A few bass fishing questions

I just bought a fly kit (9ft / 6wt rod) and several small poppers.

1. I've read that the length of the leader should be as long as the
rod. Does this apply when using poppers (my leader is around 5 ft now
since I've been practicing knots and lost a bit of length)?

2. Since the poppers I'm using are much heavier than typical flies
(http://www.lurenet.com/catalog.aspx?...ckhopperPopper), I've
been able to false cast with a huge amount of line and go around 30 ft
behind me. Is this considered bad fly fishing etiquette? I fish off the
lake shore and keep telling people behind me to watch out.

3. What is a good video or web site that shows proper casting form? I
fished twice so far and came pretty close to catching my ear. I feel
stupid for asking, but do any fly fisherman wear some sort of ear muffs
or special hats that offer extra protection?

Thanks
Roger

"roger" wrote in message
oups.com...
I just bought a fly kit (9ft / 6wt rod) and several small poppers.

1. I've read that the length of the leader should be as long as the
rod. Does this apply when using poppers (my leader is around 5 ft now
since I've been practicing knots and lost a bit of length)?

Add some "tippet" amterial (plain old 6 - 8 lbs test mono works fine for
bigger poppers) Use a blood knot (if you like to practice knots), a Uniknot
to Uniknot (easy to tie, near 100% strength) or just a surgeon's knot
(easiest to tie)


2. Since the poppers I'm using are much heavier than typical flies
(http://www.lurenet.com/catalog.aspx?...ckhopperPopper), I've
been able to false cast with a huge amount of line and go around 30 ft
behind me. Is this considered bad fly fishing etiquette? I fish off the
lake shore and keep telling people behind me to watch out.


The only other choice for your backcast is to learn a steeple cast, but then
you wont get on the water till 2029! For bass fishing I raely actually
"false cast"., for 2 reasons; 1) If the fly is in the air, it isn't on or in
the water and therefore can't catch anything. and 2) Unless I'm using a
single, maybe two in a row, false cast to change directions, a single back
cast followed ny shooting line on the forward cast generally gives me enough
distance to reach where I need to go, since bass are likely to be near the
edges of a body of water, alomg the first main drop off out from the bank or
at the edge of the weedline and are seldom "in the middle" of a lake or
stream. (I know, there are exceptions, but then you get in a boat or float
tube)

3. What is a good video or web site that shows proper casting form? I
fished twice so far and came pretty close to catching my ear. I feel
stupid for asking, but do any fly fisherman wear some sort of ear muffs
or special hats that offer extra protection?

Thanks
Roger


Sounds like you are not stopping the rod near enough to vertical. You are
likely letting your wrist "break" (flex) on the back cast or simply not
stopping the rod tip soon enough. You are actually throwing the fly toward
the ground on the back cast, and when you shoot forward, you line whistles
along very close to the ground. How do you correct it?...Practice, practice,
practice...Try sticking your thumbnail into the grip of your rod, thumb
bent at nearly 90 degrees at the first joint, it begins to hurt like the
dickens if you break your wrist (learned that one from Dan Gapen!) Also,
hook up with someone who has been doing it a while, have them watch you
cast, make suggestions and heed their advice. Look for a flyfishing club or
shop in your area. A Google on Fly Casting produces about 10 million or so
hits.

As for ear muffs...never considered it, except in January, but I do often
wear a western, bush, (I know, that's a bad word in here), booney or other
brimmed hat. It keeps the sun off my face & ears (UV and all that jazz),
keeps the rain off my glasses, and might offer some protection from low
flying bass bugs and clousers.

Mark

"roger" wrote in message
oups.com...

I just bought a fly kit (9ft / 6wt rod) and several small poppers.

1. I've read that the length of the leader should be as long as the
rod. Does this apply when using poppers (my leader is around 5 ft now
since I've been practicing knots and lost a bit of length)?

Leader dimensions matter less for bass than for trout,
but you do not want to let them get any shorter than the
rod. Cure = Buy leaders tapered one size thicker than
you will use for the tippet, and add 2 to 3 feet of tippet-diam.
nylon from the tippet spool you carry.

E.g. for most bass fishing 1X or 0.010 thousandths of an inch
makes an OK tippet. So buy a 9-ft. salmon leader tapered to, say,
0.012 thou, then add a couple of feet of 10 thou tippet. As you get
experienced, you will use up less nylon in each knot.

2. Since the poppers I'm using are much heavier than typical flies
(http://www.lurenet.com/catalog.aspx?...ckhopperPopper), I've
been able to false cast with a huge amount of line and go around 30 ft
behind me. Is this considered bad fly fishing etiquette? I fish off the
lake shore and keep telling people behind me to watch out.

Buy (or make) poppers that do not weigh so much. Materials
include cork or quill (rather than wood or plastic. Alll-deer-hair
poppers get soggy fast but are nice to use and dry fast on your hat.

Best (smallmouth) bass fishing is in rivers rather than lakes,
especially when you can stand in water knee deep and cast to
water waist deep, where the fish are resting near the bottom and
watching what the current brings along overhead. (At sundown
they will come into your shallow water too.) You will catch more
fish and spear fewer spectators if you can wade a few yards
into the lake.

3. What is a good video or web site that shows proper casting form? I
fished twice so far and came pretty close to catching my ear. I feel
stupid for asking, but do any fly fisherman wear some sort of ear muffs
or special hats that offer extra protection?

Every bass angler needs a hat with a big brim: nuff said except:
1. Fish lightweight flies e.g. Muddler Minnows that do well on
or near the surface, and can be cast in standard ways. (Plastic
or wood poppers are too heavy for standard casting methods.
It can be done but you may learn bad habits in the first month.)
2. Have a look at Lee Wulff's teaching method, whirling the fly
around in a narrow oval. The point is that you do not flick a
fly like a weighted spinner. The action is more aerodynamic,
like launching a paper dart (but with maximum rod power.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

"roger"
3. What is a good video or web site that shows proper casting form? I
fished twice so far and came pretty close to catching my ear. I feel
stupid for asking, but do any fly fisherman wear some sort of ear muffs
or special hats that offer extra protection?

Thanks
Roger


http://www.associatedinternet.com/fl...01/default.htm

Don't forget instructional videos available at your library

http://www.killroys.com/knots/knots.htm


http://www.sexyloops.com/beginners/index.shtml
john

On 11 May 2006 07:02:02 -0700, "roger" wrote:



(snipped)

I fished twice so far and came pretty close to catching my ear. I feel
stupid for asking, but do any fly fisherman wear some sort of ear muffs
or special hats that offer extra protection?


Until you're more sure that you're not going to catch yourself instead
of a fish, maybe debarbing or mashing the barbs on your hooks is a
good idea? The difference in the amount of pain in removing a hook
from a body part is astounding. The debarbed are no worse than a
mosquito bite, the barbed start at vicious wasp sting level and go up
from there. Degree of difficulty of removal is better with no barb,
too.
--

r.bc: vixen
Speaker to squirrels, willow watcher, etc..
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless. Really.

Don't ask me what time it is lest I'm of
a mood to tell you how to make a clock.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli