Mending Technique

[colliedog]

I don't think there will be a great deal of disagreement from members if I state that the ability to mend the line effectively both upstream and downstream is a fundamental technique of flyfishing for salmon.

Much has been written and claimed about the importance of the mend moving the fly line without disturbing the position or progress of the fly. However, observation of myself and others has shown me that often the effect is to move or drag the fly anything from a few inches to several feet if the mend is not executed well. This is particularly the case whilst fishing a long line that is under considerable tension or starting to belly downstream. The importance of a good mend has been brought home to me on several occasions over the past few seasons as a result of fish jagged, and therefore missed, whilst the mend is being executed (it could be argued that these fish took as a result of the increased movement of the fly, but let's assume that they were already committed to taking it before the fly moved).

I'm interested to hear the view and techniques employed by others.

For the record, my technique is I think fairly conventional - I lift the belly of the line off the water by raising the rod tip whilst accelerating it in an oval trajectory, initially away from and then towards the direction of the mend. For little mends/short line I use the upper hand only, for bigger mends, both hands.

Regards

CD

[splash]

colliedog said:

I don't think there will be a great deal of disagreement from members if I state that the ability to mend the line effectively both upstream and downstream is a fundamental technique of flyfishing for salmon.

Much has been written and claimed about the importance of the mend moving the fly line without disturbing the position or progress of the fly. However, observation of myself and others has shown me that often the effect is to move or drag the fly anything from a few inches to several feet if the mend is not executed well. This is particularly the case whilst fishing a long line that is under considerable tension or starting to belly downstream. The importance of a good mend has been brought home to me on several occasions over the past few seasons as a result of fish jagged, and therefore missed, whilst the mend is being executed (it could be argued that these fish took as a result of the increased movement of the fly, but let's assume that they were already committed to taking it before the fly moved).

I'm interested to hear the view and techniques employed by others.

For the record, my technique is I think fairly conventional - I lift the belly of the line off the water by raising the rod tip whilst accelerating it in an oval trajectory, initially away from and then towards the direction of the mend. For little mends/short line I use the upper hand only, for bigger mends, both hands.

Regards

CD

Good thread CD. I find that when my concentration lapses my mending ability goes to pot. I also suspect that while we may think that we exercise great line management via perfect Francis Grant type J curving, the reality is often far from this. If you look at the way various anglers mend there are a lot of techniques at play and its almost always seems to be done on an individual basis using a myriad of techniques. I think that you outline one of the most difficult scenarios and one I almost feel that I disturb the fly when mending in these circumstances. Given line management is at the crux of salmon fishing sucess, I'm not sure that we give it the thought or practice it deserves. How many times do you see an angler cast and then throw on an upstream mend irrespective of pool , height , flow, current microdynamics etc. The use of other types of line management techniques is also interesting, for example instead of mending upstream and potentially disturbing the trajectory of the fly the fly, take a big step downstream instead, or with shooting heads throwing in the mend at the end of the cast.

I also think it would be good if the big bellied Spey boys could weigh in with some constructive thoughts on this one.After all with their double tapers and 100ft bellied lines they ought to be the mending experts and may be offer to offer some thoughts on the specific circumstance that you outline in your post. They surely can't just wham it oot and let it fish roond all the time....

Cheers
Splash

[Sloggi]

I often watch anglers mend for the sake of mending. The same mend every cast regardless of the pace/depth/colour/temp. of the pool as well as the type fly being fished. How often do you see the angler cast out, yank the line half out of the water, attempt to chuck the belly upsteam, place hand in pocket, and wait before repeating the whole process monotonously down a pool

I guess for me it's about knowing the pool or learning to read it quickly before trying various levels of mend combined with the other tactics we attempt to employ.

[williegunn]

I seldom mend I just alter the angle that I cast.

[splash]

No gauntlet intended McD, only a genuine request for the guys who fish the longest bellied lines to weigh in on this debate as they undoubtably have the most expertise in line management.

cheers

Splash


















[/quote]

[tynetraveller]

I regularly fish a long-belly line and I do not have any answer to how you can put a serious mend into a long cast without moving the fly. On a shorter line or a cast not yet under tension you can create a loop in the slack and throw that out as a mend, but on a 30 yard plus cast in rapid water, I just throw a circular mend and accept that the tension required to lift some of the belly to make the mend has just lost me 5ft+ in distance as the fly has probably moved that far. Mending technique is something I would like to understand better myself.

