Fished the South Fork on Tuesday, on the water at 0715. First off I was glad I left home with a coat because when I got to the dam (Causey) it was 38 degrees. Fished just below the dam, accidentally caught a Kokanee on a Prince Nymph. Got kind of scared that I might catch another so I switched to a PMD and caught a fat bow. Moved further down stream and caught a beautiful brown on another PMD. Three fish day but I've only been flyfishing for a month now. Those were my first fish on dries so I had a great time. Thursday I hit meadow park pond and destroyed the planter albinos. They were hitting anything as long as it was about 18" below the indicator. Had a great time, first 10+ fish day with flies. I know they're just planters in a community pond but it was fun. Got one problem, I lost 4 flies today on strikes. For some reason my tippet just started breaking off at the knot. I use a cinch knot, have been using it for years, so why have my knots started breaking? Switched 5x tippet out for 4x and still had the same problem. Any suggestions?
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i used to have that problem. i switched to straight up mono instead of a leader when fishing streamers. if you want to stick with tippet on the leader change the knot. i would PM old_coot, ask him for his know link there are several that he uses for deep water jigging that translate over poerfectly to fly fishing. welcome to the sickness
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Glad you are having fun!
A couple of questions and if they seem too obvious I appologize...
Are you lubricating your knot really well before cinching it down?
And, when you are striping/working your fly are you holding your rod at an angle to the line in a manor that would allow the rod to absorb some of the shock during the strike?
Good, fresh, 4X tippet should not be breaking off on you like that...
Something else is going on????
Good luck with it!
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Nice report! Been waiting for a report to pop up on the south fork river. How is the water flowing right now. Slowed down at all?
On your knot, your not going to want to use a clinch knot when attaching tippet to your leader. A blood knot is what you're gonna want to use. Even on the flies, I tie improved cinch knots, which is just one more step after making your clinch knot. Blood knot will not come apart on you if tied right. I suggest for a beginner, to just use the leaders. When that leader become useable, swap it for a new one till you get comfortable tying different knots and efficient so your not using up a whole bunch of line when swapping flies.
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^^^^+1
Also, make sure you're not leaving your tippet in the sun!
When you wrap your fly around a branch and pop it off, it can leave little abrasions on your line.
There are a number of things that can be happening. When you are at home in front of the tv, grab your vest, slap it on, and work on your knots with the leaders and tippets you have. If you take the advice and just switch out the tapered leaders, save the ones you swapped out and use them to practice your blood knots on, connecting new tippet! Martha Stewart would be proud.....
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Another tip.
Don't cut the tag end of the line too close to the fly.
Leave about 1/16" of line.
With that said,
where is the line breaking?
At the connection of the tapered leader to the tippit or the knot on the fly?
If it's the connection between the tapered leader and the tippit, change to a double surgeons knot or blood knot.
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kochanut wrote:[/quote]
i used to have that problem. i switched to straight up mono instead of a leader when fishing streamers. if you want to stick with tippet on the leader change the knot. i would PM old_coot, ask him for his know link there are several that he uses for deep water jigging that translate over poerfectly to fly fishing. welcome to the sickness[/quote]
I also use mono for streamers or for heavier nymphs. For me it was because it seems to cast better with bigger flies and streamers. especially roll casting.. I was doing more flopping the rolling until i started using the heavier line.Also..I use Furled leaders(thanks to FG) so i never have to buy the tapered leader.
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I use a surgeon's knot to tie tippet to leader. It's a very simple knot and holds as well as anything in my experience. I use the blood knot to tie tippet to butt section.
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I think I spawned a little confusion with that post. I use a surgeon's knot for leader to tippet and have never had a problem. My problem is my cinch knot on the fly iteself. I have literally been using cinch knots for atleast 15 years and have NEVER had this problem until last Thursday. To answer a previous question, Yes I do lubricate the knot very well before cinching. Is there any other knot you would recommend for attaching fly to tippet? Thank you all for your input and I would like to say that since I assume you all have way more experience than I do fly fishing you may want to try the south fork. I think the flows were perfect and I saw a lot of topwater action on PMDs. Thanks!
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the wife and i will be FF'ing up there this weekend. im the fat bald guy with the hot little wife, come say hello
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I've had the same problems with a straight clinch knot. Try the improved clinch knot. Holds much better. I've never had one come off since using it.
I'm hoping to make if up to south fork sometime this week, either Tuesday or Friday night if anyone is interested in meeting up.
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Thanks I'll give the improved cinch a try.
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