Hi all,
Fishing with my 7' 6" 4wt on the river, I have recently noticed that when casting upwinged dries, I very quickly end up with a bad twist in the tippet. Strangely, I don't appear to have the same issue when chucking klinks, DHEs or other types of fly.
I am using maybe a foot or so of 5x 0.14mm copolymer (Fulling Mill I think), water-knotted to a 9ft tapered leader.
Wondered if anyone else had experienced this problem? The only thinkg I can think is that I am throwing too long a line, and that a false cast or two is causing the problem
Cheers
Craig
Craig,
I think your problem is those upwing flies if they are the traditional split wing style. They look nice for sure, but they are almost certainly spinning when you are casting. This is a common problem with flies that are not very symmetrical. The wings will be acting like a propeller. You could try a heavier tippet, but I'd replace the split winged flies with something else.
Quote from: admin on June 26, 2013, 03:45:47 PM
Craig,
I think your problem is those upwing flies if they are the traditional split wing style. They look nice for sure, but they are almost certainly spinning when you are casting. This is a common problem with flies that are not very symmetrical. The wings will be acting like a propeller. You could try a heavier tippet, but I'd replace the split winged flies with something else.
Do this, just get rid of the flies, use different materials or different style of fly. There's nothing worse than flies that spin like nobody's business when you cast them.
You could also try trimming the wings so that they are the same length as the hackle.
Alex
Had the same on Friday. Tied on a winged Adams and the leader turned into a spring. Chopped the leader back 3 times, tying on the same fly before the penny dropped :? As pretty as they are I won't be tying anymore winged Adams
They certainly did not have these problem many years ago when most "Dry Fly" were upright wings. So what is happening?
As others have said they might just well be "out of balance" Wings longer than the hackle could cause it to act like a propeller.
Or maybe we just cannae tie these any more like they used to.
:)
Quote from: Highlander on June 26, 2013, 09:00:34 PM
They certainly did not have these problem many years ago when most "Dry Fly" were upright wings. So what is happening?
As others have said they might just well be "out of balance" Wings longer than the hackle could cause it to act like a propeller.
Or maybe we just cannae tie these any more like they used to.
:)
Could it be our leader/cast material is so much thinner these days?
Alex
Quote from: Highlander on June 26, 2013, 09:00:34 PM
They certainly did not have these problem many years ago when most "Dry Fly" were upright wings. So what is happening?
Probably much finer modern leader material now which twists more easily?
QuoteCould it be our leader/cast material is so much thinner these days?
Certainly a possibility Alex & Harpo. Rods were split cane & could well be in the equation.
Tight Lines
Thanks guys,
I suspected the fly, but had never thought of them as a propeller. Thinking about it, it makes a lot of sense - the only thing preventing rotation of the fly along its body axis would be a torsional resistance of the tippet material - so I reckon the lighter the tippet, the less able it will be to resist twisting when subjected to a fly with fixed wings acting as a propeller.
Looks like some fly box attrition is in order. A shame, I like the look of the wee Grizzly Adams!
Hi,
This is a very common problem for us southerners who fish winged dry flies and light tippets a great deal - propellering. Three solutions. Cut the things off. They don't really look like wings now do they! If you feel the need for a wing, just have one rather than a split pair. That seems to reduce the spinning. Best of all though, change the leader set up, it is the thinner material that seems to lead (ho ho) to spinning as materials have advanced it has consistently become more and more of a problem.
So, rather than go for a long thin tapered leader try a shorter fatter taper with a short thin tippet. When I fish the mayfly for example the flies have to have a wing to be accepted (contrary top popular belief chalkstream trout are very very picky once the mayfly is really under way). So, with a big mayfly (size 10 is a very big fly down here) on a 3 weight line and rod normally 6', 7'3'' or 7'10'' long depending on circumstances I would use a 5ft tapered braided leader (Roman Moser are good) with a 18'' x7 tippet or a 4x 9ft tapered leader (Profil) cut back to 4.5 foot with a 7x 18'' tippet on the front. The torsional stiffness of the thicker leader pushes back against the rotation of the tippet and helps reduce the spin. You do of course have to be very accurate with casting, if you line the fish with the fat leader its goodbye fishy and no cigar....
As for materials. I find fluorocarbon spins up way way more readily than other materials so I never use it.
If you wanted to get fancy you can always try Belgium casting, rotating the line against the spin through the forearm, assuming the spin is consistently in the same direction.
Take heart though, if you use smaller flies sizes 18 and smaller, they don't normally spin for me.
That's a great answer Paul!