Fly Blog

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods  I ran across this article today on the advantages of short fly rods.  It is really a great piece and I wanted to excerpt it so you could get the essence.  To read the entire piece go to Shallow Water Angler here.

“A shorter rod excels in small-water situations where short casts are the order of the day. If an 8- to 8 1/2-footer is stiff enough, I find that I can create tighter loops with less line outside the rodtip than with a 9-footer. I did cast a friend’s 8-foot custom rod a while back, but it was built from a moderate-action blank, and just did not create the line speed needed to shoot a tight loop. Tight loops greatly aid in general accuracy and tucking a fly under overhanging structure. Speaking of shoreline cover, you can keep an 8-foot rod out of harm’s way a bit better when time comes to move into tree branches to retrieve a snagged fly, or a hooked fish that has hung you up. ”

“The closer you get the rodtip to your hand, the more accurate you can be.” Holt says a short rod provides a lower trajectory, or casting plane, for your line in the air for easier line and fly placement beneath cover along a shoreline.”

“A short rod also helps you punch out a tight loop and deliver more accurately into a headwind to a fish close by.”

“Lastly, canoeing or kayaking fly fishers will find that short fly rods are not only easier to store in cramped quarters, but they are less fatiguing to cast. Seated, you do not have the luxury of shifting body weight from foot to foot. If you don’t think this could be an issue, the next time you are fly casting from a standing position on a skiff or ashore, force yourself to plant your feet firmly and not shift weight. In time, you’ll feel a bit more strain in your forearm and wrist.”

Rod manufacturer’s like G Loomis, Winston, Sage, and St Croix have tended toward standard 9′ rods, especially in heavier weights.  Remember that if you build a custom rod or have one built you can always have a longer rod blank cut down to make it shorter.

I think these are excellent comments and contribute greatly in rod length selection.  What do you think?

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods – Psaros Fly Fishing of Sweden introduced a new fly reel today that is extremely different.  THE main benefit of the design is the ability to have left and right hand retrieval at the same time.  Indeed the reel comes with handles on both sides.

A secondary benefit of the design is that you can much easily palm the reel to add drag.  That said, palming is the only way to add drag.  The reel has no built in drag system.  I’d really love to try this reel to see just how comfortable and managable that is.

For those who are curious Psaros does this by putting the bearings on the outside and not having a center hub.  In other words this is a cage inside a cage with roller bearings between the cages.  The inside cage is reel spool and the outside cage is the frame.  Breaking is done by palming the roller bearings which are exposed.

Price for this unique design: $750!  Is it worth it?  Let me know what you think.

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods – I took an order for a custom fly rod yesterday from Dennis of Colorado.  Really nice fellow.  He was interested in maniform fly rod grips and what I thought about them.  I do offer them on my custom rods but don’t have a lot of personal ‘use’ knowledge of them.  I have read some reviews and comments and I could offer that as advice.

Dennis is wheel chair bound so his fly fishing is a bit different than other folks.  I think a maniform my actually be useful to him.  I think the pistol grip style can help with keeping rod control and I have seen many positive comments.  I cautioned him that fit to the hand could be an issue.  I plan to send him a grip and let him decide if the fit is good.  If it is, I’ll build the rod with it.  If not we’ll go with the reverse half well.

In any case Dennis going to get a beautiful rod.  He ordered a Winston IIx 9ft 5wt.  It will be outfitted with a nickel silver Struble reel seat with Fiddleback maple insert, REC recoil guides and tip top, and japanese silk thread wraps with trim.

Anybody have any insight into these maniform grips?

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods 12/1/08 – There are a number of small gotcha’s when you build a fly rod.  They are often the result of ‘boy was I stupid’ actions.  Trouble is they are easy to do, hard to fix, and nobody warns you of them!  So, here is the first one: Forgot to align the reel seat arbor in the reel seat assembly.  If you’ve ever done this, you will remember it.  Most things in building a fly rod can be fairly easily fixed.  This one is one of the hardest.

Many reel seats come with an arbor that has a cut-out notch along it’s length.  This cut out is where the reel nestles into the  reel seat steadying it.  It is not so hard to epoxy the reel seat in place and forget to align the cut out with the reel pocket on the reel seat.  Once the reel seat epoxy hardens it is next to impossible to remove the reel seat.  About the only way to do it is to cut off the reel seat with a hacksaw (very carefully).  If you can avoid damaging a $300 rod blank you will still have destroyed a reel seat that probably costs $30 to $50.