The only other thing to say is that you can always throw an 'aerial' mend into the cast itself by moving the rod tip upstream/ downstream as soon as you fire the forward cast. It doesn't give a huge mend, but it will start the line with curve in the direction you want.

[williegunn]

From someone who fishes a long belly line in the Spey for most of the season I think constant mending causes more disturbance than line or rod flash. That was the one part of Francis Grant's book that I disagreed with.

[zephead]

Interesting thread.
I use a Carron 85 floater now and in DT and early 65 ft Mastery days tended to keep the rod tip fairly low as the fly was swinging.I find that in using this line I raise the rod tip to keep line off the water much more than I did with shorter headed lines to assist in controlling the fly speed although I don't actually mend the flyline notceably any more than I did with shorter lines/a DT.

ZH

[tynetraveller]

Mending does cause disturbance, but in some cases e.g big or choppy water I don't think it is much of a problem- Plus if mending upstream you are probably only disturbing the salmon you have already covered, and that have already refused your fly- so sod them I don't know if mending is necessary, but when I am covering the prime lie on a pool I tend to at least fish one cast naturally, one with an upstream mend and then a shorter line square. I seldom mend downstream.

One thing I was taught last year is that if you have a pull and it is not repeated, move down a few yards and perhaps in a bit towards the bank and cover the same water square on a shorter line. Using this we hooked at least a third, maybe half, of the fish that had pulled at the fly a few moments earlier. Whether it was the change of angle and the faster presentation, or just giving the fish time to rest, I don't know, but it worked surprisingly well.

[toucan]

I don't disagree that mending is important and helps improve presentation. I'd also agree that downstream mending is an overlooked art that can bring you success in pools with midstream rocks and boils, back/slackwaters or streams entering the main flow at an angle.

A long rod makes it is easier to reposition the line without jerking the fly excessively. With a shorter rod you do have to throw the line rather than just lifting and replacing. Once the fly is swinging, I prefer a succession of very small mends that will move the fly inches at a time to bigger mends that will move the fly several feet. Of course, all is down to the particular pool you are fishing and whether you are fishing over a single lie or a wide range of holding and taking water.

Good casting is extremely important and it is no coincidence that some of best casters do not have to mend the line as much as others.

I know I find myself mending to correct a cast that has not turned over properly, where an upstream wind has put an upstream curve in the leader or where I have cast squarer than I should. And in doing so, I limit my chances of catching a fish in the early part of the swing. Get the cast right and the mending becomes less important in my view.

Mark

[colliedog]

tynetraveller said:

One thing I was taught last year is that if you have a pull and it is not repeated, move down a few yards and perhaps in a bit towards the bank and cover the same water square on a shorter line. Using this we hooked at least a third, maybe half, of the fish that had pulled at the fly a few moments earlier. Whether it was the change of angle and the faster presentation, or just giving the fish time to rest, I don't know, but it worked surprisingly well.

Thanks to all who have contributed thus far - some interesting comments both for and against mending.

I'm very interested in Tynetravellers suggestion above - it seems that this approach may also be valuable when covering occupied lies where a fish has refused the fly fished at a shallower angle - something to debate in the CLaG's current thread?

My own approach to mending is only to do so where it alters the progress of the fly to my advantage - sometimes this may only be corrections to the first few yards of the line from the rod tip to compensate for a draw on the near-side - other times it may be frequent big mends to hold a fly twice as long in a far-side taking strip. Horses for courses I think.

Thanks again

CD

[flybox]

>>I do not have any answer to how you can put a serious mend into a long cast without moving the fly.

So what? You are not dry-fly fishing on the drift. You are attempting to put life into a few deer hairs. A fly has to move to be lifelike. Scandanavian Saw? Now I will accept that it may be implausible for a size 16 fly to shoot off four or five feet as a result of a mend, but surely it is worse for the size 16 to drift fifteen, thirty feet or more in the current like a lump of dead leaf so that you only ever get a take on the dangle?

A good caster will not suffer so much from drifting flies, but I know I always feel more confident when my fly is moving in - rather than with - the current. If I feel I need to mend it to make it move in a more lifelike fashion, then hang worrying about moving the fly whilst mending.

