down to the surface with some great slack. I get off the negative, or fade, much like SC's illustration and cast the positive or hooking cast by keeping the back cast and forward cast low and powerful aiming up through the forward stroke. I don't know about all of this shadow casting stuff for the movies, but if you fish moving water it is a valuable one to know. Couple it with a reach right or left and you got something. In both cases the cast will be a good one when you are fighting a wind since your presentation stroke is low to the water. I don't think any of this shadow stuff is valuable on stillwater but it wouldn't be the first time I stuck my foot in the mouth to give an opinion. btw...I liked "The Movie" and I can dig the sarcasm in the YouTube. YMMV.