Practice Leader Question

[Jaybinder]

In the original "Skagit Master" Ed Ward demos casting on grass. He uses a leader with a bunch of tag ends to create drag and load the rod. Does anyone know how to make one? How long are the tag ends and how far apart are the knots?
I don't have the video and I can't remember the details.

Thanks
Jason

[rubberguy]

In the original "Skagit Master" Ed Ward demos casting on grass. He uses a leader with a bunch of tag ends to create drag and load the rod. Does anyone know how to make one? How long are the tag ends and how far apart are the knots?
I don't have the video and I can't remember the details.

Thanks
Jason

Jason, hope this helps. bill

Roll/Spey Grass Leader


I occasionally get e-mails asking about roll and Spey casting on grass, and ways in which to make land-bound practice more useful. What follows is an almost-verbatim snip from my Nature of Fly Casting book about one potential aid in grass-casting.

- – - – - – - – - -

It can be difficult to get a feel for how the line will behave in the real world if you have to practice roll casts, Spey casts and other waterborne casts on grass rather than water. One work-around, however, is to use Al Buhr’s “grass leader.” The leader discussed here originally appeared in the Summer 1998 edition of The Loop casting journal under the title of “A Grass Leader for Rolls and Speys.”

grass_leader_note

The upside? Makes rolls and Speys easier on grass. The downside? That’s a lot of blood knots!

The 12-foot leader is made of limp monofilament in one diameter (say .020”), and has three-turn blood (barrel) knots tied every three to four inches. Approximately 1/4- to 3/8-inch of the knots’ tag ends are left sticking out (see the sticky note above). Al recommends both starting and finishing the leader (the line and “fly” ends) with a foot-long piece of straight monofilament. The tag ends catch on grass blades and create resistance something like that created by water. You may find that varying the frequency of knots, as well as the length of the tags will allow you to better handle different types of flora.

For more from Al Buhr, see his highly regarded book, Two-Handed Fly Casting.

[Jaybinder]

Thank you for the info! It'll help me get ready for my trip next month.

Jason

[golfish]

Grass leader is OK, I used them in the beginning to check positions as Ed Ward explains in SM1. As far as getting a feel for the rod loading there is no substitute for moving water. Stillwater works OK too, if you live in Campbell you have a casting pond and the perc ponds right there, I would take advantage. Good Luck!