Spin-fly

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wahoo
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Location: Malaysia

Spin-fly

Post by wahoo » Tue Dec 30, 2003 10:54 pm

It was drizzling after the Jln Duta toll plaza at 6:45 in the morning. After wearing a raincoat, I’m on the right track again heading to TowFoo. At full throttle, my bike is flying along the North – South Highway at maximum speed.

After taking a roti canai and teh tarik gelas besar for breakfast at Kg. Seri Kundang, my pace towards TFSFC is a bit sluggish as the beeline of heavy trucks are crowding the traffic. I reached TowFoo about 7:40am.

Albert Gan was there already. So do with Botak and Curt. Botak was there from 4 o’clock in the morning while Curt came much earlier to join Vincent and Steven last night.

Looking to the sky, I was a bit moody because the dark clouds are still around. I was losing hope because usually that kind of weather will put down TowFoo fish to hibernation, which subsequently meaning another fishless day in TowFoo.

After cleaning the boat, I’m preparing my arsenal. The Tica SS500 was accompanied with Daiwa Heartland rod while my meehon rod as usual will be use with my trusted 2-years old eggbeater Shimano Ultegra 1000.

I was considering my strategies for the day while Uncle Albert was telling his tall tales regarding some fello anglers draining the whole pond with water pump, putting explosive blast of dynamite in the hunt for fish. And the craziest thing in the world I ever heard from this well experienced TowFoo resident pro is, one of his so call fello angler put fire to the entire lalang field just because the person being afraid of snakes before commencing fishing.

Aiya… so gila those people! I hope I wont encounter such people in my life! Enuff said having experienced of some people putting marking to the fish such as tying a rope or cutting the fin to indicate the fish is theirs.

My rig was ready. I was in the boat alone. Several casts around the floating island do not produce any bite even I had been tossing all kind of crank baits I had in my lure box. From the famous deadly Rapala Shad Rap to killer lure Frenzy Firestick except the broomstick, no take at all.

Suddenly my mind was tickling to try spin-fly. So, I rigged the Zonker fly given by Novice. A cast towards the cove between the netting and the floating island was greeted by a bite.

Nah! A pacu hit the fly and it start jumping into the air. My meehoon rod is bending to maximum limit; compensating the surge while my Shimano Ultegra drag system is playing the sound of F1 racing car screaming engines. Rapala Tough main line was peeling non-stop from the spool before I pushed the drag setting to 2kg.

It does not take too long for me to bring the pacu close to the boat. The pacu is approximately about 4kg. I grabbed the 10lbs Berkley Vanish leader, but suddenly the pacu makes it last run. The Rapala Tough main line supposes to be abrasion resistant to underwater structures, not to the angler mah!

Adoi! The line cuts into my fingers! Lucky it does not deep enough. I do not suffer any bleeding although the pain was really kaw-kaw!

No pain, no gain, OK!

Quickly I gained control to the fish. With an aid of a pair of pliers, I grabbed the hook. The pacu was released and my mission had accomplished!

My very first trial of spin-fly was rewarded with a pacu. The hook set through the lip, saving the leader from being bitten off.

I moved to the gate of giant pacu but no take. The flies that are given by Curt also had being used, but no signs of acceptance in there. After more than one hours casting there and tossing here, I moved back to the floating island.

I saw CEO of TowFoo, Mr.D is around. I don’t have idea what time he came to ‘office’ today.

A breeze is blowing from the south. The boat was drifting and it gives me good aim to cast to behind the island.

Once the fly landed into the water, another bite occurred. This time is a big gulp! The fish swam very fast, pulling the line from my Tica SS500 like nobody’s business.

No no no… please don’t go there! The line is running towards the netting. Few seconds afterwards, the big splashes is happening close the net as the pacu jumps into the air. Mr.D is yelling something from the shore while I was cursing all the way around. The pacu caused the line tangled between the netting pillars and the weeds of haruan sanctuary.

It takes me hella lot of time to release the line from the pillars. The pacu managed to escape by doing his dirty tactic.

The Rapala Tough monofilament remains tough although the line had been scrapped to the netting pillars, which was made from iron bars. Most important thing, the line did not break and the zonker fly is intact. Being frustrated, I tossed the fly again.

Opp! Another hook-up dah! A belida took the fly and it does not give me any problem to land it. I show the fish to Albert Gan, who is standing under the canopy.

Today got sound and picture. The ‘TV’ repaired already and everybody is enjoying the show. Mr.D is telling me, ‘the one that got away’ is really big because although he saw the fish from the shore, the pacu size is awesome. Never mind lah, as far I caught something with the fly, complimentary from Novice, it is good enough to prove it is effective.

But most important thing is, somebody sudah kena racun olredi!

Novice, could you tie another one for another person? Albert Gan sudah kena racun with this Zonker polar fibre hybrid fly! Heh heh heh

The prerequisite of spin-fly setup is very important. Before somebody wanted to try spin-fly, the following criteria should be available.

Number one factor to ensure trouble-free casting with virtually weightless fly (lure), someone need to use high quality main line. A monofilament is recommended because it is easy to make corrections if line twist occurs. Because the fly is so light (although split shot sinker was added), slight line twist would cause a wind knot. No matter how good is the spinning reel resisting line twist; the line twisting effect still exists. It was recommended to make several long casts using heavier sinker (use ball bearing snap swivel) before fishing and between fishing to rectify line twists. As for today spin-fly experiment, Rapala Tough monofilament is just nice for the job. It does not cause too much line problem although I also using other mono such as Mustad ProSelect, Sufix Synergy and Berkley IronSilk.

From my opinion, GSP line should be avoided because such line requires high tension to ensure tight packing in the spool. As the lure weight are too little, it does not creating enough tension which subsequently would cause line dig in if there is a big hook-up next to the line.

2nd factor is the reel. Reel with bigger spool diameter is better. Comparison between Tica SS500 and Shimano Ultegra 1000, the cast is farther when using the Ultegra 1000. This is because the spool diameter is bigger on the Shimano than the Tica. