Fly lines cracking

[Jearley]

Thanks again. I’ll be reading up on the Italian technique. My apologies for taking the thread down a rabbit hole

[Graeme H]

Oh, that's not a rabbit hole. Stick around ...

Cheers,
Graeme

[Paul Arden]

I’m pretty sure that I have the original TLT page as a PDF on my old MacBook hard drive. Unfortunately I can’t currently access it

I actually like the tackle. Our 7’6 3/4 underlined with a 2 or even a 1 would really make for an excellent TLT outfit.

It’s dry fly, long leader, slack line presentation casting. Sure you can fish a streamer but it’s not a technique for fishing the Flats.

I like it, I’ve always liked it. Always been interested in it! I disagree with some of the mechanics - from 20 years ago! - but I disagree with some of my mechanics from 20 years ago And I disagree with some of Lasse’s mechanics from now!

Anyway it’s high line speed, under the tip over the tip, super tight loops. You cannot make loops like that the way most of us line rods. The rod is “slower” and we have counterflex opening the bottom of the loop.

I was supposed to meet some of the guys in Italy years ago but my car broke down on the way. I really must try to get there!

Cheers, Paul

[Lasse Karlsson]

Anyway it’s high line speed, under the tip over the tip, super tight loops. You cannot make loops like that the way most of us line rods. The rod is “slower” and we have counterflex opening the bottom of the loop.

Cheers, Paul

Of course you disagree when you think like that
Just proves you wrong as usual

Cheers
Lasse

[Jearley]

That’s next level stuff right there! I don’t recall having read much about under lining rods..... Doesn’t seem like it’s a thing here in the states. Seems like everything is over lined by default. I’ve really been putting in the reading in regards to manufacturers specs for fly lines. Looking at 5-weights ends up being a 5-1/2 or nearly a 6. I’m assuming going light on grains with head weight has it’s good and bad.

Question: with competition 5-weight distance casting what is the standard for fly line weight? I don’t think I quite caught that in another discussion.

[Paul Arden]

With comp 5 lines they are made to standard. But really there is only one main one and one other depending on where you compete. The one for the World Championships is SA MED in competition orange 120’ long. Another that is sometimes allowed in events is RIO’s Comp line. I’ve always liked one line that everyone casts.

Cheers, Paul

[Jearley]

That makes sense to have a single line. Level playing field
Thanks Paul!

[Paul Arden]

I think the fairest comps we have are the Sexyloops shootouts. Here there are eight sets of tackle - can be literally anything - and you have two minutes to make your longest cast. You are then ranked according to your position with that tackle. The winner is the caster with the lowest score. For example if you come first in every event your score is 8 points. What I like about this is everyone casts the same gear, and you must get a good cast off with every outfit to be in the running. (Also we’ve cast cane rods, mismatched gear, noodles and even a broomstick - so it’s fun!).

Cheers, Paul

[Jearley]

That’s awesome There wouldn’t by chance be any video of this little event?

[Paul Arden]

No - but that’s a good idea for September when we have the next one! This style of competition goes back to around 2002 when we started competing in my back garden! The philosophy behind it was that in UK competitions at the time you could end up casting any sponsored tackle often with mismatched lines And because you only had 2 minutes you had to work out how best to throw the thing fast.

Very entertaining particularly when we had a stopwatch that the competitor could see counting down. Trying to get the line back in time to get a winning shot away has definitely been some of the highlights!

The key component is that it’s always been fun. We also did something quite different in the early years. Instead of setting up the court so that the wind was assisting the caster, we often set up difficult cross winds or head winds. This was also important because you could get that in competition. That actually worked very well for me when casting in a competition in Montana when they set up the lane directly into the wind - I won that one In fact I seem to recall winning it two years in a row - certainly I vaguely remember winning both a T&T and a TFO rod.

With large numbers of casters it works well. We’ve often set up four lanes, four outfits, four casters. At the other end each lane has two measurers. Because you get 8 shots at the cherry it’s a much less wind dominated event. As an observer or a measurer you get to learn a great deal too. And because you are measuring as well as casting you are thoroughly involved!

Cheers, Paul