Tangles

[FYfly]

Just wonder what you guys do when your leader tangles badly. Do you cut off and retie or untangle?
Personally I fall into the cut off and retie category, don’t have the patience to untangle it most of the time and I think its faster.

 

[jayL]

Tangles weaken and kink the leader anyway. Just cut off and rebuild it.

 

[pete41]

I certainly had my share of wind knots ,less with experience.They are cut off and retie at tippet end anyway but I am curious how you get tangles.
On second thought I had some truly horrendous messes when nymph fishing with two flies and lead.Is this what you mean?
I always carried plenty of made up tippets with droppers.Just replace.lol

 

[Padraic]

I tie my own leaders. So I'd have to replace the leader.

 

[RLeeP]

My process for dealing with tangles is automated.

From the time the fact that I have a tangle first becomes apparent to me, I have a 30 second window in which to try to fix it without using destructive means. At the end of 30 seconds, if I've not made any progress, I start ripping and yelling and reaching for the nearest sharp implement to take the #%**& thing down and make it pay if it's the last @@+%% I ever do.

And then it's done...

I don't have to decide a thing. It's all automatic...🙂

 

[Acristickid]

If it takes a few minutes and a I still looking at a ball- I will rip the thing apart and probably get jabbed with the a hook, curse a few choice words and rebuild.

Sometimes I will think to look around to look for a place to sit or other times stand in some uncomfortable postition while undoing my mess. I have zero patience but untangling my messes has helped in that department.

So I am 65% untangle and rest rebulid. Might lose a really big one due to the lack of line integrity but usually not that big of a deal especially here in PA.

 

[jaybo41]

I always size up the mess first and at least give it a shot to see if I can get it untangled. If its real bad, I'll clip it and tie on new tippet. Also I've been known to clip it and tie on new tippet if there is a good reason I want to get back to casting quickly, such as a hatch, darkness, etc.

 

[thedude1534]

If I detect a tangle the instant it happens, I will untie it, usually because it is nothing more than a few loose loops and twists. If I catch it a little later and things have started to get tight, I just break off and re-tie.

Easily the most tangle prone set up is a tandem nymph rig with weight.

 

I agree with The Dude.......... it it's a LOOSE tangle, and there's no sign of line kink and/or, tight knotting, I'll take a breather and give un-tangling a shot.
If the tangle has tightened or actually knotted itself, I won't trust that section anymore, for strength and after a few well chosen words of either Swahili or Logger's Speak, I then retie. It's not worth a lost fish to me, to try and save a buck's worth of mono.

 

[tomgamber]

Whichever takes the least amount of time and gets me back to fishing...unless, of course, JackM has me on Pine creek or the LittleJ and its now a half hour after dark and its too dark to do either.

 

[PaulG]

Don't waste a lot of fishing time trying to get it apart. Your better off cutting and get back to fishing!

PaulG

 

[JackM]

I give a shot at untangling, but often end up cutting and rebuilding. However, as a tip: if you like to untangle, I find that cutting the fly or flies off at the eye(s) first makes the untangling more likely to succeed.

 

[MKern]

I give it a shot (my eyes are still good). If I can't get it after a couple minutes, I bite the flies off and try to get the tangle out. This usually works for me. If not I cut and start over (I hate doing this, becuase I'm cheap).

 

[thedude1534]

On the subject, does anyone know why 7x tangles so much more than 6x?

Its like crossing an invisible boundary (at least for me). I barely have problems using 6x, but it seems every time I tie on 7x after about 15 min the 7x line is all twisted and tangled.

 

[MKern]

Maybe it is the added length.?!

Or maybe it goes back to the comfort and trusting/believing in yourself thing.?!

 

[ryanh]

I have lost hours at a time trying to untangle my line. I usually get taken in because the first few loops are loose and easy to correct. I expect that this is exactly what the fish want you to think and it is precisely the reason the tangle it in the first place. They know that by putting in some overhand knots and maybe a bowline first encourages you to keep on going.

So with a light heart you keep woking at it. Soon you start seeing sheet bends and sheep shanks. One time I had a monkeys fist tied in the dropper.

The beauty of it is IF you succeed in untying the mess it is so pig tailed that more often than not you usually cut it off and retie any way. :-o :-o :-o

 

[Stevie-B]

dude, when you switch to 7x do you also switch the size of your fly? A larger fly will spin and twist the 7x more than the 6x. It could also be a combination of your casting style and the fly size. I notice the twisting when I have a large fly on since I fish 6x and 7x almost exclusively.

Steve

 

[thedude1534]

I see it in all size fly's. I usually only go to 7x if the water is very low and clear, which also are my longest casting days. Maybe it has something to do with the long cast. However, its not really a tangle, the fly does not get tangled in the cast, all my casts look fine. It's once the fly lands on the water, and the line is free to move as it pleases, all the 7x starts twisting up (especially around the tippet knot). This typically happens after I've been casting with the 7x for 10-15 min.

 

Dude;
Just a couple of "weird ideas", on your 7X mishaps:
How far down, in volume, is your tippet spool? The closer you get into the spool of tippet, the tighter and curlier it is, coming off the spool.
If you're not, doing it, try straightening out the 7X before or after tying it onto your leader. (DON'T use, one of those rubber to rubber, made from old inner tubes, type straighteners they can easily "burn" and weaken your mono or even Floro, material).
If nothing else, could it be the brand? I love "Frog's Hair", but that's me. I used to have an awful problem, with spirals and tangles, when using some weights of Climax!? I, don't, however,since switching to both Rio and Frog's Hair tippet.

 

[thedude1534]

I prefer to use RIO, but I currently have orvis super strong. Tippet and leaders are the only products I will buy from orvis, but I'm not going to get into that now. I also have the orvis tippet in 3-6x and don't have issues.

The 7x version of that orvis tippet is more elastic than the other sizes, but aside from that I can't tell much more of a difference.