Help with a few things

[wadeseward]

I am looking for a few tips, I have been learning to flyfish off and on for a few years and have a few questions.

1st- I have a rod tube that holds the od and reel, do you wind the line along with the leader onto your reel and stuff it into the tube or do you cut the leader off and re tie next time out.

2nd- nymphing, what is the best kind of indicator to use, i bought some that look like bouy's and they are like casting a regular spoon when I have a weighted fly, maybe its the combo of both but I have a real tough time getting a good cast.

3rd- Getting a loop in my flyline so that i can do a loop to loop connection on my line and leader.

4th- I use a 9 foot leader and 3 to 4' of tippet is that to long or not long enough?

There's more but I can't recall all the questions I had, Thanks for any help.

[mikeym]

can help with a few

1) i usually just wind the leader into the reel. cutting off the leader and then re-tying is just more work and i hate tying nail knots. get a leader straightener (basically a piece of leather) in case the leader gets a curl to it from being wound up on the reel

2) i like the yarn indicators. they are light, easy to move around for different depths and easy to make at home also. just need some yarn, rubber o-rings and thread. casting weighted nymphs takes some getting used to. i find that if you slow down your casts and let the nymph do the work, casting is much easier.

3) can'y help you here as i don't use loop to loop connections. try googling it to see what they do

4) sounds good. i use 9 ft leaders (i like 5x or 6x mostly) and about 2 - 3 ft of tippet (again mostly 5x or 6x, sometimes 7x on small streams). i change flies quite a bit so i use longer tippet so i am not re-tying tippet on all the time.

good luck fly-fishing

Mike

[Bucky]

Might be able to help with number 3- pick up some Cortland Slip on Leader Loops, really easy to attach to the Fly line. Then just buy the leaders, but ensure they actually have the loop, the ones made by Rio do, but fenwick doesn't.

[slingshotz]

1. I don't bother to even take the flies off when I put the rod in the case. Haven't had any issues other than once in a while the fly will snag a little on the zipper taking it out but the inside of my case is smooth plastic so nothing will get snagged.

2. I use the plastic air bubbles. They float really high and are easy to see. http://www.laterallinemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/thingamabobber.jpg When you are nymphing or throwing streamers you can't use the traditional dry fly style of casting due to the weight. You have to modify your technique to be more heavy handed, it looks really bad when you're casting properly. The tip is to make sure your line is straight before picking it up as it's really difficult to pick up the line when it's all loose and coiled around on the water due to the nymphs/streamers sitting in the water.

3. Nail knots are such a pain so I always get SI leaders with a L2L connector, work great and I can change out leaders with a simple twist. http://www.activeangler.com/images/articles/doug_macnaiir/product_reviews/SA_Goodies/image005.jpg

4. My leader usually starts at 9' but gets less and less as I attach stuff to the end. I usually keep the total length of the leader and tippet around 10' on larger rivers and down to even 7' on small streams.