how big a mend??

[johnmac]

here's a question about mending your line..... i only fish with a floater at the minute... se we'll stick with that to avoid confusion

Does the size of your mend depend on the speed or depth of the water?? silly question im assuming, but just making sure. and whats the reasons for doing it?? is it so the fish dont see the line? and so the fly swims better? and what do you do on pools that are quite turbulent..... some of the line is being dragged under in turbulent parts and other slow parts seem to make the line snake in a wavey line?? is that any good?? will fishing with the rod raised help??

your thoughts please!! and has anyone caught fish without mending??

John.

[johnmac]

thanks for the info Springer! i was pretty sure that it would have been a horses for courses answer....... i have been shown (by Kercock) how to mend and why, but i have been trying to learn that many things that i wasn't sure if i was doing it right or a big enough mend for that matter>?? anyway...... we'll see what happends and i'll keep an eye on the other fly-fisherman next time i'm out! thanks for the reply! John.

[macd]

In addition to the techniques used to slow/quicken the speed of the fly, it pays to think about the fly as it swings round

remember that you are trying to create the illusion of life with your fly.

fish the fly at a speed relative to its size.

generally a small fly will be slower, and big fly fished faster.

tight lines


Ross

[johnmac]

next question.... how the hell do you catch your first salmon on the fly??

[ceilidh]

Simple answer, just keep on fishing and sooner or later a salmon will catch you! It will often happen when you least expect it, so if you make a bad cast let it fish itself out (unless it is a total shambles) since this may cause less disturbance than immediately casting again in the same place.

As to mending; there are two different uses for this technique, which might be described as the 'pre-planned mend' and the 'corrective mend'
In the first case you know before you make your cast that you want either to speed up (downstream mend) or slow down (upstream mend) the progress and depth of your fly as soon as it hits the water, in which case the sooner you make your mend the more effective it will be, in fact it should almost become the last part of the cast itself.
In the second case you wish to correct variations in fly depth and speed as the rest of the line crosses differing streams or currents, caused by rocks or variances in the river bed. Here, you may need to make a number of smaller mends, usually with the objective of eliminating large bows between your line and the track of the fly.

[rennie]

Don't mend unless you really have to,I have had numerous bollo***** from Gillie's on various beats especially in clear water for mending ,concentrate on a long straight cast so you don't have to mend,watch a top class angler in action the no. of times they get a long straight cast and seconds later fish on,if you think about it a mend is the solution to a less than satisfactory cast.I came to Salmon fishing from coarse fishing and perfected a stick float technique over years on various rivers where perfect presentation gained the prizes,my early floating line technique involved constant touches small mends and often subtle movements of the line to get things as I imagined just right in fact I have caught numbers of fish as I actually performed a mend,but I am finding now I am catching as many fish by not performing a mend unless I really have to.The point to this drivel is I don't fish like a robot now "cast mend,cast mend etc. etc." I mend only when needed not as a matter of course,but since moving away from beginner status my casting has improved enough to let me fish like this.If you have to mend then think of the disturbance caused by say a 10/11 line landing then being lifted and dropped down again,not the required medicine for a wild wary fish especially if it has seen it all before.Unfortunately if we could all fish like this all the time we would all be experts but most of us never will gain such status,we will all catch more fish by using our heads as well as our tackle!. Pedro.