managing shooting line

[Philster]

I've just in the last 2 weeks discovered a significant well of power and line speed. So now I'm needing to manage up to 50 feet of running line on a regular basis when I'm on a wide smooth flat.

So the question is after retrieving your running line, and sorting it however you do, do you hold it in your top hand or bottom hand? After close to 30 years of single hand, my left hand is pretty much on cruise control :strip 5 times hook with pinky, 4 times hook with 3rd, 3 times hook with middle, 2 times hook with index, cast.

So top hand or bottom hand?

[wrke]

Always bottom hand for sure, right or left hand . . . clean, no complications.

[baldmountain]

It's funny, I was going to ask this question tonight.

I voted top hand. Not because I think it is better, but because I don't know any better. I usually hold the line with the index finger of my top hand. I drop the rest all over the ground. It usually ends up tangled around roots, grass, my feet, rocks. What ever is available.

Simon's Spey Casting book recommends a couple different methods. The strip 5 times hook with pinky, 4 times hook with 3rd, 3 times hook with middle, 2 times hook with index, cast method and the one loop in the middle so everything isn't hanging down stream method.

What's best for someone who realizes they are going to have to break a bad habit?

Is it worthing to get a stripping basket instead? Which one?

[sinktip]

You forgot the third choice -- in your mouth.

[wrke]

That's the one I use single-handed.

[baldmountain]

Originally Posted by sinktip

You forgot the third choice -- in your mouth.

I got the impression that he considered it a curiousity rather than an actual method.

[wrke]

Perhaps he did, but it's how I've managed line single-handed for years.

[BJay]

Originally Posted by sinktip

You forgot the third choice -- in your mouth.

Careful about "holding the line in the mouth." Some streams and rivers hold the beaver fever cyst ( giardia Lamblia) in the water. You should know your waters before using your mouth to hold the line, especially in warm weather and warm water. I've had it. Crapping in the toilet and puking in the sink at the same time is not nice. You can become seriously dehydrated in only a few hours.
Bjay

[Steel Will]

Crapping in the toilet and puking in the sink at the same time is not nice.
Bjay[/QUOTE]

I almost crapped my pants from laughing so hard after reading this! That giardia is nothing to mess around with and I wouldn't hold any line in my mouth.

[speyman]

If I use the bottom hand it keeps things away from the reel and other stuff which is good.

I use the upper hand when I am lazy and things sometimes get tangled around the reel.

With the bottom hand I drop the line into a loop between my thumb and forfinger on the bottom hand which comes off the rod during the shoot. The finger loop This keeps everything away from everything and helps the line get out of the water easier and makes things shoot cleaner and farther with less effort.

This is exactly the technique I was taught by Bob Aid with a Single Hander shooting head system years ago. It is like having a big spinning rod guide helping the line get going.

[Karuvaara]

Bottom hand and only three (3) "rounds" max.
The first one You make is shortest, that way it doesnt sink that deep and then it gets just longer and longer...works well in fishing situations...for me

Toni

[KerryS]

Originally Posted by Karuvaara

Bottom hand and only three (3) "rounds" max.
The first one You make is shortest, that way it doesnt sink that deep and then it gets just longer and longer...works well in fishing situations...for me

Toni

Interesting. I do just the opposite. First one is the longest then get shorter. I go by number of strips. 5 strips hold loop, 4 strips hold loop, 3 strips etc.

[flydology]

Originally Posted by KerryS

Interesting. I do just the opposite. First one is the longest then get shorter. I go by number of strips. 5 strips hold loop, 4 strips hold loop, 3 strips etc.

I second this. 5 strips - loop, 4 strips - loop. The last loop is modified so that my running line is just 1' from the rod tip.

Bottom hand, no fingers seperating loops.

"Stuffing",....Actually its done with a 6 inch doll needle. You just put the GsP, I use 30lb Bionic Braid which breaks at 42lb and thread it through the eye of the needle. Pull it through about 6 feet, worst case sceanario is the gsp coming out of the needle.
Then you just keep on feeding that needle up the 20lb Gudebrod until it comes out the end.
I started this thing because of my experience fishing fly off rocks with dacron backing lines way back. The water drag was immense and broke tippets, so when GsP arrived I did some research on it, got in touch with the inventors DSM HPF in Holland, patent holders, its called Dyneema, Spectra is made in the USA under license by Allied Signal owned by Honeywell. There are some funny stories about GsP, mostly furfies. Spectra is made ONLY in the USA, and Dyneema is made only by Toyobo Co in Japan. DSM no longer make GsP. Spectra is braided in the USA, Dyneema is braided elsewhere. All provided by Toyobo who actually send it to Holland and it's redirected from there. funny set up.
Anyway DSM fed me a lot of information about the stuff, how its made, and its problems like modulus, rather high, its slippery thin strong and it hates sharp edges, and does slip layers on reels.
So I did some testing on knots and splices, knot testing should be done at load rates of around 100mm per minute, IGFA testers are to fast with load application to handle stretch figures of 3%, and came up with the universal GsP connection to anything, the coaxial loop, from which came the integrated backing/running line and then stuffed running line, all of which iare just elongated coaxial loops. mInd you I did this for me, I wasn't interested in anyone else and their knot problems. I wanted a very effecient fly system that matched the high modulus fast response graphite rods. And of course low water drag. Not many people liked it, still don't for that matter. Its the time element, like 5 hours stuffing.
Anyway its about 0.02" in diameter, 42lb b/s and rather nice as a running line.
Not quite as far casting as Amnesia but beats the hell out of a lot of other thicker lines. These days I'm playing with 80lb Power Pro, Spectra Hollow GsP braid stuffed with 6lb monofilament. Thats magic, or the line I've done 120lb Power Pro with 8lb mono is magic. Needs a good LMD, line management devise to keep it off the ground, and you need a good glove, recommended Spectra butchers glove. Very thin, very slippery goes into next month, but will remove fingers if caught up in a fast running line.
I'm off to bed, its 11.22pm. Cheers MaxG

[sothereiwas]

I'm with Kerry on this one. The first loop stripped in is always the longest. If the first loop leaving the rod is the longest you run the risk of it wrapping around your other loops. I use top hand with two loops most of the time, three being rare