Today we’ve got part 3 in our mini-series about mending your fly line, and we’re covering some of the finer points of mending. Is this the glamorous stuff? No, not really. Will this stuff help you catch more fish? Heck yes.
Mending Part 3
Let’s say, for the sake of example, we are mending upstream. You have made your cast across the current and a down stream belly is starting to form. Do not simply flip the rod tip upstream. This is a classic mistake that will only tighten the line, increase the belly
drag and pull the fly towards you and out of the zone. You must first lift the line off the water and then lay the line over.
Every mending situation is different. There are times when you can slowly lift the line and simply lay it back on the water. Other times you need to mend quickly. Imagine your rod is a paint brush. Now using only the rod tip, lift the line and quickly flick paint in the
direction you want to mend.
With practice, you will see that when you flick a mend, it will roll down the line. The harder you flick, the farther down the line it rolls. The farther you need to mend, the higher you need to lift the line off the water.
It’s hard to explain on paper so go out and practice. Paint circles and flick paint. Observe the result of the rod tip action and the effect it has on the fly line. The fly line will always follow the rod tip. The wider the circle you paint with the rod tip, the wider the circle the fly line will make.
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