3. Mending for a Purpose (3 of 15)
When learning to flyfish one of the first skills you’re taught is mending. There’s life before mending and life after. When you discover the skill slowing your line you immediately become an efficient angling tool.
So if one mend is that effective is 10 ten SUPER effective? NO!!!!!!!!!
This is a good time to mention mending is for a purpose.
Upstream mends are to slow you presentation down. If you have a specific lie that’s slower that the surrounding water a mend can help keep it there longer. In uniform heavy current the upstream mend will reposition the line to minimize a belly forming and ultimately flying through the lie.
Downstream mending is to speed your presentation up. Creating a belly works best where there is not enough current to reach a desired lie. Commonly it’s used to fish a soft hangdown. It is not used to speed up the time your swing takes because you’re bored!
Equally as important is when not to mend. If the line is swinging from bank to bank without excessive speed or without stalling out then no mend is needed. Doing so will impact the swing negatively and is totally unnecessary.
Analyse the current, mend or don’t and turn off your autopilot. For my sanity and yours.
So if one mend is that effective is 10 ten SUPER effective? NO!!!!!!!!!
This is a good time to mention mending is for a purpose.
Upstream mends are to slow you presentation down. If you have a specific lie that’s slower that the surrounding water a mend can help keep it there longer. In uniform heavy current the upstream mend will reposition the line to minimize a belly forming and ultimately flying through the lie.
Downstream mending is to speed your presentation up. Creating a belly works best where there is not enough current to reach a desired lie. Commonly it’s used to fish a soft hangdown. It is not used to speed up the time your swing takes because you’re bored!
Equally as important is when not to mend. If the line is swinging from bank to bank without excessive speed or without stalling out then no mend is needed. Doing so will impact the swing negatively and is totally unnecessary.
Analyse the current, mend or don’t and turn off your autopilot. For my sanity and yours.