weight forward or double taper

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:23 pm

Being an absolute novice at fly fishing I need some advice. I bought weight forward floating #8 and my first session today wasnt too good, I only seemed to get any distance casting with the wind behind me. When I got home and had a proper look at the line it appeared to be tapered at both ends with one end having a shorter taper than the other. Am I right in thinking that it should appear tapered through the whole length, ie one end thick and the other thin?

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:45 pm

hi alien,weight forward means what it says .all the weight is in the front section .i think double taper is tapered at both ends .iam sure someone will answer your question a bit better than me.tightlines and welcome to the frustrating sport of swff mick

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:04 pm

Greetings alien. Sounds from your description that your line is a weight forward. The 'short' taper leads to the weighted head. To the rear of the 'head' the line will taper again to form a running line, which aids casting distance. Don't worry if you're finding casting a bit difficult, most people do at the begining. Try and get a casting lesson or two. It pays dividends. Best of luck in the salt.
PS - how is the fishing on Mars this time of year?

Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:23 pm

Thanks nthendpompey and crapcaster for your answers. Before I loaded my line onto my reel I had a look at each end to see which was thinnest, and to me there was only a very small difference in their thickness's, so I tied what looked like the thinnest end to the backing, it appears I had it the wrong way round as the weighty bit was nearest the backing end. No wonder I couldn't get any distance.

PS Unfortunately we had an accident with Mars gravity and all the water and fish were lost in space. Some landed on Earth, you call them jelly fish.

Regular Joined: Jul 26, 2009 Posts: 343 Location: Surrey

WF lines will usually (always?) come spooled with the running line leading, ie you just wind straight on to reel and the casting end will be in the right place. It's not too difficult to tell if you've got the right end. The head thickens quite quickly, then after 30 ft or so (depending on line) the line becomes suddenly thinner. So strip off some line and it'll probably be clear whether you have a WF line.

As for casting, the heavy lines used for coastal fishing really need double hauling for any distance, especially when it is windy, which it nearly always is. Not that difficult but does need a bit of practice. -Nigel

Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 3:07 pm

Well I had another bash today with the line the correct way round and noticed a slight improvement, I'm going to fish in the gut this evening and have a go at hauling during casting.

The line I got wasnt on a spool .. just coiled in a sleeve. I wont make that mistake again.

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 12:52 pm

Well I still dont seem to be able to cast into the wind, even in a light breeze the line drifts back towards me. I'm wondering if a heavier line would help. At present I have an 8 weight rod and line, maybe use a wf10 line? I have no problems casting with the breeze.

Regular Joined: Jul 26, 2009 Posts: 343 Location: Surrey

Casting a heavy line on the shore is perhaps one of the hardest ways to learn fly casting. Might be easier to arrange some lessons with an instructor. Sounds to me that you are not loading the rod sufficiently to generate line speed. How to do that is pretty difficult to convey in words. I doubt very much a heavier line would help; probably make things worse.

Look up an instructor in either a suitable tackle shop or online, or find a willing friend with experience. -Nigel

Member Joined: Oct 31, 2008 Posts: 35

If you pull the line off the reel by about 12 yards you should notice that the line starts to get thinner, you are now on the back taper. If you mark this point with a water proof marker (only a small mark, you may have to change it ) try casting with this mark just inside the top ring. you should be able to feel the line pulling against your left hand. From here you can shorten or lenghten the line by small amounts until you "feel" it is right, you now should be able to cast ok, if you are happy you can put a longer mark with the pen on your line and use this as your reference point.

I would suggest that you do not over line your rod by more than one weight ie a #9 on a #8 rod. If you do you are likely to break your rod.

Also if you ever use a sinking line do not try to start a back cast with line under water always roll cast the line onto the surface then start your back cast.

Previous advice re a casting instructor is very good.

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 4:39 pm

Alien, casting into any wind, even a slight one, with a fly line is very difficult, possible, but difficult. The preffered wind direction for fly casting is a left to right, (if your right handed), over your left shoulder. Wind directly behind you limits your back cast, but in this instance you can rather crudely use a short back cast but kind of throw your line up in the air and let the wind carry it on the forward stroke. Wind running right to left is quite dangerous and can result in the fly hitting your rod and ruining the varnish, but more importantly a hook in the back of the head or hand!

Fundamentally you need to master your double haul before anything else. Remember, to generate any line speed or get energy into the line you must haul the line faster than the speed at which the tip of the rod is moving through the air, especially on the forward cast, this is how we get any distance with a fly line. Until you practice and master this technique your power and range will be limited. Marking the optimum point on the line as MRAJ describes is a good idea to find the loading point, too much or too little either way will affect your casting.

Remember to stop your rod in an exaggerated way on the forward and back casts, at around 10 o clock and 2 o clock. Do not allow the rod to 'follow through' or you will lose all your energy. The exception to this is in the case of casting into the wind.

Going back to the origional point of casting into the wind, the above still applies except for the stopping of the rod at 10 oclock on the forward stroke, here i have found that pushing the rod tip through to an almost horizontal position at , i.e. 9 o clock, is the best technique for punching the line through and under the wind and allowing it to fully extend without blowing back at you. You will not achieve great distances as you would normally but you should, with practice be able to get 15-20 yds depending on the wind strength. Obviously this will only be possible in a gentle to moderate wind, if it's blowing a hoolie you'd need a cannon to get the line out and it's time to go home then!

One last point, when casting into the wind remember you fly is coming back towards you extremely fast on the back cast, and as with a right to left wind it could end up in YOU rather than the fish so take care.

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:25 pm

Thanks for sharing your knowledge WIGHTFISH MRAJ Iknowagoodplaice, I got it into my head from reading about fly fishing that the line would cut through a breeze. Today I watched a load of videos on youtube (there are loads) and noticed that in nearly all the videos there was no wind....I shall be out there the next windless day.

Posted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 6:48 pm

It can be awfully frustrating waiting for the right conditions for fly fishing in the Salt Alien, tides have to be right, wind has to be right and we may not be able to get out when we want for other reasons, but by getting out when we can, and when conditions are right ,we can maximise on the opportunity and more often than not we will be rewarded for all the times we sat indoors looking at the weather and tides and getting frustrated thinking about all those lovely fish swimming about waiting to be caught by us!

U tube is indeed a mine of useful casting vidoes and hopefully you will be able to tie in the advice from here with what you hae watched on there.

It will all come together eventually and you'll be double hauling 25 plus metres and yanking out Bass after Bass before you know it!

chris.