Greased line technique
Domantas; I use a Windcutter spey on my ARC 1196 and it works just Dandy with 9’-13’ of fluocarbon leaders.
808steelheader; Respect, if numbers of fish was what it was all about, I’m sure there are lots of more efficient ways than greased line fishing. Let’s leave those methods to those that get a kick out of numbers.
As to the difference between Grease line fishing and “nymphing”/indicator fishing, Hugh Falkus deals with this question at great length and far more eloquent than I could possible hope to do.
Hugh Falkus wrote: A.E.H. Wood did write that it was important to avoid drag. Some misunderstood this to mean that the fly was to drift downstream, inert without any sideways movement. (nymphing/indicator fishing).
Hugh Falkus addresses this in his book “Salmon Fishing” by quoting A.E.H. Wood;
my experience of greased line fishing has shown me that a Salmon is more ready to take a fly on or just under the surface than at any other level, except near to the bottom. I therefore aim at keeping the fly at the surface, or sink it right down to the stones; and I have entirely forsaken the ordinary practice, which causes the fly to swim in mid-water . . . Fishing in the usual way you lose control of the fly, more or less, once it is under water, and hardly know where it is or what it is doing. With the greased line, you are able to control the position and angle of the fly in the water and also to a great extent the speed at which it travels . . . I cast rather more upstream than the orthodox cast of a salmon fisherman, then lift my line of the water, and without moving the fly, turn over a loop of line upstream and across to prevent any drag on the fly.
Hugh Falkus then goes on; great nonsense has been made of this passage over the years by writers who have failed to grasp the simple truth it contains. Wood did not rely on words alone to convey his meaning, he drew diagrams (See drawings in Salmon Fishing by Eric Taverner and others). As they make clear, he did not advocate casting upstream of the rod so that his fly drifted inert. He meant exactly what he wrote: that he cast at more of an upstream angle than other people did. He had discovered what every experienced salmon fisherman must surely know today, that effective casting range can sometimes be increased by throwing more squarely across the river and putting a big mend in the line. This was something that Wood’s contemporaries could not do, for hitherto they had neither greased their lines nor understood to mend them.
Hugh Falkus continues; when thrown across a current a line is dragged into a big bow, so that left alone the fly comes whipping round at speed. By preventing “drag” , Wood meant he was preventing this line-belly from dragging his fly round too fast. And, as he wrote, he did this by turning over a loop of line- or “mending” as we call it:
The lifting-over of a line is done to correct a fault, namely, to take the downstream belly out of a line and thus relieve the pull or pressure of the current on the line, which is communicated to the fly and exhibits itself as drag . . . Always have some reason for doing it: to prevent drag or, more often, to control the speed of the fly across the river.
Falkus then goes on; controlling the speed of the fly across the river is exactly what we try to do today. It is the essence of all our wet-fly fishing. There is nothing lifeless about the fly Wood describes. Indeed, how can there be? A fly that maintains its depth in a current of water can never be lifeless. Even when hanging motionless at the end of a straight line, the fly is swimming at the speed of the current. If the current is flowing at 3 mph, the fly will be swimming at that speed. The only way it can become lifeless is when is loses this water-speed, in which case it will start to sink. And if this happens, Wood is very clear about what to do;
if the fly hardly moves and begins to sink, draw in line with your fingers very slowly and keep the fly as near the surface as you can . . . if the fly floats and skims when the line is fully extended down the pool, straighten the line on the surface and give it a sharp jerk, which should put the fly under; then fish it round to the bank at whatever speed you like.
What is lifeless about that?
There cannot be the slightest doubt that what Wood meant by “drag” was excessive belly in the line formed by the current, which makes the fly behave unnaturally for a supposedly living creature. As Wood wrote:
if you swim across the river, you have to swim at an angle to the stream and make use of all the eddies. Let the fly do the same and act in a natural manner, not as if it were attached to a cart-rope.
Hugh Falkus ends: What better advice can be given on fishing the small fly? It is precisely because we want the fly to appear alive and to “act in a natural manner, not as if it was attached to a cart-rope” that we change our leader thickness to suit the size of the fly in use!
Wood ends;
the greased line, if fished properly ( and this is by no means so every time )has no drag and often is all slack and crooked; but nevertheless you are controlling the speed of the fly and the angle at which it crosses the stream. Unless you have lost control of the line, you can at any time lift the line off the water and place it where it should be; you can then put the fly where you want and make it swim properly.
Johncke