Hey Gordy!
Glad to see you are back. I need your address to
send you the lumiline.
For keeping weeds off of flies - number 1 is to
reduce the number of things the weeds can catch on. Knots should
be
reduced to a minimum and knot glue should be used
to make sure the knots that are in the line can be coated with
knot glue to smooth them out.
For flies you can use ready made weedless hooks
or tie your own by tying a loop of wire or heavy mono to the shank
of the
fly with the loop going up over the hook point to
act as a weed guard prevent weeds from getting into the hook gap. Some
methods
dressing a fly (such as a deer hair body) will prevent weeds from getting into the hook
but are soft enough to allow a proper hook set when
a fish bites.
Don't use multiple flies as this increases your
chances of picking up weeds. Once you notice you have weeds on your fly
you
can sometimes remove them with a few false casts
but the best method is to retrieve the fly and remove the weeds -
especially
when fishing with light tippet.
Gordy - a couple of observations here. We had a
question a while back about giving a private lesson when the student
had overrated their abilities before the lesson.
That one is fairly easy to deal with but I've had a couple of cases lately
that were a bit more difficult to deal with in my
opinion.
The first was a student who was a much better
caster than they described themselves. The student had booked a
lesson
allowing up to 2 hours to work on accuracy and
distance. On the day of the lesson there was a stiff wind blowing which I
thought would be perfect for working on accuracy. We started the lesson and set up a target 60
feet away such that there
was a stiff wind blowing into the line hand side. He was able to hit the target consistently
after about 5 minutes and had
learned the Mulson cast as well. Next we went on
to distance which was a bit difficult to work on with the stiff wind
but
he also had no problems there - hitting 80 feet
right from the beginning. His tracking was excellent as was his timing
but
he did have a problem with creep and was
hauling a bit early. After working on that we still had over 1.5 hours left in
the
allotted time. Since he had booked the lesson to
prepare for a bonefishing trip I asked him if he wanted to take
advantage
of the windy day and practise some real world
casting with wind from various directions (I was very thankful I had
taken
your class on this last year!). After that we
moved on to saltwater casting and basic spey casts followed by mends
and
curves. This was a lot of stuff to cover but he
was already a very good caster (self taught) and absorbed much of the
material.
It also gave him some things to think about for
future lessons and it gave me a chance to really see his abilities as
well.
The lesson wasn't quite as satisfying as I'm used
to due to the lack of focus but the student was definitely happy
and
is planning do do another lesson in the
spring.
The second case was a beginner lesson for a
father and daughter (about 18). The weather was a bit cool (7 C) with a
mild
breeze but everyone seemed reasonably well dressed. About 15
minutes into the lesson the father was progressing
well but the daughter didn't really seem to be in to it. Based on discussions I could
tell she was serious about learning
but wasn't concentrating on what I was telling her. She was feeling quite cold but wanted to
continue the lesson.
I moved them around so that the breeze was
blowing from behind to reduce wind chill. This did help but I felt it best to
end the lesson sooner than planned and offer a
"refresher" course at no cost in the spring.
Cheers
Walter
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2008 12:46
PM
Subject: Lightning / CONGRATULATIONS /
Question
Walter & Group....
As you can see, I've solved some but not all of my sending problems for
our Group .... still working on the details.
Note the attachment on electrical problems while fly fishing.... an
article written by Ally Gowans.
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Congratulations go to STEVE HOLLENSED for passing his MCCI exam
! Steve has been a valuable contributor to both our Group and Al
Crises Group.
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dusty Sprague and Raf Mascaro are going this weekend to Wales
to be our FFF representatives as they meet with one of their
organizations. They will be communicating on our revised MCCI exam as
well as our THCI exam, among other things. In November, Raf and I
will be going to meet with one of their other fly casting
organizations. We not only expect to contribute, but we'll all learn
from them as well. A true international experience for all
concerned.
Gordy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's start with a simple question :
Question: Your student asks you for various
means of getting weeds off his fly as he fishes in waters with lots of
surface weed growth. What do you tell him ?
Gordy