(^62) FLYLIFE
L
ooking for a new challenge last
summer I took a two handed rod
to New Zealand with the inten-
tion of using small traditional soft-
hackled wets. Well downstream
from Gore, I planned to swing
them through some of the huge riffle
waters of the lower Mataura. With
strong northerlies forecast and the
river in a high but clearish flow, we
sought out some of those giant riffles.
I had a box of beautifully tied spi-
der type flies from England and had
read up on the subject, with Sylvester
Nemes foremost in my research. I had
always considered this style of fishing
as purely swinging flies — cast across
the current and let it swing — and had
not really given drag-free drifts much
thought, but everything I read on the
subject talked about how important
this is.
I was flying blind but rigged with
two flies — a tungsten beadhead
nymph on the point and a sparsely
dressed spider on the dropper with
around 50 cm between the flies.
You can cover a lot of water with a
two-hander, and of course the temp-
tation is to fish a long line, but with
a long line I had little idea what was
happening out at the fly, so I added a
small piece of wool to the end of the
fly line. This was not a strike indicator
— I was fishing a 14-foot leader — it
was there so I could monitor drag.An 11'6" rod (in this case a 4-weight
Sage ONE Switch rod) gives you an
astonishing ability to mend line, and
by focusing on that indicator, and
mending accordingly, the little flies
sank deep as I worked my way down-
stream through that big riffle. When-
ever I managed to concentrate enough
to get an across stream drag-free drift
in the myriad currents and eddies, I
seemed to catch a fish. They invari-
ably came on the first of the swing
and results were pretty much 50/50
between the two flies. It was a fantas-
tic session, one with several light bulb
moments that really had me thinking
about drag and what it might have
cost me over the years.Long rods, especially two handers, give you more ability to mend
large amounts of line to control drift and drag when swinging wets.
Peter Morse deals with drag.
A case of the
Mends