"Paralel loops" / Tarpon fly hooks- great memories

(Perhaps from the intense head of discussion, my computer crashed. I spent 2 hours repairing it. This might explain any duplication of Attachments. Gordy)

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Here is a string of messages on "parallel loops". As you know this is addressed often on CCI and MCI exams. G. :

Hi Gordy can you give me the party line definition of parallel loops please ? What does the glossary committee say is the proper

definition of this term ? We had a masters test this weekend and this issue came up .

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Carl....

We do tend to think of fly casting in terms of vertical casting plane and loop legs as seen from one side. Of course, in the real world of fly casting we can have varied casting planes and various loop planes. Jeff Barefoot (MCCI from Pa.) did quite a study on that, then came down here and did an impressive demo on varied loop planes. Wish we'd video'd that !

We can have what appears to be a tight loop with parallel legs as viewed from the side with a caster using a vertical casting plane. That same loop can be out of parallel when viewed from above if there is poor tracking, because we no longer have true SLP in all planes.

I can imagine curve casts where the loop legs are parallel .... but I cannot prove it. To do so, one might make a video from above as the caster makes a curve cast in the vertical casting plane.

Best,

Gordy

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HOOKS FOR TARPON FLIES

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From Paul Dixon. For those of you who don't know Paul ..... He is the "GURU" of fly fishing guides at the East End of Long Island including Montauk. He has also guided for several years at Key Largo. Some of the most productive fly fishing for Stripers and Albies at Montauk I ever had was with Paul as my guide.

Paul Dixon wrote:

Hey Gordy and Gang!!! Some of this is a little too tech for me. I'm just the guy that pushes the boat...but I have had a little experence with hooking poon dogs...a few years back I tried the circle hook for customers and came to the same conclusion as you Gordy...if you have ice water in your veins and don't set the hook, the circle hook will land more fish as it hooks the fish in the side of the mouth and doesn't fray the shock...but when you see that bucket mouth open, the knees of most anglers start to shake, and the control needed to wait for the fish to close her mouth and turn ...and turn is the key for circle hooks....doesn't happen!!! I much prefer to at least get a hook up with a J hook and jump a fish, than all or nothing!!!

I fish with Tim Borski a lot when I get a break from the back of the boat and have been for quite a few years. We use the Owner Mosquito hook in 1/0 and 2/0 as Peter stated. We use lite shock 40 or 50lb. All we are out to do is hook jump and play with the poons. We rarely play a fish for more than 5 mins. After a minute or two we pull straight to the fish and the hook bends out, and we bend it back and go to the next tarpon. To Tim and I it is all about the eat and jump and seeing the reaction of the fish to different flies....we hook alot of the ocean fish, but we don't land any!!! I leave that to my young stud customers!!!!!!!

Cheers Paul Dixon

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Paul...

So true !

I wait for the turn even when fishing with standard "J" hooks, too. Then I let the line come tight and count to 3 as the rod bends ...... then use a lateral strip strike.

I'll never forget the day, many years ago, when we were trying to get some good pics of poon fishing in the lower Keys. Jerry Gibbs was our photographer. He had a video camera mounted on a tripod on the skiff.

I was a complete failure as your guide almost the entire day as we never had a single shot at a tarpon.

Late in the afternoon with the sun low in the West, I poled us up to the West side of a mangrove key close to the island when a pod of poons approached. I knew that this might well be your first tarpon hookup ever. The heat was on at fever pitch !

You made your usual perfect presentation. The poon came toward us and took the fly. I yelled, DON'T STRIKE 'TIL I TELL YOU!!. You amazed me by keeping your cool as you stripped in just enough line. I thought that fish would never turn. As she approached the skiff at just a few feet away, I suddenly stomped HARD on the casting platform.

That did it ! The fish whirled about. You came tight and then made a perfect strip strike and hooked her.

The fish made many jumps between us and the mangrove background..... perfect photo-op. At one point as the fish was wildly out of control, you made a bow throwing lots of slack to prevent breakoff. The still picture of that is now on p. 97 of Floyd Franke's book, FISH ON ! A Guide to Playing and Landing Big Fish on a Fly.

Then there was the time I poled you up to a big crocodile and you hooked him on a popper. That critter went crazy. I poled the skiff ever closer ..... then asked you if you wanted the lip gaff.

Thanks for the memories !

Gordy

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