This Weekend!!

[OlyphantLacky]

How did everyone do?i got a 15in brown today and a 17in brown yesterday on a Beadhead Hare's Ear .i been having a problem casting with a split shot or a woolly bugger,can it be that my rod is to small 7'6 or something to do with the line?

 

[mute]

Does it seem when your casting, the energy transfer doesnt roll out the leader/fly but it just kinda bunches up in a big loop in the air and its hard to cast. Same with me, even a size 12 weighted copper john is uncastable with my 2wt rod 2.5wt line

 

[Chaz]

To answer your first question, several TU members from Perkiomen Valley went and repaired a fence along the West Branch.
AS to your second question, usually but not always casting with weighted flies is a timing thing, you have to weight until you feel the tug of the rod loading. I don't usually cast long when using nymphs, but when I do it just wait for the loading of the rod, on streamers you have even more weight so the wait is exaggerated, but keep in mind you don't want you line hitting the ground behind you. Practice in your yard with some weight tied to your line, you'll get it if that is the problem.

 

[Maurice]

Well, a 7'5' 3/4 wt and weight don't go together unless its a stiff rod. I have two of them at that size and neither does well although one is a little better (orvis Silver Label) than the other (Diamondback Standard Trout). Neither are suited for the task however.

On the other hand, My son's 7' 4 wt Cortland CL does a better job than both the others because its a little stiffer.

They are dry fly rods to be used without weight. For this, they are perfect.

If you take one out to fish dries and findyourself wanting to toss wejghted flies, take Chaz's advice and open up your loops and wait for the cast to load before each stroke.

Be creative, use the water to load the rod. allow the line to go behind you before picking it up. Make your stroke slower but steady to keep load while picking up line. When the line is out, punch the line forward. Try to eliminate false casting , dont try to make long casts and use hauls to speed up the load.

Or go back to the car and get the right rod for the job...

Maurice

 

[troutbert]

For chucking weighted nymphs and Wooly Buggers around an 8 1/2 or 9 ft 5 wt rod would be better.

If someone is going to own just one fly rod, I'd recommend and 8 1/2 ft, 5 wt. It's pretty versatile.

With the rod you have, you might try a few things:

Making the leader a little shorter if you are throwing weight, as compared to dry fly fishing.

Use flies that sink efficiently. For example, a beadhead pheasant tail nymph is sleek and isn't made of bouyant materials so it sinks better than a fuzzy Hare's Ear. Copper Johns also sink very quickly without adding a lot of additional weight.

With streamers a Clouser Minnow sinks much better than a Wooly Bugger, for the same reasons.

As Chaz said, the casting stroke when casting weight is very different from casting dry flies. You want to slow down your casting rhythm. Be sure the line and leader fully extend on the backcast and the rod is fully loaded (bent under the load of the line and weighted flies) before making the forward cast.

Then you start the cast slower than usual, to allow the rod to recover, because it's bent more than usual from the weight. Then as you feel the momentum of the weight moving foward, then you SEND IT, that is you put a lot of power and speed into the last part of the forward cast.

Think of a pitcher throwing a baseball. It's pretty light so he can really fire it. But then compare that with someone throwing a shot put. It's very heavy, so the shot-putter has to start the movement slowly, to get that weight moving, then after it is moving he accelerates his speed to get the weight moving faster and at the end of the movement he is throwing as fast and hard as he can.

It's the same when throwing weighted flies. You start the forward cast slowly, to get that weight moving, then you put the power to it.

You are SLINGING the lead weight basically. You use the momentum of the split shot or weighted eyes to carry the cast out there.

 

[pennsangler]

I agree pretty much word for word with troutbert. When you are fishing dries, you are casting the weight of the line to throw the leader. But when fishing with a big streamer and lead, the lead is throwing the line. That's why you need to wait for the tug of the lead behind you to tell you that the rod is fully loaded.

Some of the guys who really kill with nymphs on the larger streams fish will lots of lead and a real light level fly line or running line. Very deadly.

One comment on the fast action rods. When throwing lead, a little softer rod can be better than a stiff rod. You don't want a real tight loop unless you enjoy untangling your line and leader every 10th cast. The slower action rod makes it harder to throw a tight loop.

 

[afishinado]

You mentioned that your rod was 71/2 ‘, but you didn’t mention the weight of the rod. 3wt or less and you probably overloading your rod. Maurice mentioned using the water to load you rod, that’s good advice. Let your line straighten out downstream and fling it up and across with one stroke. That’s what I usually do in tight quarters or with short casts.

As far as casting with weight, instead of false casting back and forth in the same plane and trying to open up your loop, try this: start with you rod almost sidearm (near horizontal to the water) - With one stroke (without stopping) sweep your back stroke around you from horizontal to vertical behind you – you should end up in the same position as the backstroke of a conventional cast – let the line straighten out and make you forward cast. Your rod tip / line makes a semi circle around you on the back cast – this keeps you out of harms way and also prevents tangles. My name for it is a circle cast, but recently I’ve seen it published and called a Belgian cast.

Some may disagree, but line speed is important when casting weight, sometimes you must haul to execute a cast with weight. When I try to open up my loop, I lose speed and momentum (usually that’s when I get clunked in the head). The circle cast allows you to maintain your speed and momentum without hitting yourself or your rod with a hunk of lead (and hook!). The one thing I’ve learned about casting that has helped me most, is that THE LINE GOES WHERE THE ROD TIP GOES (Lefty Kreh). If you stroke a semi circle around you with the tip – the line will follow. Once you see that, you can try different things with your casts and see what happens. It’s not always necessary to buy a DVD or book to learn casting – experiment. Good luck.