Walter & Group........
From Michael Jones in answer to our haul message:
Gordy:
I like this topic! I immediately question the statement "haul
opposite the direction of the line travel", and clearly, we agree that
you do not.
If you consider hauling not just from a 'when do I haul' perspective,
but 'in what direction does your line hand travel during the haul?', I
like to think that the line hand travels not in a strait path, but
rather accomodates keeping the line in axis with the rod's arc
position, which of course, is changing through the
translation-rotation phase. This tracking of the line hand
accomodated smooth take & give of line without tangling and slapping
the blank between the stripping guide & reel, or wrapping on the reel
seat/butt.
Once you consider this travel, you might suggest that the 'pull'
aspect/direction changes, but generally pulls line down the rods axis
away from the tip.
Michael Jones
From Michael Jones:
Gordy:
I had the opportunity to guide Lefty back a few weeks back up here in
Maine. He had a SHARKSKIN line, and I did fall in-love with it for
all the reasons you mentioned. I have been considering increased
surface area/rough surface to reduce drag created by wind, and it
makes sense on the line, at least in practice those days.
Lefty taught me 2 more important things related to keeping traditional
lines from tangling:
1) He used the SA line cleaning foam pad's 'back-side' (opposite the
absorbant foam side) and didn't put anything on it. He maintains that
it brushes a dirty line clean, and it seemed to work on our
traditional lines...well!
2) His new coiling trick, which is a version of Joan's managed coil
placement, except: Instead of creating large unidirectional coils
held by your fingers, reverse the direction every coil (see image
attached), so that when held between your fingers of your line hand,
the new coil hangs behind, then in-front of the fingers, which allows
your shoot to fire a coil that is 2 coils large!!! I used it, and
each time, was able to effectively throw shoots out without any
fouling.
I am excited to try the new SHARKSKIN on my own, I think Bruce in onto
a very big thing here.
Michael Jones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael....
Good tricks from Lefty!
(I tried to copy your picture and couldn't)
I don't know if those little, "line bumps" forming the textured surface of the sharkskin lines would act as, "air-spoilers" or not. The physics of performance of fly line surfaces travelling in air is actually a very complicated subject.
When trout fishing using limited lengths of line, My father taught me the trick of palming those loops of line over 60 yrs. ago ........ each loop being only a hands breadth long. The line hand coils these loops in alternating opposite directions. You end up with a hand full of them. Then, on the shoot, they are a lot less likely to tangle and you can shoot all of them out at one time with practically no resistance. Another advantage is that you can hold these coils in your line hand while wading a brushy shore line trying to position yourself for that ideal presentation....... nothing dragging down to catch the brush.
Same trick as Lefty's on a mini-scale.
Going to the other end of the scale, We've tried that trick placing large amounts of line on the deck of the skiff and found that the alternating loop direction of the coils works well that way, too. It doesn't, however, solve the problem of line coils sticking to one another in the hot sun as you patiently await the next fish. One problem is that when I'm retrieving a fly in front of a tarpon and don't get a take, I'm paying little attention to the line on the deck. That can result in a tangle on the next cast.
I've rigged a net from the top of my push-pole platform down to the deck to keep the line out of the outboard motor, etc. when casting from the stern. When staked out from the bow in a high wind, I can collect the line coils against that net. Works pretty well.
I have not tried that trick of, "brushing the line clean". Might work even better on those new sharkskin lines..(???)
Years ago, before we had any, "salt water lines", we used a small garbage can with some water and a block of ice in it. We coiled the line up in the cold water at the bottom of the bucket....... not only made the line stiffer for warm water fishing, but we also got fewer tangles on the shoot. (I learned that trick from Lefty back in the late 60's.)
As you know from earlier messages, we've tried all sorts of things including the bucket like, "line tamer", stripping baskets, mats of various kinds, different deck configurations, etc.,etc.
One little trick was to take a mat made from squares of a material marketed under the name, DRI-DEK and turn it upside down allowing the 1/2" plastic prongs to stick up. The line is coiled on this. The wind is less likely to blow it about or overboard, and the coils tend to stick together less frequently.
I noted that when salmon fishing on the Restagouche from a large canoe that the wooden ridges on the bottom of the canoe helped prevent line tangle.
One axiom is this: Standing on the line does nothing to improve the cast !
Here in the tropics, we often go barefoot or simply wear cotton socks .... that way you can feel the line if you step on it. One of my buddies accused us of using a fly line which he called, "the sneaker-seeker". Fishing cold rough seas off Montauk while wearing rubber boots was another matter altogether.
Stepping on your fly line and rubbing it on the deck as you pull your foot off to one side can yield some very bad twists. Lefty does an impressive demo on that.
Gordy
>