Stamp Out (my) Ignorance, Please....

In my continuing efforts to teach myself how to catch fish with some
semblance of regularity, a few questions have arisen. Any help that the
denizens of ROFF could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Please don't laugh -- well, OK, laugh, but laugh with me, not at me.
Remember, I'm a self-taught semi-newb backpacker. And, just for fun, they're
in completely random order.

1) "Knotless" leaders... huh??? I buy these things, nip the loop off, and
tie up. WTF is the loop for?

2) Stream ettiquette -- I was working a pool this morning, and a guy just
waded right the hell thru it. I didn't say anything, but wanted to drown the
sumbitch. Am I wrong?

3) Should the fly land first, or should the line? Why? I've caught fish when
either has happened, but that's just an idiot's luck, I'm sure. I can
usually make either happen, but I have no idea which I should be trying for.

4) Tossing a nymph -- I try to toss it well beyond the fish/area I'm
targeting (with varying degrees of success), but doesn't that "plop" spook
the fish?

5) I really wanted to drown that sumbitch -- I had two decent strikes in
that pool before he destroyed it.

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

More questions will certainly come as I realize just how stupid I am.

Awaiting the berating,

Thanks...
Dan

On 6/7/05 6:03 PM, in article
, "Daniel-San"
wrote:

In my continuing efforts to teach myself how to catch fish with some
semblance of regularity, a few questions have arisen. Any help that the
denizens of ROFF could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Please don't laugh -- well, OK, laugh, but laugh with me, not at me.
Remember, I'm a self-taught semi-newb backpacker. And, just for fun, they're
in completely random order.

1) "Knotless" leaders... huh??? I buy these things, nip the loop off, and
tie up. WTF is the loop for?

Nipping off.


2) Stream ettiquette -- I was working a pool this morning, and a guy just
waded right the hell thru it. I didn't say anything, but wanted to drown the
sumbitch. Am I wrong?

You are so right, it's wrong.


3) Should the fly land first, or should the line? Why? I've caught fish when
either has happened, but that's just an idiot's luck, I'm sure. I can
usually make either happen, but I have no idea which I should be trying for.

Hm. Looking forward to reading the answer to this myself. With the recent
tippit size thread, you might get some interesting answers. My thought is
that the leader should roll the fly out so that the fly lands (softly) last.
That said, you might throw a different kind of cast (pile cast?) in which
the fly wafts down first with the leader and line following.


4) Tossing a nymph -- I try to toss it well beyond the fish/area I'm
targeting (with varying degrees of success), but doesn't that "plop" spook
the fish?

In some cases, it might attract him. But yes, in most cases, get it
upstream so that the plop and sink can occur well before the feeding
monster.


5) I really wanted to drown that sumbitch -- I had two decent strikes in
that pool before he destroyed it.

I always deploy the dagger looks from beneath the brim of my hat. But then,
I'm a small, timid librarian. Were I fishing with Thor (Roger Ohlund), I'd
be a bit more brash. Might even sling middle English poetry at the bastid.


6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

I don't know Madeline personally, but it seems like a good idea.

(I'm not familiar with this knot. I use a surgeon's knot for that
connection.)


More questions will certainly come as I realize just how stupid I am.

Awaiting the berating,

NEXT!

Bill

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems
good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot
choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

I don't know Madeline personally, but it seems like a good idea.

AAA+! Great line.... Somehow, I think she'd be rather difficult to cast.

Thanks for the info.

Dan

Daniel-San wrote:
...
1) "Knotless" leaders... huh??? I buy these things, nip the loop off, and
tie up. WTF is the loop for?

Some folks like to use loop-to-loop connections to make
switching leaders easier. The loop on a knotless leader
is a perfection loop and if you've ever tried to tie one
that small you'd appreciate that someone else had done it
for you. The "knotless" in knotless leader refers to its
continuous taper from .021" or .019" at the butt down to
3X, 4X or whatever at the tip. This is relatively recent,
used to be you had to tie different size pieces of mono
together with blood knots to achieve the same taper as
what modern extrusion techniques can produce. But when
you tied all that mono together you had ... knots.

2) Stream ettiquette -- I was working a pool this morning, and a guy just
waded right the hell thru it. I didn't say anything, but wanted to drown the
sumbitch. Am I wrong?

Pricks happen. Don't let them ruin your day.