Geez I hate that.  My advice is to create a checklist for assembly of your rod and add a visual check for this in the checklist.  Have you ever done this?  How did you fix it?

By Mark Waldin Custom Fly Rods – I recently had an exchange with Bruce Richards at Scientific Anglers about overlining for heavy flies and thought I’d share it with you. SA markets a fly line that is 1/2 weight heavier than a standard line. So, their line for a 4 weight rod is actually 4.5 weight. One of the things they note is that it improves casting of heavy flies like nymphs and streamers. I asked Bruce why this would be the case since putting a heavy fly with a heavy line would overweight the rod more rather than less. If anything I would have thought that underlining the rod would be in order. Here is Bruce’s answer.

The best solution to throwing a heavy fly on a line that isn’t capable of casting it properly is to use a heavier weight rod with a line that hefty enough to swing it. If you are in a situation where doing that is not possible then increasing the fly line weight and over lining the rod is the next best solution.

According to Bruce “There are a couple good reasons that using a heavier lines makes casting bigger or heavier flies easier. First, the mass of the line is responsible for carrying the mass of the fly, the heavier or more wind resistant the fly, the more power it takes to drive them and a heavier line does that better. Also, for most casters,using a heavier line on a rod will tend to make the loop a little bigger, and slower. Bigger, slower loops are better for throwing bigger flies.”

My interpretation of Bruce’s comments is that you want the fly line to carry the fly. You don’t want the fly dragging the fly line behind it. If the fly weighs too much for the line you are casting, the fly will drag the line along and your fly line loop will be too tight and the action will be compromised. So, you might think you want to cast a lighter line so that the total weight matches your fly rod but you will wind up casting what amounts to a rock tied to a string…no loops, no turnover, no subtle presentation.

Going to the heavier line will cause you to lose some effectiveness of the rod by having the line weight unmatched to the rod and you will have to adjust your casting rhythm accordingly. But you will have a better loop and better presentation. Of course, moving to a heavier weight rod with a matching line weight is the best solution.

By Mark Waldin Custom Fly Rods – Streamers are good to use in early spring and in the fall when the hatches are light and far between. In the spring the water is cold and high and the fish are sluggish. In the fall the fish are starting to move to finding food on the bottom rather than the surface and big fish are starting to migrate. Streamers can also be used in mid-summer especially in certain conditions. A summer thunderstorm that makes the water turbid lends itself to a streamer. In silted waters where insect hatches are sparse, minnows are often prevalent and spinners work well. And in low clear creeks along deep pools, heavy runs, and undercut banks, streamers can be the best solution.

Streamers can be a critical part of your arsenal any time of year, under the right conditions.

by Mark Waldin Custom Fly Rods – I built a new fly rod last week. This rod is truly sweet. The rod has a Batson RX-7+ 8′ 6″ 4wt blank. It is a medium fast rod in a beautiful carmel color that I paired with deep cinnamon thread and yellow trim. I decked it out with the usual…a gorgeous cocobolo insert Struble nickel silver reel seat, a flor grade half well grip, and a nickel silver winding check. For guides I used single foot Fuji guides; titanium alloy frames with silicon carbide inserts. These are extremely lightweight, extremely slick, and hard as nails.

Today, I took the rod out on the North Fork of the Snoqualamie river (western Washington in the Cascade mountains for the uninitiated). The rod performed beautifully. It was effortless to cast and doing all the work for me. The Fuji guides were phenomenal..no kidding. The line flowed through the guides like butter as if their were no guides there at all. I was in heaven. Caught two nice cutthroats.

That’s when it happened. Deep, fast water. One mis-step, lost my balance. On regaining my footing, I dropped down a small slope which increased the force of the water and pull me off my feet altogether. Moments later I was floating down a 50 degree river, lost my hat, lost my prescription glasses,  broke my rod and lost the top three sections.

Well, that rod was so awesome, I’m going to have to rebuild it.   Whoa, a good day, a bad day, an ugly day.

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods  – Ever wonder why you might want a longer fly rod?  Ever have people tell you that you can punch through the wind and cast further with a longer rod?  Ever wonder why?

The answer to this is simple physics.  The tip of an eight foot fly rod that gets swung between 11 to 1 o’clock is going to travel a distance of 3.7 ft.  The tip of a ten foot rod traveling the same arc is 4.7 ft.  That means the rod tip is going to travel 27% further.  If you keep your casting stroke constant for both rods, then your fly is going to be traveling 27% faster!  That, my friend, is a huge advantage when trying to buck the wind or drive some distance.

