Once an Addict, Always an Addict

I'm going to once again blame the lack recent fly fishing on the birth of our daughter, and I'll again iterate that it’s been a good trade. That being said, the urge to pursue my finned friends was not diminished by the addition of a family member.

This story starts off 3 1/2 weeks ago, on the day before baby Addilyn's arrival. Robert (my brother in law) and I decided to go play a round of Golf (Historically speaking, it’s something I do 2-3 times a year). My wife was 9 days past due at this point, and found this activity acceptable, considering it did not take me out of cell range, was close to home, and would give her a couple hours break from the barrage of "Do you think she's going to come out soon?".

To the links we went, and $11 on a Sunday bought us 9-holes at the best standard-length 9-hole golf course in town. And we played.

And on this course, the 1st green, and the 9th Tee both rest alongside a pond, a small, shallow pond that appears to be just loaded with 4-6" Bluegill. I couldn't help but watch the school of 'gills swim around, chasing the small minnows and eating insects. I stood and watched when I realized that in that moment, given the choice of proceeding to the next tee or catching a bluegill smaller than my hand, my preference was for the latter. I played out the remainder of the round, with the realization that I was going to have to come back to this place, and I was going to be prepared.

Just 3 weeks later, Robert again posed the question... Do you want to play golf again? Yes Robert, why yes I do!The "Tackle".

The night before, I prepared my tackle: 5' Furled Leader, 3' of 5x tippet, and a size 16 Copper John (w/glass beadhead, for a slower sinking fly... or because I ran out of "real" beads, you decide). I rigged everything up and wrapped it around a foam fly patch to keep it all from getting tangled. As I stuffed the outfit into the golf bag, I added a spongebob caddis, just in case (wholly un-needed).

 On the first hole I broke all Golf Etiquette and finished out on the green before anyone in my group had started putting, in order to maximize my time on the water. I looped the Shorb loop of the furled leader around my fingertip and made a normal fly-cast. The Copper John dropped into the water and quickly disappeared with a flash. With a satisfied grin, I released the 5" bluegill while my group laughed and continued to the next tee. I packed up and followed them, 7 more holes to play and I will get more time.

After finishing hole number 8, I was pleased to see that the 9th tee was going to be a bit of a wait... so I upped the ante a little. I removed the rig from its stowage location, and rather than attaching to my finger, I used the grip of my putter, in a rudimentary Tenkara type setup (more on this later). The rig worked great, and in the time the group ahead needed to get beyond the range of my driver, I was able to land and release another 5 or 6 small bluegills.Rigged and ready. Some algae remains from the course pond.

Satisfied, I teed off for a double-bogey on the final hole, giving up two strokes versus my score 2 weeks prior, but it mattered little, this was a much better round of fly-golfing.

I realized at once that I had finally found something interesting and useful to use a Tenkara rod for, and if I played golf with any regularity I would be tempted to get a telescoping rod of some kind. I've never been particularly interested in Tenkara as an alternative to fly fishing (I see it needlessly limiting), but as an alternative to fishing with a putter... well, there I can see some potential.

I've been meaning to really outline my thoughts on Tenkara as a whole, but I will wait until I have had the opportunity to actually try fishing Tenkara style.

 

Furled Leaders (Part 3 of 3)

In the previous entries, Part 1 and Part 2, we discussed the pros and cons of furled leaders, the types of furled leaders available, and the setup and rigging of a furled leader. With the third and final portion, I hope to catch just the tip of the iceberg on what is possible when it comes to making your own furled leaders, customizations that ate possible, and leave with some additional resources, should you wish to delve deeper.

If you simply want to put a furled leader on your usual dry-fly rod, by all means, drop an email to Carl, and have him make something to suit your needs.

That being said, if you think you're ready to give furling a chance, let me give you some words of encouragement. First off, unlike fly tying, the ROI with furled leaders can happen pretty quickly. You likely have most, if not all, materials needed to start furling, and within just a couple hours, you can be producing basic, functional leaders.

Also, like fly tying, furling can be very rewarding, and can be another challenge in this deep, dark hole that is fly fishing.

Now, about getting started, the first thing you will need is a looping jig - this is how the taper of the material for the leader is built, my making multiple loops of your source material around the various pegs.

