Sporting Ethics in Yellow Fly Fishing - 7X Tippet?

[Nymph+O-]

I hate to do this (and please excuse me) why don't the guys that fish such light tippets just go "wireless"? Everybody is heading in that direction these days

[smallstreams.co.za]

I hate to do this (and please excuse me) why don't the guys that fish such light tippets just go "wireless"? Everybody is heading in that direction these days

For us rural okes Wireless is WAY to expensive - and mostly no signal, so we have to use the stuff we can get here.

Also, the local shop thinks the higher the X-number, the stronger the stuff is, you know, like the rods are rated

[Nymph+O-]

For us rural okes Wireless is WAY to expensive - and mostly no signal, so we have to use the stuff we can get here.

Also, the local shop thinks the higher the X-number, the stronger the stuff is, you know, like the rods are rated

he hehehe good one! (had to draw some p!ss on that one)
I agree to using light tippet on clear waters-, and "small" fish such as those 8" monsters you guys catch in the Cape streams BUT for yellows on the other hand I would say it is not on - same as flicking a cigarette butt into the water, never mind the grass...

[dizzy]

same as flicking a cigarette butt into the water, never mind the grass...

Gotta love it!

[Yellowfever]

Mario

The above-mentioned buddy has also caught yellows on the Orange on his 000! And released them successfully

Neil I've caught Yellows on my 0 and 5X. Just looked at the photo sequence it took 3 min from 1st photo to the one in the avatar. A 0 rod is 100000000X stronger than 7X;-) If it's a Sage....

Uhm, which one would you have to use to NOT kill the Spurwing? Or does the one kill better than the other??

Hehehe Mario there is no Catch & Release when it comes to meat - red and venison. They have to die to feed meeeee!

That said, a particular trip to Basie a few years back I was shooting like a SPCA honorary officer! C-A-R Greywing

[Wade]

I have always liked using the strongest line i can get away with (hate loosing fish to a break off), If i could get the occasional fish on 5x then i would not go heavier, but at the same time, if i do fish such light line i still do my best to land it as fast as possible and if need be i will take all the time needed to make sure the fish has revived properly before releasing it even if that means i must crouch in the water for an hour and not get any fishing done.

I have caught yellows on 6x and 7x when they would not take any fly on any other line (even when crouching in the water so only my head and shoulders are sticking out) but i always take the time to revive the fish properly.

Before i started fly fishing i used to do float fishing and in those days i considered 8lb to be heavy and mostly fished 4lb line and less. I still managed to land "monster" without taking long after all you fight the fish on the rod not the line (well i do).

I understand the concern for our quary and will always take the time to ensure that a)I land the fish as fast as possible and b) Make sure the fish has recovered sufficiantly before releasing it.

I posted a pic from the Nkolo Bells last year of a yellow of round 2kg that was landed quickly on 8lb line and it still took almost ten minuted to revive.

If going light is so "wrong" then why not fish the heaviest rod, reel, line and leader combination that a fish will take and where the hell does the 000 come into play (are we chasing guppies of under 5g)? I have caught small (read very small) fish on a 5# with 8lb line so does that mean that i should not use lighter lines and rods.

I mean even a 10inch trout will be landed way faster on a 5# than a 000# so then why is that not the way to go. If it were rod lenght then just make shorter rods or keep the first section of the rod in your car and the reel in your pocket?

I dont want to go and ruffel up any feathers but it seems to me that oppinions are circumstantial (spelling) - "If i want to fish light ok but the rest of you better not".

So i am a d00$ for using 6 and 7x but those who just through their fish back without even thinking of reviving it are OK because hell, why should anyone care what happens after you caught it. And i have also noticed that very few folks take the time to revive a muddy/carp/barbel after catching it, they can also die from exhaustion but because they dont look nice and stink it is ok not to give a sh!t about them........ What hipocritical thinking we sometimes have.

But after all of this i am going home and tossing anything under a 5X.

By the by, what is wrong with fishing 7x on a 5#? And if so many of you "Fish as heavy as possible" then why does no-one (that i know of) fish a 10# on the vaal? Or a 5# on the cape streams? and so on .............

I do understand that you do not want to fight a fish longer than necessary but if you are so iffy about it then why are you catching fish at all because even using 20kg line on a 2kg fsh is stressfull to the fish and could kill it if care is not taken while catching it. And why are there maximum breaking strains in the rules of competetive fishing not minimum breaking strains (i might be wrong but that is what i have seen)?

It is not the tools that matter so much as the actions of the user.

Here is a question posed with this attitude in mind - If the speed limit on our roads is 120km/h then why do all of you that have cars, have speedometers marked in excess of 120 while some go out and buy the fastest car they can afford. What about the lives of the innocent that are involved when your recklesness causes the loss of their life???

Just wondering?
Just my 0,5 cents worth.

[Wade]

I just want to reitterate that i use the heaviest line i can get away with before someone thinks i am promoting ultra light tackle

[NCBass]

I have caught small (read very small) fish on a 5# with 8lb line so does that mean that i should not use lighter lines and rods.

like this one...
Looks like a Cape stream monster!

[Kingfisher]

Yellowfever

Read this little extract about the famous Lee Wulff. It's not really "on topic" wrt this thread, but it is interesting in that it shows how far Lee went in reducing tackle!

"As a pioneer in the use of extra light tackle for salmon, by 1940 I had come down to a seven-foot, two-and-a-half ounce fly rod, and since then have rarely used anything heavier. In 1943, in order to demonstrate to the most confirmed doubter, I eliminated the rod entirely from my tackle. Casting some thirty-odd feet by hand, I hooked a ten-pound salmon and played it by holding the reel in my right hand, reeling with my left, until I could finally reach down and tail it with my own hand, ten minutes later. Witnesses were present and pictures were taken to prove that a salmon rod may be as light as one wishes, even to the point of none at all. This experiment was the basis of an article in Field and Stream."

Of course fishermen did not flock to fish without rods, any more than they have flocked to use rods of less than eight feet in length. But Wulff showed what could be done, and strengthened American convictions that rods of ten feet or less were all that were necessary. ~ PS

[Wade]

Very interesting info Kingfisher.