On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 01:54:32 GMT, rw
wrote:

Peter Charles wrote:
On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 23:26:16 GMT, rw
wrote:


IMO, FC leaders are a total waste of money. I also think the
effectiveness of FC tippet is also a myth.



Until it works for you . . . .

I've caught fish on FC tippet, and I've caught fish on mono tippet. It
doesn't seem to make any difference to me.

Here's what I think happens. Someone goes fishless for awhile and, in
desperation, tries FC. Then he catches a fish. Eureka! FC is suddenly
the greatest thing ever invented. It never occurs to the poor chump that
maybe he was just due.

The same thing happens with flies.

OK, a bunch of fishermen are fishing a heavily pounded water and only
one is catching fish consistently. He's using 7X FC. Many other
reasons come to mind why he may be doing better but the FC lesson
stuck with me as there was nothing else he was doing that was out of
the ordinary.

Fast forward to next season and I'm fishing the worst section of that
same river for pounded fish. Can't buy a hit. Get one of the 6X FC
leaders out, attached 3' of 7X FC to it - bang, bang, bang, fish after
fish. Lose the 7X tippet and tie the fly to the 6X -- cast, cast,
cast to a rising fish -- nada. Tie back on 3' of 7 X. First cast
gets him.

What's going on?

Underneath the water, there isn't much difference, I agree -- more
marketing hype than anything else, however, FC is denser than water so
it sinks. Mono is easily trapped in the surface film. Look at
floating 7X mono and see the big, easily visible dent it makes in the
surface -- a sure sign to "experienced" fish that there's a hook in
this bug. The FC is under the water, no line dent, so whack, whack,
whack.

The difference between the 6X and 7X in my story is easy -- micro
drag. By adding 3' of 7X, I had enough slack in my leader to avoid
drag. Add this all together and FC by itself is no magic bullet, but
combined with typical presentation awareness, it will up your dry fly
success rate -- it did mine it and it was nothing about being due.


Peter

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