How much fly line?

On Mar 20, 4:28 am, "Wayne Knight" wrote:
wrote in message

ps.com...

A thirty foot piece of line weighing 200 grains can carry a very much
heavier fly that a 60 foot piece of line weighing 200 grains.

But it's not the weight of the two lines that determines that, now is it? Or
is a pound of feathers going to fall at the same rate as a pound of lead?


The volume of the lines is important, as is the absolute weight.
( density = mass/volume).

I know a couple of the worlds best casters. Not one of them can cast a
weighted woolly bugger sixty feet using a #3 weight line, and
regardless of the rod.

The only world class caster I know is also the chief fly line designer for
one of the big three US line makers. But I know several great fishermen who
can make that cast with the right rod and fly line.


It is impossible. 60 feet of #3 weight fly line weighs 200 grains. A
long shank weighted #6 woolly bugger ( the one that was tried here,
although of course these things vary ), weighs 50 grains. The #3
weight line will barely lift the fly. Let alone carry it anywhere. One
can "lob" it, but not anything like sixty feet.


With regard to carrying heavy flies the weight of the fly-line in use
is the only relevant factor.

No the taper and composition of the rod have a lot to do with it too.


They have nothing at all to do with it.


It is quite impossible to aerialise more than the head and a few feet
of line when using either a WF or a ST. This is because the thin
running line/shooting line can not transfer energy to the heavy fly
line.

While I won't use the word impossible and as I said, it is difficult for
most anglers, my self included to have 30' of a WF line extended on a back
cast, it is not unusual to cast a distance greater than 30' on the forward
stroke.


I can shoot thirty or forty feet into a final back cast, and others
can shoot even more. That is not the same as aerialising line.


It is not difficult of have 30+ feet of line in the air on a back cast with
DT or one of the Triangle Taper or Long Belly lines but the resistance of a
DT line will limit the distance the average caster can shoot it out. In the
modern US market, the trend has been towards faster rod actions which help
the average angler generate more line speed that one does not need 30' of
fly line.

Don´t understand that. I can aerialise a 65 foot shooting head with
no problems at all. There are people who can aerialise a whole 90 foot
DT, which is then merely a ninety foot shooting head.

Also, the "resistance" as such is not the problem, the weight is. A
short dense head can easily pull shooting line behind it. A long line
has to pull itself as well as any weight it is carrying.


One of my favorite rods is an older and softer action 8-1/2 5wt. My prefered
fly line is a Scientific Anglers Trout taper 5DT. Except when I am knowingly
fishing heavy streamers, I switch over to a Rio Nymph taper 5WF. I gained
25' with this fly line and those bugs. Can't tell you why scientifically but
I did. But it behaves differently with than the 9' rod of the same series
and weight. Go figure.

It's maker sold a series of sal****er rods that were meant to aerolize line
and they did it well. Their actions were and are unlike any of the rods sold
since. So to call it impossible is wrong.

The rod action, taper, composition, or anything else, is completely
irrelevant. The ONLY thing that carries flies anywhere when fly-
casting is the momentum of the fly line.

p=mv

whe

p is the momentum
m is the mass
v the velocity

A short object of a certain weight, will carry any given weight
further than a long object of the same weight, as it offers less
fluid resistance, and so loses its momentum more slowly. The surface
area is a very great deal less.

The analogy with lead and feathers is correct. But used incorrectly. A
small dense object travels with a given momentum travels further in
air than a larger object of the same weight.

Rods don´t generate line speed, casters do. The line speed is a
direct result of the force applied to the line. A short object
propelled with the same momentum as a larger object of the same
weight, travels faster and further. ( which also means it can carry
more weight), Regardless of how that momentum was obtained.

TL
MC