3) Should the fly land first, or should the line? Why? I've caught fish when
either has happened, but that's just an idiot's luck, I'm sure. I can
usually make either happen, but I have no idea which I should be trying for.

If you cast just right your fly will be the last thing to
gently settle to the surface of the water.

4) Tossing a nymph --

Blech.

5) I really wanted to drown that sumbitch -- I had two decent strikes in
that pool before he destroyed it.

Pricks happen. Don't let them ruin your day.

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

No reason not to use it. I use nail knots on both ends of
my fly line.

--
Ken Fortenberry

1) "Knotless" leaders... huh??? I buy these things, nip the loop off,
and
tie up. WTF is the loop for?

Some folks like to use loop-to-loop connections to make
switching leaders easier. The loop on a knotless leader
is a perfection loop and if you've ever tried to tie one
that small you'd appreciate that someone else had done it
for you. The "knotless" in knotless leader refers to its
continuous taper from .021" or .019" at the butt down to
3X, 4X or whatever at the tip. This is relatively recent,
used to be you had to tie different size pieces of mono
together with blood knots to achieve the same taper as
what modern extrusion techniques can produce. But when
you tied all that mono together you had ... knots.

Color me informed...

When you think about it, that just makes sense. The loop is what really
threw off ant sort of logical approach to this.


2) Stream ettiquette -- I was working a pool this morning, and a guy
just
waded right the hell thru it. I didn't say anything, but wanted to drown
the
sumbitch. Am I wrong?

Pricks happen. Don't let them ruin your day.

I was only ****ed for a minute or so. Having spent 12 years running
restaurants, I know all about pricks. Just wondering if I was "right" to be
****ed.

3) Should the fly land first, or should the line? Why? I've caught fish
when
either has happened, but that's just an idiot's luck, I'm sure. I can
usually make either happen, but I have no idea which I should be trying
for.

If you cast just right your fly will be the last thing to
gently settle to the surface of the water.

Sounds good.

4) Tossing a nymph --

Blech.

Agreed, but, well... there is no "but" -- agreed.

5) I really wanted to drown that sumbitch -- I had two decent strikes in
that pool before he destroyed it.

Pricks happen. Don't let them ruin your day.

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems
good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot
choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

No reason not to use it. I use nail knots on both ends of
my fly line.

Thanky very mucho for the info.

Dan

Daniel-San wrote:

5) I really wanted to drown that sumbitch -- I had two decent strikes in
that pool before he destroyed it.

:-)

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

I've never heard of an Albright knot used for that purpose, except with
wire or heavy mono bite tippet. Use a surgeon's knot.

More questions will certainly come as I realize just how stupid I am.

Awaiting the berating,

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems
good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot
choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

I've never heard of an Albright knot used for that purpose, except with
wire or heavy mono bite tippet. Use a surgeon's knot.



Is there a particularly bad thing about the Albright knot? I learned that
years ago, and have it down better than a Boy Scout has a square knot.

Thanks for the info.
Dan

On Wed, 08 Jun 2005 13:11:23 GMT, "Daniel-San"
wrote:

Is there a particularly bad thing about the Albright knot? I learned that
years ago, and have it down better than a Boy Scout has a square knot.

It doesn't make a straight line connection and is a little bulky. I mostly use
it to connect backing to fly line. I used to use it to connect class tippet to
bite tippet for sal****er, but switched to the Huffnagle knot for that. For
trout leaders I just use a double surgeons knot.
--
Charlie...
http://www.chocphoto.com

Daniel-San wrote:

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

After many years of fly fishing I just learned the Albright a couple
years ago when I first went fishing in the Salt. I like the knot and now
use it for a number of connections including tying on tippet sections
when I'm tying together two pieces of nylon that differ widely in diameter.


Willi

"Willi" wrote ..
Daniel-San wrote:

6)I've been using an Albright to connect the leader to tippet. Seems
good to
me, small knot, fairly strong, easy to tie. Good? Bad? I know knot
choice is
a personal thing, but is there any reason "not" to use it?

After many years of fly fishing I just learned the Albright a couple
years ago when I first went fishing in the Salt. I like the knot and now
use it for a number of connections including tying on tippet sections
when I'm tying together two pieces of nylon that differ widely in
diameter.

I used it years ago when trolling for salmon (blech...) on Lake Michigan
with my dad. He liked it for linking leaders to flashers and whatnot. Just
stuck, I guess.