Curve "cast-mend" Leader construction

Here's something to think about. You have just thrown an overpowered hook cast. Anatomically the style in which you did it, whether wrist flick, forearm flip, etc or whatever is not what we should focus on. If it lands to the left or right the loop plane had to be at least somewhat in the horizontal. That’s a given. So please let's not discuss any of those factors. Let's just say that an overpowered horizontal loop was created by one means or another.

Here's the issue in which I'm very interested in your opinion. OK the loop is overpowered and it's tight......let's say the angular velocity is an honest m......mmm one foot. OK, so now it's a one foot overpowered horizontal loop. Now imagine in slow motion that this loop is unrolling and unrolling. The fly leg is getting shorter and shorter and going from dynamic to static........now the leader [short and blunt taper] starts to turn over..... now there is only 36" of leader remaining to turn over......now there is only 24" of leader left to turn over...... and at last now there is only 12" left. [Now picture these freeze frame photographs in your mind] From 12" left then 6" then 3" then all the way to 0". Now due to an angular velocity of only 12" [hence the 12" loop] during the caster's input and a a surplus of energy that will no doubt not only straighten the leader but "more". Now it's this "more" that I'm very interested in discussing. How do we get a hooking layout with a 3 or 4 foot dogleg? How does a 12" overpowered loop swing completely into 36" to 48" layout in the opposite direction?

We know that it must be technically defined as a cast/aerial/mend but let's define it in more detail. What put the sharp radius of the hook there?

Let's stay focused on this one.

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Before I put in my 2 cents worth, let's see of any of you want to scratch your heads and come up with an explanation.

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I've still been trying to learn more about leader construction. I am stuck on a couple of things, mainly why certain material are placed at certain points in some leaders (soft material verses hard material). Once I get this all straight, I would like to do and article for my site.

The Belgian Cast article is on my site, I waited after the FFF posted it.

Rick Whorwood's
Fly Casting School
www.flycastingschool.com
(905)-662-8999

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Glad to help if I can Rick. I do warn you that I have been accused of committing "Forum Fraud" in the past, which is defined as: "passing oneself off as an expert when he is not". Actually it is not fraud, but plagiarism as I simply regurgitate everything that my guide, Capt. Simon Becker, tells me.

I might add that everytime I think there is a firm rule on building leaders, Simon comes up with something different. About the only thing that stays constant in his leaders is the butt section, which he describes as nothing more than an extension of the flyline. When choosing a butt he looks for low memory (Orvis Mirage, Triple Fish), and a flex identical to the flyline so you don't create a hinge. He does it by holding a couple of feet of butt next to the flyline and bends it around until he finds something that matches.

An all Flourocarbon leader will pull down his floating crab fly too much, so he will use Triple Fish or Orvis Hy-Flote for a butt and mid in that leader, with a long flouro tippet. Everything else he builds with all flouro.

He is also big into using as few sections as possible. His leaders will only have three or four sections at the most.

I am leaving Miami early tomorrow and will be traveling for a week. If I am slow to respond, it will be because I am having to borrow computers along the way.

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Comment: We need to have our Group understand that you re talking about salt water leaders such as those used for permit fishing. ("Simon" in Bob's note is a great Key West fishing guide named Simon Becker....known for his expertise in permit fishing.) I use the same method to match the butt section to the fly line. .............. Gordy

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Here is my generic answer to leader construction :

Rick....

As I look at it, the common denominator for most (though not all) fishing leaders is to have smooth transfer of energy from the fly line to the fly for an accurate turnover and presentation.

That can be accomplished with either hard (stiff) material or soft (pliable) material, be it nylon monofilament or fluorocarbon.

I like to start with a butt section which does not differ greatly from the stiffness of the distal end of the fly line itself. That means using hard material of lower diameter or soft material of greater diameter. THE ISSUE IS PLIABILITY, NOT HARDNESS/SOFTNESS OR DIAMETER when it comes to turnover of the leader loop for a good cast.

Diameter might become an issue when softer landings are needed or when using a needle knot to the end of the fly line. (The soft stuff with large diameter won't thread into the core of the fly line.)

The tapered section must have graduations in stiffness from one segment to another which are not so disparate as to prevent this smooth turnover down the leader to the tippet. This smoothness in energy transfer is usually easier to achieve when segments of this part of the leader are of the same material. Lefty Kreh has studied this extensively and has gone so far as to say that one should even use segments of the same brand of material.

The tippet I like to think of as, "Quarry dependent".....depends on the fish. Spooky fish require lighter tippets and longer ones. Toothy critters usually need you to add a, "bite tippet" or, "shock tippet". The material chosen for the latter is usually abrasion resistant. Here, energy transfer is of no consequence.

Other considerations include the sinkability of the leader and / or its visibility. Fluorocarbon sinks faster than nylon monofilament and is a lot less visible in water.

One must be careful when mixing materials. Many knots between nylon mono and fluorocarbon fail under stress. For this reason, I prefer to use a loop-to-loop connection when marrying a fluorocarbon tippet section to the tapered section when the tapered section is of nylon monofilament.

There are times when a smooth transfer of energy is not important, such as when casting to billfish.

Then, there are times when we don't want smooth transfer of energy, such as when fishing for black bass with heavy cover. Here, a stiff, short leader with little taper will yield little dissipation of energy until the final turnover resulting in an explosive turnover to have the bass bug slap the water hard. (Wakes up a big lazy bass way back under the lily pads.)

As you know, there are also times when we want the opposite effect. Neither smooth transfer of energy or lack of energy dissipation at the end. An example is the so-called, Harvey dry fly leader. With this one, we want a long leader of many graduated segments designed so that the energy is dissipated early enough that the distal end of the leader floats gently down to the water in curves .... for a long drift free of water drag.

Each leader must be designed for the task at hand, the fishing conditions, and the fish.

Gordy

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