"Ethan" wrote in
ups.com:

Ok I have a silly little question that maybe some of you can
help
me with.

Whenever I get out to the edge of a body of water, I'm all
rigged
up and ready to make my first cast. I always seem to have
this
awkward moment where I struggle with standing knee deep in
water
trying to get the last foot or so of the leader through the
last
few guides and the tip top. The connection of the leader to
the
fly line is a bit awkward and pulling on the leader or tippet
never seems to pull out enough line to start a good cast.

Is there some secret to this that I'm missing out on?

I'm using a 9 ft 5 wt so I have hard time reaching the tip
top
even when I holding the rod in the middle? I'm also using an
Orvis
Clearwater Fly Line with the knotless loop to loop connection
on
the leader.

Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
-Ethan


To keep the line clean, I stand in shallow water with the butt
of the rod on a rock on shore. Holding the rod horizontally
pointing toward midstream, I feed the line through the guides
while walking toward the tip top. I fold a small loop in the
line where the leader is attached. It makes it easier to push
the line and leader through the guides and prevents them from
slipping out of the guides if you happen to drop the loop.
After I push the loop through the tip top, I pull on the leader
until the end of the tippet comes out of the tip top. I tie on
a fly and hook it to the keeper. I wade to where I'm going to
fish, remove the fly from the keeper, strip a few feet of line
off the reel, then pull on the leader tippet while holding the
rod upside down so that the guides face toward the water. That
way leader knots or the line/leader connection will not get
snagged in the guides as you strip out line.

rt