Damselfly nymph options?

[FlyCraft]

Hi Gerrit,

The mono reduces in length slightly, I usually boil 3 to 4 m lengths of Maxima Ultra Green or the whole tapered leader. What did you boil? Copolymer leaders goes all crinkly and as far as I can remember I once boiled a hard mono leader but the effect wasn't as pronounced. As far as the fly movement is concerned, in terms of stillwater, it is more something I would imagine to happen. In flowing water the limpness conforms more to the flow of the water. To take an analogy, a kite tied to silk will flow more with the air currents than a kite tied to a thick/stiff rope. I believe this is effect is more with weighted or buoyant flies like a booby or foam tadpole type of pattern. It is just speculation and guess I will have to put the goggles on at one stage and go and have a look. The boiled section add some limpness between the relatively stiff fly line and the fly. I once submerged a Rio Pocket Water fly line in just below boiling temp water for some time and it was truly amazing how this line came out, it was the limpest, most memory free fly line I have ever had. Just after this I told Gary (used to work for Stealth) about this, and soon after Airflo came out with a similar line, can not recall the name of the line, probably a mono core where the mono was boiled/heated before they applied the coating. The idea of boiling the actual fly line, I found on a French website, think back in 2006. Consequently I had a client who also tried this on his fly line and totally stuffed it up, not sure what brand his line was. I have some old lines and will give it a shot again, lightweight stream lines.

[FlyCraft]

Now I remember, it was called the Airflo Supple - http://www.airflofishing.com/airflo-...e-tactical.cfm

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Thanx Philip interesting!

I boiled a 10m (yes 30ft) copolymer tapered leader. (.70mm butt section, .40mm tippet section) After boiling it for 5min the 10m had reduced to 8m!!!! It now has the most amazing stretch, not sure if that is good or bad. The 2m reduction is a bit of a concern will test it out shortly. Also, a mate got me some dye today nommer 25 my maat so I will test that tomorrow yeeha!

Last question, hehe, is the tippet diameter suppose to reduce as well? Mine didn't still a thick r's tip.

[FlyCraft]

Hi Gerrit, not sure if there is a reduction in diameter, probably a little bit. Also use some water paper to reduce the shine before dyeing the leader, think the dye sticks better to the surface. You can also use your Copic markers to camo the leader even further

[FlyCraft]

Hi Gerrit, why do you boil such a long leader, what do you want to use it for? What brand is it?

[Gerrit Viljoen]

It's a no name brand from China. Using it for LM on floating lines. Had a few fish pop me on the drop whilst waiting for flies to sink maybe with a lil stretch in the leader I can land those in future???lol Is it wrong to boil the whole leader? My experience with Copic markers isn't very good flies lose color and line too....but I'll try it anyway thanx again Philip.

Ps. Where do I buy water paper?

[FlyCraft]

It's a no name brand from China. Using it for LM on floating lines. Had a few fish pop me on the drop whilst waiting for flies to sink maybe with a lil stretch in the leader I can land those in future???lol Is it wrong to boil the whole leader? My experience with Copic markers isn't very good flies lose color and line too....but I'll try it anyway thanx again Philip.

Ps. Where do I buy water paper?

I once boiled one of those "wind on"" leaders used by the rock and surfers, that is the one that didn't came out the way I expected. My suggestion with the largemouth leaders - boil only the last 3 to 4 feet, in other words keep the rest of the leader out of the boiling water, so you still have stiffness in the butt to turn over the fly, but also incorporate the shock/limpness on the fly end.

[Korrie]

Some really interesting thoughts in this thread.
At first fly lines had stretch, which was not good for setting the hook or detecting the small subtle takes..
Then
Airflo makes fly lines with almost zero stretch, which is great for setting hooks and detecting the subtle takes and now you boil the line to have a bit of stretch, for more natural movement and not breaking on the take?

Ons vlieghengelaars se koppies werk snaaks.

[smallstreams.co.za]

Some really interesting thoughts in this thread.
At first fly lines had stretch, which was not good for setting the hook or detecting the small subtle takes..
Then
Airflo makes fly lines with almost zero stretch, which is great for setting hooks and detecting the subtle takes and now you boil the line to have a bit of stretch, for more natural movement and not breaking on the take?

Ons vlieghengelaars se koppies werk snaaks.

It's just over-complicating matters so that we can feel some level of achievement when "outwitting" a fish with a brain the size of a pea

[Gerrit Viljoen]

Mario daai is 'n myth!