The Adams was originally tied by Lenard Halladay of Mayfield, Michigan about 1922. It was named for Charles F. Adams of Lorin, Ohio, who fished it on the Boardman River in Michigan with good success. The Adams has been dyed to imitate deer flies, mayflies, caddis in flight and in smaller sizes gnats and mosquitoes. Most anglers rely on the Adams to represent a multitude of grayish and brownish mayflies and “when all else fails, cast and chance” this pattern. The Adams is probably at its best when used for the western hatch of Callibaetis in sizes 12-16. Northwest anglers fish it for black drakes in sizes 10-12. A size 16-20 Adams can also be useful when fish are feeding somewhat indiscriminately on Baetis.
– courtesy http://www.visi.com

by Mark Waldin Custom Fly Rods – Most people know the advantages and disadvantages of fishing a fast action fly rod.  Fast fly rods punch harder and form tighter loops than slow rods.  Tighter loops mean less air resistance and better penetration in windy conditions.  But fast fly rods are harder to cast than slower rods.  This is particularly true when making shorter casts.

The reason is fairly simple.  Fast rods build up energy over a shorter stroke (of the rod) and slower rods build that energy up over a longer bend.  The time it takes the fast rod to unload that energy is also much shorter than the slower rod.  If your cast is short, then the stroke is even shorter and the time is less!

Because the fly rod unloads faster your timing has to be more exacting.  Think of it like this.  If a slow rods unloads in 1.5 seconds and a fast rod unloads in .5 seconds, and your casting is off by .3 seconds you will have lost  20% of the energy of the slow rod but 60% of the energy of the fast rod!  If you are doing a short cast and not fully loading the rod the problem will be amplified.  What’s the solution?

If you have two left feet and can carry a tune you might want to stick with a slow rod.  If you have potential and feel like you are an average joe or jane then the solution is called practice.   Learning casting is like riding a bike.  It takes time to get the hang of it and frankly you have to teach your body to react to it.  It is as much about getting to the point where your body reacts without your mind having to than anything else.  Only practice will get you there…..BUT, it will get you there.  (By the way, don’t practice while you are fisihing.  Set time aside to practice each week where you can focus on casting only.) The choice is yours.  You can improve your game or stick with the tricycle and forgo the bicycle.

Oh, but what about short casting?  Yes, this is even more difficult.  What you want to do is make sure you get the rod fully loaded on those short casts so you have as much time as possible to get the timing close.  Best way to do this is to overline the rod.  The extra fly line weight will fully load the rod with a shorter line in the air giving you back the time you lost.

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods By now the weather is just starting to turn but not really.  You are itching to get out there fly fishing for trout but its too early.  Maybe not.  Here are some offerings that may help get you started early.  These come from an excellent article by  Zak Appleby that I excerpted from PA Anglers  

Stream selection for winter trout fishing is by far the most critical step in achieving success. If you select a stream that reached 80 degrees in July or August, you’ll be fishing long and hard with minimal chance of catching a trout. Choose a stream that hasn’t exceeded 75 degrees on the other hand and chances are great that you’ll be fishing over an abundant trout population that probably hasn’t seen another angler in weeks.

To improve your odds of scoring big, select the warmest possible days to fish. I’ve found that the best trout fishing occurs on days immediately following a night were the temperature never dropped below 32 degrees. By choosing these types of days you’ll be maximizing the water temperature that you’re fishing.

Remember, you’re looking to maximize the water temperature, and the simplest way to achieve this is by fishing the warmest part of the day.

Use your summer fishing techniques on fly and float.  Contrary to popular belief, trout do not act sluggish and lethargic during the winter months. Trout are strictly opportunistic feeders. As long as the water temperature stays at or above the 36 degree mark, it’s business as usual.

Swift riffles don’t produce very well until the stream temperature rises above 48 degrees. Areas at the heads and tails of pools are always a favorite holding area for wintering trout. Also, don’t forget those areas immediately behind stream obstructions (rocks, logs, etc.).

Thanks Zak!

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods – Fly fishing low, crystal clear streams is as demanding trout fishing as there is. In these kind of conditions trout see very well and spook very easily. Here are few things to remember when outfoxing your trout.

1. Have a very careful approach to water you are looking to fish
2. Keep very low so as not to be seen by your prey.
3. Stalk your prey and try to see them without them seeing you.
4. Approach from below.
5. Cast from a low crouched position.
6. Keep your presentation as gentle as possible.
7. Sneak in and get closer rather than making a long cast if you can. This will help keep your presentation gentle.
8. Go with as long as tippet as you can handle…four feet is not out of range.
9. By getting in closer you can high stick your line, reducing the need to mend, and reducing any drag.

