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    Walter & Group...

    Re. my long description of the expectations for the curve casts in answer to Peter Morse's question, Dusty Sprague (Chairman of the MCCI Testing Committee) comes in with the SHORT ANSWER:-

    Gordy,

     

    I think you make it clear below, on this task we're looking for a curve without a mend...layout of the line caused by motion made prior to loop formation. 

     

    Best,

    Dusty

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                                                               Casting with Heavily Weighted Flies

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    Here is Dan Pangaldi's answer to Jerry Puckett's question on casting techniques when using heavily weighted flies. :-

    Hi Gordy,
     
    When casting a heavily weighted fly safety is our first concern.  I like to use an oval cast.  We're looking for an open loop on the back cast and forward cast and don't try aerialize too much line.  Reduce false casts and make your haul match your casting stroke intensity. 
     
    Dan Pangaldi 

    This is one good way of making the cast.  I can think of some others as well.  Let's hear from some of you before I enter my own thoughts.  Dan's way of answering the question is very good from a teaching standpoint because he starts with a brief statement of the problem followed by a solution.

    Gordy

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                                                              Fly Fishing History

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    We've received some interesting and widely differing answers to Carl Zarelli's questions on fly fishing history !  This serves to show different perspectives as we review the accomplishments of the past.  These accomplishments form the background for the developments which followed.

    From Kirk Eberhard :

    Hi Gordy ask your group the following questions and see who can get the correct answers .
     
     
    1.)  What technique was used to get silk lines to float ?      Greased with lard.
     
    2.)  In what year ( approximately )  was this line technique made popular ?      AHE Wood thought this up in 1903.
     
    3.)  On what river did this person fish ?    River Dee
     
    4.)  Who was this person ?     AHE Wood
     
    5.)  What advantages did this provide  the person fishing that others did not have ?       Ability to Mend
     
    6.)  Where can you see this information that is on display  and open to the public today?     Guess, Atlantic Salmon Federation Museum
     
    Kirk Eberhard
     

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    From Elie Beerten:

    Hi Gordy,
    My answers.
    Regards,
    Elie
    1.)  What technique was used to get silk lines to float ?
            A constant tension cast was used to dry the silk lines. It is an oval cast better known as Austrian or Gebetsroither casting style or the Belgian Wind Cast.
    2.)  In what year ( approximately )  was this line technique made popular ?
            1930 -1940 by "Neger" Hans Gebetsroiter and by Albert Godart (From Belgium, hence the name of Belgian Cast) as a tournament caster.
    3.)  On what river did this person fish ?
            Gmundner Traun in Austria
    4.)  Who was this person ?
            A riverkeeper. With the development of the cast he founded a way to dry much quicker the silk flylines of his clients.
            He used short splicane rods with a slightly taper. These rods where much lighter and had a fast action. Some people still call them broomsticks.
    5.)  What advantages did this provide  the person fishing that others did not have ?
            At that time distance with:
                A good presentation cast under low hanging vegetation
                A fast change in direction cast with excellent presentation and not disturbing the water like the single handed spey casts. 
                Tangle free presentation of a leader with 2 flies or more
               Possible to cast heavy weighted flies and splitshots
                Can be used when the wind is blowing from the casting arm side  
    6.)  Where can you see this information that is on display  and open to the public today? 
            ???
     
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    A lot to be learned from the European school !  Hans Gebetsroiter has been called the father of the European continuous tension method of casting.   Charles Ritz (A FLY FISHER'S LIFE) spent time fishing for grayling and trout with him on the Traun in 1948.  Hans had been a shoemaker prior to his years as Riverkeeper on the Gmunder Traun in Austria.  He was also known for making fine hand made two piece bamboo fly rods.
     
    G.
     
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    From Pete Humphries:
     
    Hi Gordy,
     
     
    1.)  What technique was used to get silk lines to float ?       treating them with grease
     
    2.)  In what year ( approximately )  was this line technique made popular ?       early 1900's 
     
    3.)  On what river did this person fish ?            The Aberdeenshire Dee (most of his fishing was done on the Cairton beat)
     
    4.)  Who was this person ?       AHE Wood
     
    5.)  What advantages did this provide  the person fishing that others did not have ? 
     
     Could fish a dry fly.  Presented the fly broadside to the fish.  Better line control - had the ability to make mends, control fly speed etc.  The great thing about a greased, silk line is as its fished, without re-treating it with grease, it would slowly start to sink and fish the fly a little deeper every cast.  The silk line would often be most effective as it became a intermediate or hover line, just under the surface.  It gave the angler the chance to figure out if the fish wanted the fly right on top or perhaps a little deeper and try and match the grease line to the preferred presentation.
     
    6.)  Where can you see this information that is on display  and open to the public today?     Not sure - is his old home on the Dee a museum??

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    Here were my answers :

    Hi Gordy ask your group the following questions and see who can get the correct answers .
     
    What technique was used to get silk lines to float ?   The lines were dressed with various oils (Usually linseed oils mixed with other compounds.)     
     
    In what year ( approximately )  was this line technique made popular ?   About 1889
     
     
    On what river did this person fish ?  The Test 
     
    Who was this person ?   Probably Frederick Maurice Halford 
     
    What advantages did this provide  the person fishing that others did not have ?   Allowed longer floats for the dry fly.  This would also have made on-the-water-mends easier.
     
    Where can you see this information that is on display  and open to the public today?    ??? FFF museum ?  ( I understand it's packed away at the moment )
     
    My source:   TROUT by Ernest Schwiebert, p. 115 ......" Halford played a principal role in the development of the modern fly line too, even though the woven oiled silk line had already been introduced when he and Marryat joined conceptual forces on the Test."       " The method used in weaving and dressing the new lines was carefully described in Halford's DRY-FLY FISHING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE of 1889................... "
     
     
    Let me down easy if I flunked !!!!
     
    I love this stuff.
     
    Gordy
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    One of the problems with my answer, above, is that I remember that oil dressing of the silk fly lines really didn't make them float much higher.  When we greased them with suet and bacon fat, they did float high.
     
    After sending my answer to Carl, I continued reading THE FLY by Andrew Herd. (My thanks to Elie Beerten for providing it. )
     
     Now I think Kirk Eberhard and Pete Humphries are correct.  ( pp. 324-327 ).
     
     
     
    (From p. 325)...."...Wood changed a century of tradition by using ordinary oil-dressed double-taper line, dressed with Hardy's "Cerolene" gease, imported from India and a single, level gut cast.  His flies stayed near the surface and he went to great lengths to ensure that they did so."
     
    "The idea came to him in 1903 when he was fishing for salmon held up at an eel-weir......"
     
    Herd then goes into a detailed description as to how Wood actually did the experiment.
     
    (From p. 326)  " I have always wondered why the lesson Wood drew from his 'experiment' was that the line should float, not that salmon can be taken on a floating fly, but nonetheless, that is the asssumption that he made." ....." If he had taken one more step, he would have been able to claim greased-line fishing and the dry-fly method as his own, but perhaps one revolutionary idea is enough for anyone."
     
     
    NOW:  Going back to TROUT by Ernest Schwiebert, p 1403, I quote:  " 13. The Greased Line and Crosfield Pull
     
    The greased -line method was conceived and perfected on the cairnton Salmon beat of the Dee, by the late Arthur H.E. Wood........."
     
    Note the attachment.
     
    A good instructor should let go of his ego and admit his mistakes !
     
    Gordy
     
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    Attachment: Fly Fishing History A_H_E_ Wood.mht
    Description: Binary data