Mending

[MJ]

Anyone have any tips on mending? When fishing even moderately strong or irregular currents, I am having some difficulty keeping my fly from being pulled towards me or under water when I mend my line. Of course, having that happen pretty much defeats the mending effort. I have read about, used, and, to a point, have had some success using a reach cast to give me some leeway on the mend, but I need more. How does one "flip" the line without adversely affecting the fly?

[fessiewig]

I don't know, I always though that was a natural consequence of the mend. :?

[Squaretail]

I find that on most casts of any distance, say 20-50', I try to mend twice. Once immediately upon the fly hitting the water and then as the fly passes in front of me. I think that this creates the least disturbance from the appearance of a "natural" float.

[mer]

Make sure you have some slack to play with. Basically extra line in your line hand. If just use the rod to try and lift the line off the water without feeding any extra in, you invariably wind up moving the fly. Feeding in extra line lets you reposition the line, hopefully not moving the fly as much.

Another trick is to try and keep as much line off the water after you complete the cast. Line in/on the water in conflicting currents forces you to mend. Lift the rod, keep line off the water, maybe no mending. :)

[Boneylegs]

I have to agree with mer- I get less fly movement when I have extra line to feed into the mend. Try to think of a mend as a mini roll cast.

I also try to use short mends as opposed to large ones. Say you have two different current speeds your line is lying across.... I will try to mend just the closest current lane and not both. That will allow the fly to float naturally in the farther lane. This becomes more difficult when more than two current speeds occur, but if I can cut down the distance of the cast by moving closer, I can usually eliminate one. Sometimes that's not possible, however. In that case I try to use the movement of the fly to my advantage. I take the same approach while nymphing- I mend constantly and I sometimes get the more violent strikes on the little twitch the mend provides.

[petegas]

if casting across a strong rip, what i usually recommend is to cast upstream and further than where you want your fly to float, and do a big mend that accomplishes two things, getting all the line above the fly and moving the fly into the lane in which you want it to float.

another thing, if casting across strong curent if you first mend doesnt get all the line and leader upstream from the fly any subsequent mends are usually futile.

keep practicing the reach cast, it really helps.

[SaltH2oFly]

Marcus - you could not have received better feed back if you paid for it!!! What a great group this is!!

[overmywaders]

Mark,

If you have more than one major current lying between you and the fly, mending is not as effective as the Lazy S cast popularized by Eugene Burns in "Advanced Fly Fishing"(Stackpole 1953). In the article he teaches how to insert curves of slack line into just those sections most greatly affected by the current. A great read, you're welcome to borrow my copy.

Best regards,
Reed
www.overmywaders.com

[MJ]

Salt, you nailed it. This is a great site, and I received some great advice regards mending. I can't wait until I can get out again and give it a go with what was provided here. Thanks everyone for your input!

[Alan]

Marcus
I'm new to this board but do recognize some of the folks here from our board in Maine.
This topic caught my eye as I noticed you were using some of the more traditional methods for mending line. I can't add anything to the advice given on the traditional mend but might have something else you can try. This information is taken from Doug Swishers Tape on Advanced Fly Casting. Do yourself a favor and get a copy.
Basically though this is how it goes for irregular flows between you and where you want to place the fly. Leave enough slackline in your left hand when you make that final cast to throw slack into the line. As you make that last power stroke and the fly is heading toward the target area in front of you. Make some very rapid horizontal twitches in the rod tip as the line nears the water letting go the before mentioned slackline in your left hand. This will throw a series of sinewaves into the flyline between you and the fly allowing a little more drift time.
No matter what method you use, dragging the fly is and still will remain a problem. To minimize this try casting a little further upstream and futher past of where you saw the last rise. When you make your final mend four or five feet upstream of that and drag the fly toward you it will put the fly directly over the feeding lane. Hope this was of some help.

[MJ]

Alan, thank you much for your advice regards mending. It is very interesting that you should suggest the method you that have. As it is I have tried exactly what you described. And, yes, it works! In fact, I like it very much. Of course, it is not suitable for every situation, as no one method appears to be, but nonetheless, it works and it is relatively easy to perform. I don't know the name of this particular cast, I just saw it in print somewhere. One time while on the water, it came to mind, and I gave it a shot. To my pleasant surprise, it worked rather nicely. Perhaps you know what this cast is called?

Thanks for your response to my post, it is appreciated. And, welcome to the board! I am sure all of us will benefit from more of your input.

[Alan]

Marcus1951
The name of the cast is referred to as a wiggle cast if you are referring to the side to side motion of the rod tip. Real technical huh?

[MJ]

The wiggle cast? Ahhhhhhh....I see, a trick name - simplicity fooling with me once again. :)

[petegas]

one thing that i've noticed of late from my own experience, is that if your floating line is sinking it certainly makes mending very difficult, make sure you fly line is clean and floating!