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods Hooks from quality manufacturers are sharp as a razor. Hooks are generally drawn and cut, ground to the proper shape and then chemically etched to increase sharpness. Make sure when you spend $2 on that fly that you are buying a quality hook! Some great hook manufacturers include Mustad, TMC, Eagle Claw and Daiichi.

Getting a sharp fly hook is easy. Keeping it sharp is another matter. Every time you drop a backcast onto a gravel bar, snag at root or rock, or catch a fish your hook is subject to damager. Check your hook frequently for sharpness.

The standard for testing hook sharpness is to drag it across your fingernail at a 45 degree angle with barely any pressure at all. The hook should immediately dig into your nail. If it doesn’t then it is dull and you need to fix it or replace it.

To sharpen a hook out on the water you can get a hone at almost any fly shop. You’ll want a ceramic or diamond coated hone. Sharpen into the point, not away from it. Sharp the left, right and outside sides of the hook. Make sure you pass the thumbnail test before putting the fly back into action.

Sharpening small hooks can be difficult on the water. For smaller hooks, try holding them in your hemostats. If your hook is too small to get a good honing, then swap the fly out for a new one and file it at home. If you carry a lot of flies, you may want to replace the flies in the field and wait until you are in the comfort of your home to file them.

Filing hooks at home is the same as in the field. The difference is that you can have good lighting, a place to sit and a clamp to hold the hook. A fly tying vice makes a great clamp for filing hooks (and if you tie flies or learn to it performs double duty). Most fly hooks are conical in shape but no matter what the shape it is good to maintain it when you file it. It is also good to try to maintain the existing taper. A hook that tapers to quickly will not be as sharp and one that tapers too slowly will bend and get damaged more easily.

by Mark Waldin Flycatcher Custom Fly Rods – Last article I talked about how to play a fish, So now you have a fish on your fly line. This time I thought I’d talk about how to get the fish on to the hookHere is how my friends at eHow instruct a fly fisherman to set the hook:

Step One

Be careful not to set the hook too quickly or too slowly, both of which could cause you to lose the fish. This is one of the hardest tasks in fly-fishing; do it in a moderate and steady fashion.

Step Two

Remember that the hooks in fly-fishing are small and sharp, so it doesn’t take a lot of force to hook the fish. The fish may actually end up hooking itself when it takes the fly.

Step Three

Be aware that you can’t set the hook with slack in the line. Keep tension on the line as you fish or you’ll give the fish time to release the fly and get away.

Step Four

Use your free hand to strip, or pull in, line as it becomes slack in the current. You want the minimum line out.

Step Five

Lift the rod from 9 o’clock to 12 o’clock once you get a bite. At the same time, pinch the line with the trigger finger on the rod. You will need this action to apply the force necessary to set the hook.

I would add the following:

Keep your hooks sharp or if you don’t want to sharpen your hooks then don’t keep your flies too long. There is no excuse for a dull hook when fishing.

For most fishing I would say you are not likely to have your rod at 9 O’clock and you are more likely to have your rod pointing at the fly. Pull back on the rod tip in a smooth deliberate stroke but do it to the downstream side level to the water, and not up. You are more likely to hook the fish in the side of its mouth and not lose the strike.

Finally, learn how your variety of fish is likely to strike and act accordingly. Trout will work well as instructed above. Atlantic salmon are slow and deliberate so your strike should be slightly delayed.

by Mark Waldin, www.flycatcherinc.com

• Set the drag BEFORE starting fishing if you want to make sure you don’t break your tippet.

• Keep pressure on the line at ALL times. Pinch the line and play it out to the fish until you get the fish onto the reel.

• Keep the rod tip up using the flexibility of the fly rod tip to absorb impacts as the fish starts its run.

• If you are using a fighting butt, keep the rod out to one side at 50 degrees or so with fighting butt against the forearm.

• Let the fish run when he wants to. Don’t try to overpower him.

• If the line plays out to the backing, point the rod at the fish as the knot is going thru the guides.

• Prepare your line to backing knot with a sealer, like Pliobond so that it goes through the guides easier.

• When the fish stops running, get some line back on the reel by winding down the rod and lifting back up.

• Work to keep the fish out of the fast current (on a river).

• Be ready to run. You may have to follow the fish to control the situation and keep your line off of rocks and detritus.