I followed the overall design and initial formula from a great article in Hatches Magazine. Breck Miller did a phenomenal job on the article, and quite frankly, I see no reason to try to repeat, or re-explain anything he's written. What is great about this system, and it’s the system/basic formula that I use, is that it requires little, if anything that you don't likely already have... and absolutely NOTHING about it can't be found at your local hardware store for less than a few dollars. The only specialty item is a "Nit Picker", available for about $3 at Joanne Fabrics, and other fine fly tying crafting retailers.

Some differences between Breck's jig and my own: He used 1/2" Dowel, I Used 1" dowel that I cut from an old broomstick(again, using what's available, though bigger dowels make for easier passing of spools when making the loops) . For the end peg, I found that 1/2" or 1" was just too large and made my Shorb loop come out messy - so I make my end post short, then hammered a 1/8" diameter nail into it (predrill first!), and cut off the head of the nail with a Dremel and filed smooth. This makes my end loop smaller and final Shorb loop cleaner, YMMV.

Now, before continuing you'll need a basic understanding of how the furled leader is made.

Essentially, a jig is used; equivalent to what your see to the left in my messy garage, and line is wrapped around the pegs to give you a different number of strands at each section (Taper). Breck's formula, a formula that I still often use, starts with 11 loops/22 strands of material in the butt section (5 1/2 loops, 11 strands per leg), and 3 loops/6 strands of material in the tip section (1 1/2 loops, 3 strands per leg).

Once the loops are established, leader is essentially V-shaped, with the tip in the "corner" of the "V" and the butt section at the tips.

One at a time (though not necessarily), the legs of the leader are twisted extensively using an electric drill with an open hook in its chuck. Both legs are twisted the SAME DIRECTION, and kept separate.

Once twisting is complete, the two legs are brought together, and hung by the butt section with weight (3-4oz) attached to the tip section. Then, on its own, the leader begins "Furling", all on its own. the two legs become intertwined into one, and the tension, built during twisting, is relieved from the leader.

The Leader is finished with Shorb loops or other finishing methods.

This is where the fun starts. If you do nothing other than copy exactly what is in the Hatches Article, Great, you're now making perfectly serviceable furled leaders... but this really is not the only way to do it.

Carl (there I go, bringing him up again) has an interesting method where instead of twisting the two "legs" individually, he builds the two legs, then straightens the entire leader out into a single line, with the butt section being on the outside ends, the tip section in the center. The Entire leader can then be twisted in a single step, before it is essentially "Folded" with the tip section in the middle, and allowed to furl.

Others, used various gearing to allow the twisting of both legs at one time. I've seen at least one method which using gears, springs, and weights, to do twisting and furling, all in one step.

Various materials can be used also, to yield different features. Different colors can be included to build-in indicator functionality. The whole taper can be shortened/steepened, say, for nymphing, to allow an indicator (yarn, or thingamabobber) to be placed at the end of the furl, and then tippet run straight from that - an excellent setup for nymphing - the furl turns over the indicator nicely, but the tippet cuts through the water and allows the nymphs to sink nicely.

To learn all about advanced leader making techniques, look no further than the Furled Leader Forum, a very small, dedicated group of furlers, eager to share their knowledge.

My personal quest has been that of furled leaders for Sub 0-wt rods. When I started looking for a material to create ultralight furled leaders for my 00wt, I decided I needed finer Mono than the 2lb I had been finding at the big5 (which was about .007 inch diameter). I have considered 7x ... But the issue is cost... There's about 90-100 feet of material in a furled leader... So it gets expensive if your source material is costly.

Of the two quilting Monofilament threads I purchased, Clear .004 and Smoke .004, I have two vastly different products (despite identical packaging).

The clear actually measures .0035 (between 7x and 8x) by my calipers and feels fairly inconsistent (like somewhat curly-Q’d... it straightens out when stretched) in the hands (single strand), and has a very low break strength - less than 1 lb.

The smoke, on the other hand feels much smoother, stronger (though I haven't break-tested it, yet, I've tied the smoke line to some Cabelas brand 6x... In 3 tests it broke the 6x tippet every time.... I may have found the worlds cheapest 6x tippet), and unsurprisingly also measures a good deal thicker (.005 - equivalent to 6x). So with that in mind, I have three different tapers made using the Clear, and one Taper using the Smoke.

Its actually quite fun, but this nylon thread is maddeningly difficult to work with for a variety of reasons. Still my failure rate hovers in the 60-70% range... considering its less than $0.20 in material per leader, I'm not losing any sleep over it.

 And then there is testing: That's the fun part!