alhuger

Thanks Courtney, if you bring any to the show I will pick up a bottle, and thanks again for the post. -al

You could always use a swivel :>

That's a fantastic post, thanks Courtney. I have a couple of questions from it though, how do I know if my line needs degreased and how do I do it?

That is a fantastic chart, thanks allot!

It is a 7/8 thanks Greg.

Thanks Courtney, appreciate it. The weather is stunning here, just about to take my daughter to the park. -al

A split ring is what you see generally connecting hooks to spoons and lures for gear fishing. You can get them at any fishing store like wholesale. I am going to use them for trout this year actually. I hope! I am sure though they will stand up fine for salmon, I suspect your leader would fail you before the ring did. -al

Does anyone know if the Airflow Multi tip head measurement includes by default the tips? The box states a 52 foot head but it comes with a series of poly tips, I am wondering if they are included in the 52 foot measurement. I realize I could go down to the garage and measure but I am hoping someone knows off the top of their head -al

Yep, as I stated in my post, I do not speak to those things. That is a really good article, thanks.

I have been trying them on shanks and joining them with a split ring. I also am connecting a short shank hook to the back with a split ring. It allows you to tie up the whole thing w/ out a hook and then select your preferred 'goto' short shank. This gives the fish nearly 0 leverage and I think adds better action in the water. Got the split ring idea from Max. -al

I've been seeing allot about swivels on the board lately. I am a pretty big fan of using them although I must admit I have only ever used them in still water versus running water. One of things in the back of my mind lately has been, how heavy are my swivels when compared to other things I used to get my fly down. So, I grabbed some things off my tying desk today and weighed them against the swivels I had in my vest. This is obviously pretty imprecise and not exhaustive so take it for what it's worth. Item Weight (in grams) Barrel Swivel (Angelo's brand) Mixed alloy, size 5 0.8 Barrel Swivel (Protac Brand) Brass, size 2 1.6 Size 4 Wire Wrap SJW w/ gold bead 1.9 Size 10 Wire Wrap SJW w/ gold bead 1.0 Danielson Removable Split-shot, BB size 0.5 Lead dumb-bell eye, small 0.3 Lead dumb-bell eye, medium .06 Lead dumb-bell eye, large 2.7 Lead wire, .030, 7 inches 1.0 The goal here is to better understand through relative weights how quickly a swivel is going to get your fly down versus splitshot, beads, wire etc. I do not consider the shape, current etc. all of which play a factor in the sink rate. -al

Hey Mykiss, I used a nail knot, thanks for the advice as well.

Hey Gordon, I am also in for the advanced class please.

Wow, where was that?

Brent, No offense but I've caught salmon and I have my finger cut deeply by regular old running line, I am not speculating. Likely the guys fishing tarpon know better than to keep their finger on the line during the run same caution you might show w/ gel spun. -al

I actually snagged one off of him, I just managed to wreck the running line the night before going out so I did not have a chance to throw it. It looks awesome though. Soon! The Beulah 8/9 13'6 though throws Delta 8/9 pretty well though, I really love the rod. -al

Well, I am mostly concerned about coiling, perhaps it is this particular running line. As for the line itself, this line is for fishing for salmon and I am quite certain my fingers would be shredded if I held on to flat (like a ribbon) mono with a spring or a sockeye on my line. -al

Badger, That is exactly the type of experience I was hoping to draw on, thanks allot. I think I will try it but plan to pick up some running line and perhaps I might splice it with the mono line. I am trying to avoid a catch on the last guide as I am tying it pretty much within a foot or two of the rear of the head and I do not want to interrupt it when it's shooting out. -al

Just out of curiosity how close did you have to get to tell they were poaching?

I went out and picked up some running line today to repair my Elixer line. Upon receiving my Elixer line I was taking it out of the bag and after untying the twist ties I dropped it on the floor, sounds harmless right? Well, not for me! I managed to turn it into a birds nest and had to cut out a big chunk just shy of the head. So rather than try line surgery and end up with a huge knot by the head (I do not have deft hands when it comes to knots) I opted to buy some mono-shooting line. I actually got the idea from Max. I picked up some Ken Sawada shooting line (35 lb test) and it looks like it will shoot like a dream and the knot is very small so it should not catch much on the guide. I am pretty concerned though about this becoming a nightmare when I have X feet of it unspooled to shoot. It has a pretty strong memory and this looks like a recipe for a coiled up mess. Max, you have any issues? Anyone have some advice for avoiding a knotfest? -al

I found my AF Delta 7/8 coiled up a fair bit which I found odd since people talk about winter steelheading with them all the time. Odder still was that my same line in a 6/7 did not. Perhaps it's the thicker line on the 7/8? In any event, it was annoying. -al

All, As an FYI I placed an order with Ickyflyworks and just received the flies. Awesome service and the flies look to be good quality. I would not hesitate to recommend them to others. Thanks to those made the suggestion. Cheers, al

I voted Islander although I really love a number of the reels out there. I just got a Hardy GEM MK II, looking forward to fishing it. -al

For those of you who are new to all this (like me) I have a link which is very helpful in breaking down the make-up of most of the popular north american lines out there right now. http://www.emeraldwateranglers.com/speylin...ifications.html It breaks line down by vendor, line name and length (tip, belly, head etc) taper type, grain etc. Line selection and nomenclature in general for this is needlessly complex in my opinion, this chart will at least help you see what each vendor is describing as skagit, scandi, traditional long, mid belly etc. It's like drinking from a firehose. Much of this is (in my opinion) driven by marketing and vendor hype mixed in with guys with too much time on their hands. I am not saying there is not merit in each system but rather that each system in itself is nothing more that a way of getting a fly to a fish, people seem to loose sight of that. -al

Sweet, thanks Harps.