• Move to a location where it is easy to stand and beach the fish.

by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Number one is to pick a fly on a light wire hook. The hackling should be slightly oversized for the hook. In Western rivers the most common sizes are 6, 8, and 10 while Eastern rivers run mainly with 10, 12, and 14 size hooks. In low, clear water fishermen may drop down one or two sizes outside this range.

Flies need to float well which means they need to float high on tail and hackles. Hackles need to be of a lightweight high floating material like deer hair.

As described by Tom McNally in his book, “The Complete Book of Fly Fishing, Second Edition” (McGraw Hill, 1993)a good assorment of trout fishing dry flies includes:

*Irresistible
*Adams
*Hendrickson
*Quill Gordon
*Mosquito
*Light Cahill
*Dark Cahill
*Blue Dun
*Joe’s Hopper
*Muddler Minnow
*Brown Bivisible
*Dark Brown Cranefly
*Gordon Spinner
*Green Drake
*Multi-Colored Variant
*Badger Spider
*Olive-Spent Wing
*Grey Wulff
*Brown Midges
*Black Midges

by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Normally, the dry fly fisherman wants to float his or her fly on a natural float down a current. But this won’t always give the best results. Sometimes it is good to mix things up. A fly skittering across the water may be just what a trout needs to be convinced your fly is a live insect.

At the end of a natural float try skimming your fly over the surface. Twitch it so that it hops and jumps. Let it drift again for two or three feet.

To optimize your technique, use bushy haired flies, variants, or bivisibles. These float well and withstand jerking without getting swamped. Use a long fly rod and the longest finest leader you can manage. Larger flies skip better than smaller flies. Try 8, 10, or even 12s.

Skipping or hopping a dry fly works best on relatively calm water. Fast water will drown the fly. Try especially the skimming technique on the tail out of a pool.

by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com The manner in which a dry fly floats is one of the keys to catching fish. A dry fly that isn’t floating isn’t going to catch fish. Unless you have good reason to choose something specific, go with a fly you know will float well and bob back when dunked. Deer hair has good float properties as does foam (used in ants, spiders, and grasshoppers).

If you drown your fly you can bring it back to life by drying it off on a wool or flannel shirt. Blow it dry afterward. Execute a couple of false casts to dry it out further.

Before fishing a dry fly grease it with a silicone based floatant. Don’t put on too much. Typically a drop will do. Many people feel the fly line does not need to be greased. I suggest you try it and decide for yourself. Make sure you wipe off any excess floatant from the line thoroughly. Don’t grease the fly line where it may pick up debris, such as on sand or dirt. Instead, grease it in a comfortable place, such as on your lawn before you head out.

Some people like to grease the leader as well. Others don’t. Having the leader sink is not going to drag down your fly like a sunken fly line will. Again, experiment with this and get a feel for what works best for you.

by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com If you are like me and are not an expert caster, then I am sure you have found times when you have placed your fly line in something that resembled more of a heap of line than an arrow. And if you have done this I am sure that you have noticed some amazing little knots that can form in your tippet, seemingly out of nowhere. No mind, they don’t seem to have a significant impact on casting or pick up of fly line.

But here is a tip for you. Those nasty little knots are significantly weaker than the tippet of which they are a part. Having these knots in your line is begging for the big one to get away. My advice to you is to check your tippet regularly, maybe after every few casts to make sure you don’t have wind knots in it. If you do, cut the tippet off and put on a new one. Don’t let the big one get away!

by Mark Waldin www.flycatcherinc.com Sometimes you need something other than a standard back cast. Sometimes a roll cast is called for. A roll cast is a great technique when you don’t have room for a back cast or you are using a sinking line or tip and need to get the line airborne.
If you ever played crack the whip when you were a kid, you have an idea of what a roll cast is. When you form a roll cast you have the line laying out in front of you and you flip a loop in the line that travels down to the end of the line. Here is how you do it.

Get about 20 feet of line out in front of you on the water. Reach up with rod hand and bring your rod tip up to about the one o’clock position. Have your rod slightly off vertical, out from your body. Bring the tip down as if you were casting. Do it with a smooth acceleration. With a little practice a you will form a loop in the line and the loop will travel down the line lifting it off the water as it goes.

If you are picking up sinking line, make sure you bring your tip up in a smooth but relatively rapid manner. Such a movement will cause the line to pull out of the water and plane on the surface. Once the line is up on the surface, the forward cast and subsequent loop will send it airborne where you can then execute a back cast.

Tip: when getting sinking line airborne reel line in so that you have no more than 20 or 25 feet out when you start the roll cast.