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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

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Thomas
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#1

Post by Thomas »

Hi everybody,

Last week I had an interesting experience. I was going out to catch som sea-run brown trout at the Swedish coast outside of Gothenburg. The wind was blowing really hard so I decided to use my Barrio Predator - a line made for casting pikeflies and the like. The reasoning behind this choice of line was of course that the heavy head and powerful front taper would turn over well into the hard wind. And of course it did turn over well - much better than the lines I usually use for this kind of fishing. But I also noticed that the line felt VERY heavy. When I´m fishing for pike the line feels perfect. When using it for sea-run brown trout the same line feels way too heavy for the same rod. Why is this so? A part of the answer surely must have to do with the differences in fly-size - here the typical fly for sea-run brown trout is a size 8 or 6 and a pikefly is of course much bigger than that. The difference in wind-resistance is huge. The linespeed when casting with the smaller fly also seems to be a lot higher (which seems logical). Anyway I would like to hear your thought on this. I have never experienced this before.

Cheers Thomas
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bartdezwaan
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#2

Post by bartdezwaan »

I would say the higher line speed makes the line feel heavier. Maybe stating the obvious here :whistle:
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Paul Arden
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#3

Post by Paul Arden »

To be honest I can’t say I’ve noticed it. I often cast heavy lines with big flies and also fluff. The difference is there but the line doesn’t feel heavier with the fluff. So I don’t think it’s that simple.

Cheers Paul
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Lasse Karlsson
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#4

Post by Lasse Karlsson »

Paul Arden wrote:To be honest I can’t say I’ve noticed it. I often cast heavy lines with big flies and also fluff. The difference is there but the line doesn’t feel heavier with the fluff. So I don’t think it’s that simple.

Cheers Paul

Hi Paul

You don't like bricks on a string, why is that?

Cheers
Lasse
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Paul Arden
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#5

Post by Paul Arden »

Hi Lasse,

Because they do one thing only and not very well :p

Cheers, Paul
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Lasse Karlsson
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#6

Post by Lasse Karlsson »

:D so now lines can do stuff, is it coffee? :p

The barrio predator is basicly a brick on a string in your terminology, alot of mass, in a short string, without the drag of a big fly, it will feel heavy as it retains alot of momentum, especially cast at high speed where most of the weight is felt as the line has little slack.

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Lasse
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Flycasting, so simple that instructors need to make it complicated since 1685

Got a Q++ at casting school, wearing shorts ;)
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Paul Arden
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#7

Post by Paul Arden »

Ok but “feeling heavy” for me refers to the casting stroke itself and not the rebound from the energy left at loop straight. In fact the casting stroke with a heavy or wind resistant fly should feel heavier than without, no?

Cheers, Paul
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Lasse Karlsson
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#8

Post by Lasse Karlsson »

I've given up on understanding what people mean when they say feel ;)

When I throw a big fly, I expect it to be heavy, when I throw a small fly, I don't expect it to feel heavy, but using same tackle I might get fooled by my senses....

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Lasse
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Flycasting, so simple that instructors need to make it complicated since 1685

Got a Q++ at casting school, wearing shorts ;)
Thomas
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#9

Post by Thomas »

Hello everybody and thanks for your answers.

Paul - the line feels heavy in "the casting stroke itself". I know this sounds weird and that was the reason I started this thread. And yes the line has energy left at loop straight but that was actually not what I was thinking about. Anyway - this is intriguing. I will repeat this "experiment" soon again.

Cheers Thomas
Simon Svahn
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Casting a heavy line with a small versus a big fly

#10

Post by Simon Svahn »

I know the feeling you're talking about. It also appears when swithing from big dry fly to small dry fly :)

Cheers
Simon
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