What do you think?

[salmonking]

I very rarely mend,if i need to put more life into the fly i will compose a slow figure of eight retrieve,usually when working my way down a pool /run ill firstly let the fly come round naturally,then a second cast with a slow retrieve.

[sagecaster]

I used to mend a lot in the past, but Ian Galland from Laggan changed my attitude to mending and convinced me that in general much of it is unnecessary. Now seldom mend at all, only little ones if need be. IME a fish will generally take the fly in the first third of the swing round and having watched from above at anglers throwing big mends I reckon it causes the fly to un-naturally jerk, I'm sure this can spook and put these fish in the first third of the cast down.

[flybox]

>>IME a fish will generally take the fly in the first third of the swing round

Does that not just prove that you can cast well. Many a poorer caster will catch most of his fish on the dangle, as the fly isn't fishing for the first two thirds of the swing. I know whenever I've hooked up I've thought it was a cast that was fishing nicely at the time. So I put a lot of effort into making the fly fish - generally by stripping back enough line to make it taut and mending as necessary.


Proves I'm not much cop at casting.

[salmonshrimp]

Mending is but a very small part of line control. Rod tip height and rod angle relevant to the current have a much greater effect then line mending. In fact you could probably not bother to mend ever if you used the rod, line, angles and speed of water effectively to control the fly.
I rarely if ever mend when the fly is moving unless I wish to spook or disturbe a dour fish.

[zephead]

Tres interesant.

4 Line mangament tools for me:-

(i)Mending-If I'm using a long belly line like an 85 ft Carron I tend to use the middle/back end of the belly as an anchor point and make sure that it is only a very small portion of the back end of the thicker belly I mend so as to provide the fly with as smoothe a journey as possible.

I tend to try and mend as soon as the fly hits the water-and often try to get a mend in sunk line stylee before the line has fully alighted on the water-so as its fishing at the speed I want it almost as soon as it starts to swing and gets a J curve in it sharpish.

(ii)Lifting line off the water without neccessarily making an upstream mend.Subsequent mends are usually small,and often combined with a relatively high and sustained lift of the rod point using the belly as an anchor so I'm only slowing up the rear of the head and reducing the chance of dragging the fly.I find the horizontal angle of the rod and and lifting line off the water at specific parts of the cast to take account of different current speeds through the same section of a pool is a very effective way of getting the fly to fish at the speed you want it.Another bit of finessing picked up at the feet of Mr Galland and reinforced by Alan Irvine-both Macallanside Mending Maestro's.

(iii)Polytips. IMHO there is too much emphasis placed by well intentioned ghillies on getting rods to upstream mend constantly and not enough attention paid as to how to get a fly to swing at its most tantilising speed and arc without mending.ie letting it swing in an as uninterrupted manner as possible.

I find that the far more consideration should be given to appropriate selection of polytips relative to fishing/current speed than ghillies just telling anglers to keep mending to reach desired fly swing speeds,especially on the shallower and quicker flowing rivers more prevalent up above Perth where fly depth in clearer water is possibly not as critical as speed if you believe in the "he'll come up for it if he wants it" school of thought.This is not to say this is a critiscism of ghillies per se,but more often as a product of the hapless angler only a having a Type 8 head in his bag that someone left there and nowt else.

Polytips-combined with some forethought as to angle of presentation-and being able to throw a long narrow angled line are the best antidotes to drag/over-mending IMHO.

Accordingly,judicious use of 5 and 10 ft Hover/Inty/Slow sink polytips negates the need for much needless disturbance with mending and as they are designed in handy wallet format for mid-change during a pool why more fishers don't take advantage of this and/or set up two rods and change them down a pool at an appropriate juncture,surprises me.

(iv)Longer/stiffer rods-the mendability of a stiff 16 footer versus a waffy 14 footer is immense and provides a far better and more accurate line control than a shorter rod.This is noticeable when one sees how an old worlde DL 15'4" bends and sloshes line when a mend is made than with a crisp modern rod like a Guideline/Sage/B&W Powerlite where pick up and,importantly,placement are so much sweeter.

Shame none of the above seem to be making an effect on my personal tally of fish caught this season.

ZH