Rigging My Rod

[Pontus]

Please bear with me here because I have no idea how to do this.

My fly line (Cabela's Prestige Plus WF4) came wrapped on a plastic spool with no marking on the tag end of the line. I assumed that the end sticking out of the spool was meant to go on first and tied that to my backing and put all the line onto my reel straight from the plastic spool.

When I got to the end, I found this welded loop with a really little section (an inch) of thicker line right before it, and now I'm second guessing myself. I tried to determine the taper by stripping out 15-20 feet of line, but I can't make out which side I have.

Was I right to just tie what they gave me to my backing and roll it all on? And should I just clip this loop off since it has the thicker bit in front of it?

 

[albatross]

Pontus, I think you made the right call. The welded loop is to make a loop to loop connection with your leader.

 

[Pontus]

Alright, thanks a bunch. I was about to be really pissed if I had to go back and undo the whole thing.

I guess if I was wrong, I should notice it as soon as I take the rod out.

 

[Fishidiot]

I agree with Alby. I think you did it right.

 

[jaybo41]

I concurr, it sounds as though you set it up perfectly. The thicker head on the line likely makes me believe that you got a WF line, that will help to get the line shooting out of the rod.

Welded loops are very convenient from my perspective, makes changing leaders very easy. I have found no performance issues with them, others may feel differently.

There are some who still prefer to tie a nail knot directly to the fly line. Go with whatever is your preference, although if you haven't tried a welded loop give it a shot before cutting it off.

 

[Pontus]

Yeah, it's weight forward, but I thought the taper was much more gradual. My leader came pre-looped so I'll try it out with a loop to loop and maybe do a nail knot later.

 

[tomgamber]

just use the loop its easier...enjoy

 

[gfen]

Make sure when you loop-to-loop, you get the loops to form a square knot, rather than just letting one cinch over the other one and hinge.

It really makes a difference, and I noticed it when I figured it out a year after I started looping things up.

 

[afishinado]

gfen wrote:
Make sure when you loop-to-loop, you get the loops to form a square knot, rather than just letting one cinch over the other one and hinge.

It really makes a difference, and I noticed it when I figured it out a year after I started looping things up.

Yup, what gfen said. I'm convinced that many of the angler's that complain about "hinging" at loops don't do it the proper way.

It should look like this:

 

[albatross]

Do you have an illustration of the improper way? I didn't think this could be screwed up...


Nevermind, found it!

 

[afishinado]

albatross wrote:
Do you have an illustration of the improper way? I didn't think this could be screwed up...


Nevermind, found it!

Alby,

You'd be surprised. I would say close to half of the people I've help to teach FFing had it wrong. They are the 'hinge" guys for the most part.

 

[pcray1231]

yeah, the taper is further back, that big area is just the loop weld, which means you have it right. On a WF, as you go back from that, it should get larger, then smaller, than a long area of relatively flat. The long area of relatively flat should be on the reel side.

I usually cut the weld off and then use a nail knot, but loop to loop works fine too.