Leader Length in FFO Waters

[PennKev]

jacob wrote:

I know it’s not actually cat gut (thankfully no kitties were harmed), but I have heard old timers refer to the old silkworm gut leaders generally as catgut... not sure why exactly....

Silkworms area sort of caterpillar -> caterpillar gut -> cat gut

 

[franklin]

silverfox wrote:
I have to say, I've been doing this "mono rig" thing for a little while now and it feels dirty. Especially with heavily weighted sculpins. You basically cast like a spinning rod and shoot the line using the weight of the fly. Super effective, but it makes me feel like a cheater.

No doubt it's pushing the boundaries of "fly fishing". In all honesty, the euro nymphing thing could be done more effectively with a free spinning line holder and a long rod. It would be even more effective, but even more removed from "fly fishing".

I think it comes down to whether you prioritize the challenge of fly fishing over catch rate. If the later is your primary concern, then use whatever you want as long as it's legal. Just be honest with yourself about the techniques you're using.

I've got some heavily weighted sculpins as well. Actually hard to cast with a fly rod. Otherwise none of my flies are weighted anywhere near enough to pull out a length of line. I recently picked up a couple of nymphing lines. One was clear mono. The other was mono covered by a tin fly line. I was able to make practice casts in my back yard with the fly line covered one of about 30 feet. With a dry fly attached. I didn't reel up the clear one as I fish a lot of special regs waters and didn't want to get into a controversy with anyone. I might take an orange marker to the first 20 feet of it just to be safe.

 

[PennKev]

silverfox wrote:
I think it comes down to whether you prioritize the challenge of fly fishing over catch rate. If the later is your primary concern, then use whatever you want as long as it's legal. Just be honest with yourself about the techniques you're using.

I find that the challenge in fishing is figuring out what fish are wanting to eat and matching it with the appropriate technique. If it's a dry fly, then I fish that way. If it's nymphs, I fish them.

However, people with a more rigid view of what constitutes fly fishing need to realize that for many, if not most anglers, fooling fish consistently is in fact the challenge and effectiveness and catch rate is the measuring stick to which they gauge their ability.

Now, this has nothing to do with competitions. it has everything to do with individuals being more concerned with increasing their understanding of the fish, their food sources, and their habits. Aesthetics and philosophy are secondary.

Those with a strict traditional view of what constitutes fly fishing should also be honest with themselves and realize that they are not anymore knowledgeable, skillful, or noble because of it. In fact, they are probably less so.

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

Most of the fly fish only sections suck anyways! Stock a bunch of pellet heads in there ya catch on fly gear is that fly fishing?