Fly maintainence

[downrigger45]

My winter project is to retie all my flies with new leaders. My questions are:

1) What pound test and type of mono?

2) What length has been your boats most consistent producer?

3) Once done, what is the best way to store them?

4) Single or treble hook?

Thanks everyone

[fishsniffer]

1)50lb ande

2)8 in spinnie 22in 11 in paddle 42-46in

3)wrapped around a swim noodle

4)tandem singles.

[1mainiac]

Everything Don said except I use 40lb flouro leader. My hook of choice is a Gamakatzu 5/0 Octipus tied in tandem with snell knots. I think one of the guys here had a idea for a tube storage setup using PVC pipe which was cool. Since a short piece of 4in PVC will hold a lot of flies. You could have a short one for 8in and a long one for 11in

[ekbelt]

50lb triple fish fluorobarbon... Store using swim noodle method, hooks are #2 owner trebles

[killerbe20]

40lb Blood Run Fluorocarbon

24'' for 8'' spin doctors and flashers, 42-56'' for big paddles

I never really take them off. I only really use a few patterns of flys so they stay attached until they get replaced

Generally a single treble hook tied with a uni knot. Snelling a treble makes it sit crocked. other wise a tournament rig with a snelled single with a treble trailing behind

[mattmishler]

50 pound ande. 11inchers-48-50, 8inchers-22-24.#1 owners or #1 sparkpoint. Get tucked away in their own small bag, I build them as I need them.

[Hotdog71]

40# flourocarbon and owner #4 octopus hooks

length as Matt mentioned above and tandem single hooks

stored on old swim noodle as well

[1mainiac]

this is the idea I was trying to remember earlier

http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19659&highlight=bazooka

I will make on up in a week or 2 and show my mods to it.

[Legacy]

1) What pound test and type of mono?

50# Blood Run fluorocarbon

2) What length has been your boats most consistent producer?

for 8" Spinnies I have stuff tied from 17" to 28" but 22"-24" is a great place to start

3) Once done, what is the best way to store them?

I leave proven flasher/fly setups together and store them in a DW flasher file

bulk fly bodies just get stored in a clear plastic plano box

4) Single or treble hook?

tournament tie 3/0 octopus w/ #1 treble

[Just Hook'n]

Exactly what Don said - switch all my setups to single hooks that are not BW products. I'll use BW products right out of the bag on small paddles. On larger paddles we just take them apart and retie them using longer 40 or 50# fluoro. When tying our own - Don nailed it.

[1mainiac]

Kind of funny about 5 years ago when I switched all my flies to double single hooks several people thought I was nuts. LOL But after you drive a big Octipus hook into a king you become a believer. Almost never a knock off and unless something breaks when the fish hits it you can plan on netting it. Don probably still hates his Maniac Glow fly LOL But I am having Gary make the Buttsniffer fly for us this year so maybe he will have a new fly to not like LOL.

[Yankee Troller]

We use 50lb Flouro from Seaguar, ANDE, or Gamma if you can find it. Our treble hook is a VMC Spark Point 4x size 2, and above that we run a 5/0 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. We tie up multiple leaders at a time so when a fly is hot we can just slide the fly down and do a double surgeon knot. We run 22-24" leaders on 8", and 36-48" on 11" paddles. We store all our flies in those white plastic lure holders with the suction cups you can find at Walmart. We have One on each side of the cockpit, and generally there are 40-50 flies tied up on each.

One of pet peeves is wrapping a fly around a paddle. I like the fly to hang upside down when not in use. We believe this allows the fly to flare a little more when put into the game.

[Polizh Prinze]

I use 30# Seaguar flourocarbon for leaders. I tie them up as I need them because I've never found a good way to store them. It also allows me to change leader lengths accordingly.

[southtrollsouth]

My winter project is to retie all my flies with new leaders. My questions are:

1) What pound test and type of mono?

2) What length has been your boats most consistent producer?

3) Once done, what is the best way to store them?

4) Single or treble hook?

Thanks everyone

Lots of very good responses here. Mono vs fluoro is a topic unto its own. Hard to nail a consistent length as it all depends if you are a fast or slow program guy. All consistent fisherman pull fly's all of the same length, and stick to their program day in and day out. Storage advice is to wrap if you use mono as it won't retain memory, fluoro is best hang straight or under slight tension to avoid memory. Single treble only on our boats, goal is to bury all three hooks in its snout and keep the fish' mouth completely shut. In this scenario you are basically drowning the fish and by forcing it to swim towards you in order for it to keep oxygen going through its gills. Any other hook drags the fish at an angle, which creates leverage for the fish to spin the hook. 20+ lb kings come in like 2lb pike when their mouths are clamped shut, and only a single treble can accomplish this.