Winter Equipment Care
- This topic has 16 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated Jan 18, 2007 at 4:26 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
I suspect most of you guys already do some of these things, but thought I would mention these tips anyway. Just some things I regularly do to ready fly gear for an upcoming busy season.
Check you fishing vest for wear and tear and repair. If there are blood stains on it—how the heck they got there I don’t want to hear—use some hydrogen peroxide or meat tenderizer to remove the stain before washing. Check zippers, lubricate with a little paraffin or Vaseline.
Wash your waders and inspect them for leaks. Use a flashlight to help find pinhole leaks.
Inspect your nets. Repair or replace netting if necessary. If the finish is wearing off the frame use some boiled linseed oil or tung oil to refinish and protect it. If you are a woodworker, lightly sand and touch up with a gloss lacquer.
Re-spool lines and backing—especially large arbor spools that are wide—as the backing can have a tendency to slip side ways and loosen. Remove it all and rewind snug. If your backing has not been replaced in several years and looks dirty, replace it. Always loop your old lines and leaders and cut them though to make short sections before throwing away.
Clean your lines. See your fly shop dealer for cleaning kits. Scientific Anglers Mastery lines have a neat abrasive pad you can pull the line through to remove dirt. It works well for their special line coating. Do not use it on other lines. Use silicone based line cleaning and slickening products—never home remedy solutions.
If your line show signs of significant dirt, nicks or abrasions, replace it. Don’t be a cheap skate on lines. New lines improve casting performance, float higher, save wear on your guides, and generally improved your attitude when fishing.
Man, if I were that organized with my flyfishing- I would probably learn to hate it.
😮Good ideas, however, I respectfully disagree with the washing of the vest. Get rid of the blood stains?!?
That would be a major sin. In fact, my mentor would’t take me fishing until I took my new vest, jumped on it in the dirt for a bit, spit in at least one of the pockets, and blew cigar smoke at it.
He made sure to let me know that I should never-ever- wash my vest. I might as well sell it if that were to ocour. Bad juju and all that stuff.I had a friend that was that organized with his stuff, I think he had more fun organizing, repairing, washing, and steam cleaning his stuff, than he actually did using it.
But hey- if thats your thing–more power to ya.
There is a practical reason to pay attention to these things. It allows you more time on the water to actually fish.
You name it with equipment, and I’ve probably seen it happen to my customers. Tiptops come off, guides are bent and they didn’t know it. Ferrules about to bust wide open. I warned a guy one day that I didn’t trust his braided heat on leader connection. He did not want to take the time to redo it. Sure enough he hooked up with a big fish and lost leader and all. There’s probably nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of good hatch and all your flies look like crap and the fish know the difference between a fresh looking imitation and one that looks like it ran the gauntlet.
I am not superstitious in the least nor do I consider myself fastidious (I don’t press my clothes or vest like some of my customers ;D), but the blood stains I mentioned because a customer a few seasons back caught an 8 pound brown. When I got the photos back, every one of them showed two blood stains on his vest right above the fish’s head. The photo was essentially ruined. No conservation based publication would print such a photo, and I suspect they would also have a dim view of photoshopping it out.
As far as inventory of fly tying materials, just a suggestion. I tie too many flies the night before or the morning of. You have to think ahead and think seasonally. Guides have to multi-task :).
Anyway, like any sport or occupation, there is also a discipline as well. That’s why I redo my slovenly tied knots, throw away rusty hooks and so on and so on …
The words of advice from Scott really should be considered, and as he also states, for mtself there is not much l have not seen one way or the other in my life time of fishing and guiding, some of it you would not believe.
But l would like to add this.
In the case of taking care of yoru flies. Above all else, techiques used and so on, it is teh fly that the fish will eat.
And l for one am real fussy about my flies, and teh condition that they are in at the time of fishing them.Dry flies.
They are way best contained in a fly box that does not crush the hackles to start with. I never subject dry flies to any kind of fly box that holds the fly by the hook. Always use the open sections that allow the flies to move around.
Wet days.
Hmm . . . sounds like phase one of OSFFD (Off-Season Fly Fishing Disorder):
Just kidding guys.
THAT’S IT!
I sometimes accuse my clients of ADSD (Attention Deficit Strike Disorder). Glad to know there is description for my malady ;D.
And if ya’ll are all that bored get a carpet cutter and start ripping apart torn up and poorly tied flies to get back nice hooks, dumbbell eyes, and other stuff.
HAHAHA, I am glad to see that I am not the only one who cuts up old crappy flies for the hooks, beads, and dumbells…
I thought it was just my Dutch heritage speaking out.
Zack,
A match or lighter works real well also, thats my way of doing it, rigth now also adds some extra heat to the house.
Davy
More likely it could remove the bronzing which will cause the hook to rust sooner. It doesn’t take as much heat to burn off the bronzing protective finish. If your hook looks silvery afterwards, that’s what happened. You can probably scrape it off in a lesser amount too with a blade.
Likewise, l have never found that this reduces temper to the hook, as a rule the heat is not there long enough.
The heat used to temper hooks during manufacture is way hotter than the act of burning off materials.Davy
Scott,
To be honest about that. I often give my worn flies to others. For myself l can tie em faster most of the time than messing arould like that, it is not as if l am short of hooks.
This week , l have tied some 36 doz so far.
Willl get into clousers to day for some orders in hand.These conditions are about to get me down. As you know l can launch the boat in 10mins from my house, and right now the flow rates have been real good out there.
20f is for me not condusive to go fishing, been there and done that too many times, and l do not enjoy it these days when lines, guides and flies ice up.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.