Being occasionally a bit of a ham fisted caster, more often than I like, I end up with my leader wrapped around my rod and dropper simultaneously threaded through at least 3 snake rings.

Usually I can untangle it all given a few minutes and have the leader straight enough to fish on. But it got me wondering what other people do after they've got a pile of spagetti. Any good tactics for unraveling the ball of string?

It's all down to bad casting, no such thing as wind knots. All you can do is untangle them. If your leader gets crinkles in it, then you need a leader straightner which is 2 rubber or leather pads that you pull the leader through. You can do it through your fingers it it's warm and dry.
I've been fly fishing for over 30 years.
Yes I still get my fair share of wind knots. Well you got blame something other than just bad casting.

I always find when i'm in a hurry i get tangles, usually days when i'm home earlier than normal and run out too catch a few hours fishing before dawn.
I am certainly no casting expert but whenever i'm relaxed I can go a full day without dreaded wind knots( that ironically occur mostly on flat calms ).
Before I would spend the time to unravel the line and straighten it using my real leather wallet (made in china), now however I just strip it and replace, time not spent fishing just makes me want to fish.

"+1" to WF's comments above. Just back from Montana and my first real work-out with a one hander rod in ... hell? .... a couple of years? (99.999% of the time I'm using a 2-hander here on the Rogue River.) Same situation, same 'ah ship!'

Thought that one through and the end game was I was bringing the forward cast (rod) too 'straight up/down.' Form follows function, if you will. Or line/leader/fly follows the rod tip, same with a spey rod cast.

Try tipping your rod tip over a few degrees on the forward cast, until the rod passes you ear. At that point the line/leader/fly is committed to another plane of direction.

fae

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I am an okay caster and in normal conditions i have a trouble free day but the trouble starts [with me anyway] when the wind starts gusting and catches the fly line and ruins the cast,knots then occur and hence why i call them wind knots.

I still tie wind knots....they are from trying too hard on the cast...Everyone casts a bit harder in the wind hence the name. get your time a bit wrong and you cast a tailing loop...this happens more in the wind because you put more into the cast to go against the wind. As for removing knots from leaders....I do it if they dont look like a boy scout went wild on it...otherwise...I use a spare leader! sort it out when I get home. Cut the knots from the leader and use it as A: a shorter one..mostly sub surface where the fish arent so leader shy...or B: to tie a tippet to and make a knotted leader.

It doesn't matter how good you are at casting, you're always gonna get the spaghetti from time to time. As said gusty winds...flat calms and long leaders and human error are always going to leave you cursing. I'll try snipping the flies off the droppers to untangle the mess and if it still looks like 10 mins of stress to untangle it, i'll figure of eight it in to a ball and snip it into a hundred wee pieces and set up again. Far less stressful

I used to think this just happened to me!!!

I was fishing yesterday and kept getting tangles - mainly due to 'trying to hard' and getting highly frustrated at the rising fish not taking my fly....

I tend to find, that in some conditions, it pays to fish a single fly, and change the fly more often, than fish three. If the line is always like 'spaghetti' and you are fixing or changing the leader all the time, then the fly is out of the water.

A valuable piece of advice that I once heard in terms of catching more fish was "make sure yer flea is in the watter!"

Never a truer word said IMHO!!

Too much power in the arc = tailing loops = 'wind' knots

http://www.fedflyfishers.org/Portals...ng%20Loops.pdf

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Game fish are too valuable to be caught only once - Lee Wulff

Thankfully I dont get so many tangles these days but when I do I find the quickest way to sort out the mess is to snip the flies off and untangle the leader, then tie them back on.