Long rods, short rods, crisp rods, slow rods etc and your style of fishing.

[BenzoV]

BenzoV, howzit bud, this might help, when lobbing or casting upstream, you should always mend to allow the flies to sink straight down, then with the rod to gauge the height or depth required to get that perfect drift, mending if needed from start to finish. if you not drifting correctly is because of a few variables, tippet thickness, fly size (and dressing), weights. watching others on the river, they never mend.

Howzit bud. What I have started doing a little while back is to drop all the slack line on the water after the lob and allow the flies to sink a few seconds (say 1st 1/4 of the drift) before lifting the rod to "lead" the flies. I think this is essentially what a mend does on a longer line.

[BenzoV]

BenzoV, howzit bud, this might help, when lobbing or casting upstream, you should always mend to allow the flies to sink straight down, then with the rod to gauge the height or depth required to get that perfect drift, mending if needed from start to finish. if you not drifting correctly is because of a few variables, tippet thickness, fly size (and dressing), weights. watching others on the river, they never mend.

Howzit bud. What I have started doing a while ago if I fish a slightly deeper section is to drop all the slack line on the water after the lob to allow the flies to sink for a few seconds and only then to lift the rod and start leading the flies. I think this is essentially what a mend does with a longer line.

What do you mean with this part, "then with the rod to gauge the height or depth required to get that perfect drift"?

[Korrie]

Howzit bud. What I have started doing a little while back is to drop all the slack line on the water after the lob and allow the flies to sink a few seconds (say 1st 1/4 of the drift) before lifting the rod to "lead" the flies. I think this is essentially what a mend does on a longer line.

In that "few Seconds" you could be missing a number of takes.
You need to always be incontrol of your flies.
When the flies sink, you can have the slightest of "bow" in your line, as the flies descend thru the water column, allowing you still monitor the line/indicator for a take.

[Circus]

So Korrie, how does one keep in contact, while also allowing the flies to sink enough at the start of the drift?

[dollar]

BenzoV what mean by gauging is, searching for that sweet spot where my rig has reached the bottom and has started signalling that famous moscow code to me, sometimes you may have to much line in the water (still giving off the moscow code but feint in signal strength to lossing all signal) and just too much slack line to detect them bites (maybe a contributing factor to hooking fish nearing the end of the drift) , other times you feel nothing because your flies are drifting to high and need to settle on the bottom so by making height adjustments with the rod will help getting to the right depth, this all while drifting and by the next cast you already know where or how to hold the rod. when i fish my intention is to have, as straight as possible, the line out of the tip of rod to weight, in this case i use split shot and others a control fly, the point fly and/or drop should theorically give you different level in the water coloumn to give the fish options.
when lobbing the flies upstream, try not to lob the entire rig you have set out of the rod, what i mean is hold back just a small section to assist the mend. once the flies have hit the water surface (rod parallel to water) i immediately poke the rod forward and lift the rod tip at the same time, that's the mend, then drop the rod tip, basically eliminating as much slack line off the water and simultaneously allowing the flies to shot to the bottom in a second, once done i bring the elbow back to my side.

[Korrie]

So Korrie, how does one keep in contact, while also allowing the flies to sink enough at the start of the drift?

When casting/lobbing upstream or 45degrees diagonal and the line hits the water, do not drop the rod tip to the water level and let all the leader collapse in a pile.
Cast upstream and when flies hit the water, let the leader have a slight bow or almost straight. and as the flies sink keep an every so slight tension on the leader setup.
you will be amazed on how many takes there are as the flies are sinking thru the water column.
I want to go as far saying on some SM yellow areas 1 in 10 casts will have a take as the flies drop thru the water column

[BenzoV]

that famous moscow code

I don't own a TV. Enlighten me please :-D. The only Moscow code Google is giving me is either 495 or 499...
I'm thinking you must have meant morse code, in which case I get it, but I'm also pretty sure I may have missed something somewhere in the developed world of FF.
But the rest makes sense, thanks.


Dankie @Korrie! Will pay attention to this, may go out tomorrow if the weather calms down a bit.

[Andre]

So Korrie, how does one keep in contact, while also allowing the flies to sink enough at the start of the drift?

If I may answer... You keep in control of the drift. This is why you have a "control fly", so that you can control everything the fly does, from the moment it hits the water, through the entire drifts. The fly is not supposed to merely free fall, but you control it down through several different techniques, and you feel it through the descent. Any slack line or uncontrolled action of the fly while it is sinking, is going to cause you to miss the takes, hence, any kind of mending is a big no no, besides it is very difficult to mend a line using this technique, perhaps try a "tuck cast". Once you can understand all this, you will begin to see why a correctly weighted fly, and the sink rate of the fly and all the other little things are so important. People think that this type of fishing is a "plop and drop " technique, but it is actually highly technical.

[Andre]

Another thing that comes to mind, is that if you get the technique right, you can fish with lighter tippets which would also assist in the sink rate of the fly and your hookup rate. When there is slack line and a fish takes the fly and effectively hooks itself, you run the risk of a greater shock to the tippet, risking it snapping. If you are in touch with the fly, the shock is less, and the risk of breaking off diminishes. A shock from a "slack line take" is also not really adequately neutralised by a rod with a soft tip, so technique is a more prominent factor when it comes to preserving your tippets section. I think it kind of defeats the purpose to try and correct bad technique with equipment. You will probably find that most yellowfish break offs, are happenning due to slack line takes

[dollar]

so true Andre, even with a soft tip rod i still have an amount of loose line hanging between the reel and hand to help absorb those shocks (casting mistakes and spooked fish)