Fly fishing questions and info.

Walter & Group...

Questions and information from Walter Simberski. My comments in italics.      G. :

Hi Gordy,

 

A friend just got back from Okinawa where he purchased some hooks for fly tying. We were trying to figure out how the

hooks were sized. Here is a picture I found of some of the hooks he bought:

 

(I placed your picture in an attachment.)

 

The pack is about the same size as we would buy from a fly shop in North America, i.e. about 2.5" by 3". These

are supposed to be size 14? I don't think I'll be tying any size 14 dries with these...  :)

 

Relating the hook bend size to that of the package, I would estimate that using our system, these would be about 6/0 to 7/0 hooks.

 

I'm not familiar with this sizing. Have you got any information?

 

I don't.  Perhaps some of our Study Group members can help us with this rating system which is apparently used in Japan.

 

Another thing - I've been fishing the Bow River with a number of people who are using double hand rods lately. We are

noticing that since they can cover a lot of water with the long rods that they tend to get a lot more hits than when

using single hand rods but that their hit to catch ratio seems to be significantly lower than when using single hand rods.

We are talking trout fishing with typical fish in the range of 22". These are people who are experienced fly anglers and

they agree that they seem to land fewer fish with the longer rods. I've been speculating that they aren't getting the same

hook sets as with the single hand rods for a few reasons - they typically have more line out since they are making

longer casts and the lines are thicker and have more drag in the water. This amounts to more slack in the line between

the rod tip and fly making the reaction time slower and hook set less positive. Also the rods are longer and have more flex than

the single hand rods. I believe that there is also more stretch in the lines due to the longer length of line outside the

rod tip. All this amounts to greater challenge when landing trout (i.e. not large steelhead or salmon) with the longer rods.

 

We found exactly the same thing in the salt as well as when fishing for Chinook salmon in Alaska !  Hookups were much harder to attain when the long rods were used even when the distance between angler and fish was about the same.  Particularly with tarpon.  I had the distinct feeling that our strip strlke and combined rod and strip strike resulted in some of the energy being devoted to bending the long rod and diverted from that used for hook penetration.   We've noted for years that the distance between the angler and the fish makes a big difference in that the greater that distance the lower the hookup ratio even when the same rods are used.  Without physical proof, it appeared that this may be due to line stretch..... especially since we were able to increase that hookup ratio when we used non (or minimal) stretch fly lines and short leaders. 

 

We also did a "study" on the use of circle hook flies using no true strike when fishing for small tarpon in circumstances where we could have sufficient strikes to be meaningful.

 

The hookup ratio with the circle hooks was lower than it was with "J" hooks.  However, once a tarpon was hooked with a circle hook, it stayed "buttoned up" with a higher liklihood of landing the fish.  The strike to landing ratio ended up about the same with each hook type.   

 

I, also, found the highest hookup ratio when using flies tied with much smaller light wire chemically sharpened hooks for our tarpon flies ..... instead of the 3/0 and 4/0 heavy wire hooks of former years, I've gone to # 1 to no higher than 2/0 sizes even for large tarpon.

 

 G.

 

 

 

Next topic: A couple of separate discussions I've had about rod bend and arc vs casting distance made me think of something.

A number of 5 wt distance casters have told me that they can actually cast farther with a lighter rod (up to 7 wt) than

when using a heavier weight rod. At the time the discussion focussed around the 170 style cast and strain on the wrist but now

I'm thinking there may be another factor involved - the ability to maintain a near slp of the rod tip with lighter (also longer) rods over

a greater casting arc due to the greater degree of flex in the lighter weight rods. I know that we use heavier line with the heavier rod but

I personally find it impossible to get as much bend in a 12 wt as I'm capable of getting in a 5 wt rod (when casting - not when

pulling against a large object or fish). I can put significantly more force into a cast with a 12 wt and get proportionately less bend

than I would get with the 5 wt. I'm also less likely to tail with the heavier rod because it is harder to cause a concave path.

Not sure where I'm going with this - just an observation.

 

I think the answer is that the caster has better CONTROL when using lighter tackle.

 

We have had some World class distance casters who use 5 wt. outfits regularly come here and cast 10 wt. rods yielding far less than their accustomed distance.  As you said, it becomes more difficult to maiintain that almost straight line rod tip path when the caster is hefting more weight.  This is far less a factor when we have strong casters such as Steve Rajeff.

 

Much more of a problem when a good caster who is used to handling light rods most of the year makes a trip and suddenly begins to fish with heavy outfits.        G.

 

One last thing - the topic if slide loading and how it helps with distance casting. I occurs to me that it helps with timing and

setting up for the haul on the forward cast when false casting with a long line. To the uninitiated it looks like a form of creep

(I know that's what I thought when I first saw slow motion video of slide loading) but the slide load is in the form of drag (i.e.

translational movement only) and the real motive force from the cast is in rotation so we can afford to drag the rod hand forward

a limited amount and that should not affect our ability to rotate the rod. By sliding the rod hand forward we close the gap

between the line hand and rod hand and set up for a longer haul. We could wait for the line (and line hand) to be pulled backwards

by the line as it unrolls but this takes slightly longer and makes it more likely that the line would have time to sag slightly...

 

As you know from our past discussions of this topic, it is a controversial one.  However, I think you are correct.    G.

 

A couple of CDN $.01 worth...

 

Cheers!

 

Walter

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