Task 8 Discussion 3

Walter & Group....

[GH] Michael Gallart sends a passage on his experience with one of our great fly fishing teachers - Joe Humphreys. I placed it in an attachment.

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[GH] From Rene Hesse :

Gordy,

The bass bug pick up at 35 ft should be no more than a lift to remove the line from the water, and then

a wrist rotation with the trajectory a few feet above the fly. Send the small loop down the line to pop it up.

I do a lot of bass fishing with poppin bugs. This method on the short (35ft) pickup will not pull the

fly and gurgle it, nor require much effort because the rod tip travel is only up, back a foot, and then roll the wrist.

The technique I see demonstrated, by pulling the rod back over the shoulder after the lift will often sink the fly. Then you have to wait for it to come back up. There was much debate at our continuing ed. seminar last year over this matter and I hope this 'flick lift' is accepted in the future.

The goal is to break the surface tension, lift the fly and proceed with the back cast.

If the pickup is at a greater distance, the stroke length, power application, and trajectory will all have to change just as well as the timing of the back cast, just like a normal cast.

Rene

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[GH] Rene,

Different techniques for different fishing scenarios.

When I use poppers or sliders in the salt, I usually fish with an intermediate sink line. Why ? Because on the retrieve I don't want the bug to hop out of the water on the fast retrieves which get the most strikes. Some salty critters such as billfish and tarpon attack a floating popper with such force that their "bow wave" pushes the popper away with no hookup. Other fish tend to strike as the bug dives. Works best when the bug pops and then dives leaving a trail of bubbles. *

For that reason, the standard roll cast pickup doesn't work well. What does work for me, is a two stage roll; the first roll to get the line up, the second done starting with a short "flick" lift followed by a roll cast pickup.

For both your scenario and mine, the distance makes a huge difference in how this is done.

None of these problems pertain when casting on either grass or water with a "fluff" yarn fly as used during MCI exams.

Have I been accepting a "flick lift" ? Yes. Then I ask the candidate to explain when it is used and the reasons.

* When fishing for bill fish, to keep the fish from pushing the fly out of his own way, i use a class IV sinking line and a popper head which slides along the 12" shock tippet leaving the long streamer on the hook for the critter to inhale. So that the fish doesn't take it deeply as to cut the class tippet on the file like bill, I often cast to the tail of the fish to make him turn about and grab it sideways.

This fly assembly and sinking line make it almost impossible to use a roll cast pick-up even at short distance.

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[GH] From Bill Keister,

Gordy,

The question was posed as to whether the roll cast pickup should be done as a dynamic or static cast. It seems as though this cast is frequently mentioned in conjunction with bass bugs but this pickup is an integral part of upstream dry fly fishing for trout. As the fly drifts toward the angler the rod tip is raised to pickup slack. The closer the fly gets the higher and further behind the caster the rod tip gets. When the roll cast is made it is made high. If done properly the line rolls out high above the water without pulling on the fly. The fly is plucked off of the water without first being dragged under the surface.

This pickup is also used when fishing streamers. (If the angler gets a take with the rod tip high and back the hook is set by moving the rod tip forward, like initiating the roll cast, and not back as would normally be the case.) So static is the answer for trout begets.

Bill Keister

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[GH] Bill,

I agree. An informed candidate should be able to do it both ways and know when to choose.

As an incidental addition, you have also described what some call a "roll cast hook set " !

I learned that one quite by accident years ago in the Bahamas when a dolphin (Dorado or Mahi-Mahi) took my slider as I was starting a roll cast pickup.

On the same day, I made a poor back cast into the wind, The slider hit the water behind me and a big bull took it. BIG surprise. Almost lost my balance as I tried to make my forward cast against that resistance.

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