Leaders & knots / teaching handicapped folks

A Most Gracious Good Evening Doctor Hill,

The latest topics have been extremely interesting and I have one question and one story.

The question: Is the Nash book valuable reading and if so how does one get a new copy?

The story: I wrote a knot article many years ago that Lefty edited and loved, but John Randolph thought was too technical to publish in Fly Fisherman Magazine! I hope you enjoy the following!

I tied 72 knots and sent them, to smith+nephew (then Richards Medical Co), to be tested. An engineer friend and fellow fly fisher embedded the ends in PMMA cement, mounted the samples in the jaws of a Tennious-Olsen Tensile Testing Machine and pulled them slowly until they broke. He watched them using one of our operating room microscopes and observed that indeed knots do slip right before they break.

We discussed the experiment, including stress risers, a term you are intimately acquainted with, and deduced that leaders with multiple knots have a greater chance of failure than do knotless leaders. If knots loose ten percent of their strength overnight, the situation could be compounded!

I hope all is well and look forward to meeting you someday. As an aside, my wife drags me kicking and screaming to Milledgeville, Georgia for Christmas every year. So I've printed every one of your e-mails and look forward to stimulating reading in December.

Good day and God bless,

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Tom... Yes, the book FLYCASTING SYSTEMS by Bill Nash is worth having and reading. It is particularly valuable for those who fish in the salt; especially those going for big game. Having said that, I must say that a great deal of the leader and knot information will prove valuable for fresh water fly fishermen as well. His 2006 (newest) edition has been updated from the original. His tricks in forming a furled leader are truly clever.

Bill is a very knowledgable fly fisherman and instructor (FFF, MCCI).

You can order it by email: billsknots@xxxxxxx or from : BNCO Publisher - 1045 Woodbine Way, San Jose, CA. 95117

As you may know, in past years I've worked with the engineers of Richards (now Smith & Nephew) as well as those from Zimmer, De Puy, Stryker and Osteonics on orthopaedic prostheses and instruments. Some of what I learned I shared with fly tackle manufacturers including Ted Juracsik who makes Tibor and Billy Pate fly reels. (From one discipline to another !) I've worked with PMMA (a self curing polymethylmethacrylate ) as well. One of the problems we had with that material was the heat of polymerization on the nylon monofilament .... until we learned to cool it well as it set. That and other tensile testing machines were used years ago for testing the cement. We, later, found out that with hip prosthesis fixation that it wasn't tensile strength that was important...... shear resistance and compression strength proved to be more important issues as well as impact resistance.

Tom White and I used his sophisticated line tester to stress many knots. Even without a microscope we could see the slippage which occurred with each and every knot just prior to failure. I have seen the microscopic results of others who have done this. Not only is the slip clear to see, but as this occurs, the surface of the monofilament often abraided. With some knots, especially those employing an overhand knot .... such as the Homer Rhode loop, as the knot slipped, it tightened progressively until pinching off leaving a tapered end. That tapered end was exactly what we found after losing several marlin and tuna when the loop parted after a long, hard battle.

Lefty found the same slippage of knots just prior to failure.

We've had an occasional failure of the Albright Special knot when tied the way it is shown in this and other books. Analysis shows that this is usually due to one of two things: 1. The knot is tied imperfectly with one or two overlays as it is tightened. These act as stress points of concentration (risers). 2. The bitter ends are cut very close and work through causing it to unravel.... especially the end of the class tippet. For this reason, we now use a 4X half-hitch finish knot after tying the Albright.

I test all my big game leaders AFTER a long battle. Found that the Bimini Twist was the weakest knot in the system ! Solved the problem by modifying the tie by making the first 3 -4 back-winds gently and then progressively increasing the tension out to the finish. I showed this to Lefty Kreh (who has spent untold hours studying knots). At first he was skeptical. Then he performed the same study and came to the same conclusion two years later.

One can take this from the sublime to the ridiculous. The mantra at my fishing club is : "If you can't tie a knot, tie a lot !"

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From Liam Duffy (Ireland) :-

Hi Gordy,

I found the discussion on wheelchair bound fishers very

interesting. I have found that "upper body strength" really does not have

any great effect on the ability to cast. An example of this was when I had

a flyfishing team taking lessons. I, demonstrated the various casts and then

when I was about to get the team practicing the captain said, "lovely casts,

very usefull, now can YOU demonstrate each cast SITTING DOWN, we are all on

the lough team and we will be seated in the boats for the competition so

show us how to do it sitting down" I then had to sit on the grass and

perform all the casts again to demonstrate that all the casts could be

performed while seated. After this the team happily followied suite! It

looked rather odd seeing twelve guys sitting on the grass casting and

getting instruction from another guy sitting on the grass! I honestly do

not believe that "upper body strength" really has much bearing, the kernal

of the question is "what is the technique" I.E. once you have the substance

of the cast the legs really don't matter (think of spey casting, when wading

in the river you really cannot pick the ideal stance you must find the

safest stance for the situation, flow rate, depth, etc.) so that it is the

"substance" of the cast that is of importance. This I know from experience,

as a lot of fly fishing in Ireland is perfromed "lough style" I.E. sitting

in a drifting boat, down a lough

Hope this helps,

Liam Duffy, MCI

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Liam...

True, and well stated.

By, "upper body strength", I was assuming they may have meant arm strength.

You are correct in your observations. In point of fact, stance can range from style to survival ! This despite the fact that competition distance casters often use their legs to increase tip travel as they take a rapid step or even a jump forward in the direction of the cast. For most casts and most casters, however, this isn't necessary or even used.

It's timely to point out a true story about Tom White whose recent demise we mourn.

One of our students was critical of his great ability to make long casts so easily. He said to Tom, "Well you can do it so well because you are so tall". Tom sat on the grass and made an equally great cast. The student replied, " Even when you sit you are taller than most, and you have such long arms."

Tom lay supine on the grass. He placed his hand inside his shirt so that only his forearm and hand stuck out, and then made an astonishingly beautiful long cast !!!!!!!!!

Gordy

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