Well i had all my gear delivered and decided to do a bit of perch fishing on the fly to a local stretch of the canal. Anyway i only got 3lb tapered leader with my gear and wasn't sure if this would hold up with a small lure on so decided to go with 10 foot of 6lb line straight from the braided loop.

Here's what i found and was hoping for a bit of feedback .. It was a bit of a disaster if truth be known but think i learnt a lot and went from a trying to fish session to simply practicing casting..

To start with the 6lb snapped losing me a lure ( small lead head) The canal is only about 30 foot wide and i was having trouble getting to the other side , i was getting about 2/3rds across. then i lost another lure in the bushes behind me ..

i then had to put a very light lure on

i decided to walk up the canal a bit and cast back down and across towards my target area as this meant i was clear of bushes behind me , this was a little better as i wasn't snagging on bushes and the cast was longer but this didn't suprise me .

I found i could get the mainline almost across but the leader and light lure was just flopping down almost next to the main line , the odd occasion it would land straight.. i snapped off once more ..

i was pulling the line in and letting it drop at my feet till it was about 6 foot of main line left then kind of picking the line/fly out the water before pulling back the rod , almost like gently picking the line out the water as apposed to yanking it out if that makes sence.

I then decided just before leaving to have a go casting just the mainline and the braided loop WOW i was getting quite far and the line was laying flat and straight maybe 80% of the time .. I come to the conclusion that if i would of used a tapered leader this would of helped land the mainline down followed by the slightly lighter tapered leader and then eventually the tippit end to the fly..

will i struggle without a tapered leader

any feedback appreciated.


billy

Aside from anything else, you need to be very careful of passers by. You will be concentrating on the fishing, next thing a jogger or cyclist has a fly in thier mush.

Forget the other side of the canal for now, work with the nearside, I had a nice perch 8ft from the end of my rod the other week.

I am lucky to have a reasonable length garden I can practice in. If you dont have space I would suggest you get somewhere and practice a stance and cast that lets you work the near bank, without risking passers by. You basically stand at 45 deg to the water, and hold the rod over the water at about 45 degrees from the horizontal. Run a piece of string to represent the edge, and practice not going over it.

Casting instructors will shoot me down in flames for suggesting this but it works for me, and you will find if you can a reasonable distance like this, the more traditional stance for casting will come easier. I can get a pike fly 20 yds down the bank like this without the fly coming over onto the towpath. Not great distances by any stretch, but its safe. ( ish )

One piece of advice I read on here that served me well is don't try and go too far at once. This is a bit tricky as you need to be a reasonable distance to load the rod, but if you try and get too far without any practice you will end up in a mess.

Also, try overlining by 1. It doesnt half let you know when the rod is loaded, and will help get more line out sooner. Mill ends are £4 at mullarkeys, great for finding your feet with.

would not using a tapered leader and just 8lb line of made things harder ? does the tapered leader help lay the end down correctly ?

Billy,

Find a good instructor and get a couple of lessons, learn the basic casts, ask a bit about the gear and flies - well worth it

yes, transfers the energy better, tippet on the end needs to be thinner than the tip of the leader, size of the fly will determine the weight of leader you need to turn it over, rule of 3 is a good start, ie size 16 hook, divided by 3 gives roughly 5x dia, about 5lb breaking strain, although you might need to go down a few x's for big canal surprises..4x - 6lb, 3x - 7lb, 2x - 8lb approx etc.

So if I understand correctly, you used 10 ft of 6 lb test which was regular spinning nylon mono. Way too long a straight section to the fly. No wonder it wouldn't turn over. That means the mono never straightens on the back cast either. So you end snapping the fly off.

Starting with essentially a lead head jig is the wrong way to start.

Make it a short stiff tapered leader of about 6 - 7 feet. When using a lead headed fly, you are going to use an active retrieve and there is no need for a long tippet. I would get a 7.5 ft leader and cut the first 12 inches of tippet off to get a tapered leader of about 6.5 feet.

PS - call it a fly and not a lure.

__________________
Silver Creek- "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"....Szent-Gyorgy

Ok thanks for that , that makes a lot of sense..

That would explain why i seemed to cast far better without a leader on and just the braided loop just before i packed away.

The line felt quite heavy also but not sure if this was just me being new to fly fishing .. is there much difference between say a 6 which i have and a 5 weight ?

billy

Not enough that you would notice at 20'.remember the rod is desgned to start loading at 30' of flyline out.

Jim

__________________
The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

You should forget all the tapered leaders etc and get yourself a lesson you obviously cant cast, leaders etc wont make one bit of difference if you cant cast in the first place,harsh but true ,all you will learn are bad habits

__________________
GAIA INSTRUCTOR

this is hardly going to encourage anyone to approach an instructor.

we all had to start somewhere.