I just found this as well, which Myron posted. There are so many
thread on this stuuf now that it is hard to follow;
http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zerothread?id=519707
for anybody too lazy to read it ( and for Oakies, who apparently donīt
know what links are for)
QUOTE
Our local guide and assistant coach was a man named Antonio. He
introduced us to the techniques and flies that they use in northern
Portugal. Tony was very well versed in some techniques and tips that
we here in the USA have probably not seen to much of. I thought I'd
share some of them with you and maybe you can use a few of them on
your home waters.
1. Boiling your leaders - Much of the fishing we did was at a very
short distance with extremely light tippets. Tony boiled his leaders
for 5 minutes. The bioling turned them into basically one solid length
of shock gum with very little loss of breaking strength. We dry fly
fished with 7 foot of tippet and a 9 foot leader. With a quick hook
set the stretch and suppleness of a boiled leader kept us from
breaking off fish.
2. Staying out of the water - I went with most of the anglers on at
least one beat. I'd generally be there if they had an especially tough
beat. The Upper Mouro had the toughest fishing conditions with the
spookiest fish. In the first session I went along with Adam Picketts.
Adam fishes in PA for wild brown trout and is a terrific angler. He
ahd drawn a tough beat on a tough river. I stayed low and spotted fish
from a high spot well upstream from Adam. I watched as Adam worked his
way up river. Adam stayed out of the water almost totally. On one
occasion Adam set one foot in the water 40 yards down river from a
riffle. The almost imperceptable noise made by his foot sent all the
fish in the above pool into hiding. I was completely amazed at how
well these fish could detect noise on the stream. It is much more than
I had ever imagined.
3. Bow Casting - Several of the rivers had severe over growth. The
White River where I guide is wide open and requires long accurate
casts. If you made a back cast on these rivers you'd be picking your
flies out of the trees. I worked with Weston on his bow casts prior to
the competition. He was standing in the hall of the hotel and putting
a fly under the chair in his room with a bow cast in the days prior.
Apparently it was a big factor and it showed in Westons scores.
4. Light tippets - I pretty well knew that light tippets were a
factor. However the difference in 7X vs 6X are much more than you'd
ever imagine. The same goes for 7X vs 8X. Also flouro vs mono. It
often took a 7 foot tippet of 8X to make the difference in a take vs a
blank. On spooky fish stealth is every thing.
5. Water temp - We had practice sessions prior to the competition.
There were a couple of days were the outside temps got into the low
90's and the water temps hit the upper 60's. If you weren't fishing
white water you blanked.
6. Long rods - Here in the USA 9 foot is the rule. It is a major
advantage to use a 10-11 foot rod in such short fishing conditions.
Both for the ability to cast, manipulate the fly as well as landing
fish. The thought of using a 7 foot rod in tight quarters vs an 11
foot would put you at a major disadvantage. Exactly the opposite of
what you'd think.
7. Fish are curious - Fish don't have hands and will often test or
investigate a fly by tasting it. We caught several fish on totally
stupid flies that simply peaked the fishes curiousity. They would swim
from several feet to see what had just hit the water. Fish that were
easily spooked would often swim over to a fly and test it. Amazing....
8. Don't bite your tippets - Last year we all got some sort of water
born bacteria that had the team running for the woods every 30
minutes. One of the English coaches Simon Kidd got it this year.
Biting your tippet dosen't really do too much to your teeth but it is
major dangerous from a water born parasite perspective.
9. Keep your mind open and your mouth shut - I've been a competitive
angler for 10 years now. By far the most valuable lesson I've learned
is that it pays to listen to others. Rather than showing people how
much you know it's better to listen and pay attention. These
competitions have been one of the most valuable forums for information
involving fly fishing. I've never been to one that I didn't learn
things that I'd of never discovered on my own. I'm sure the boys would
agree that we all learned a lot and are better by the experience.
John
UNQUOTE
MC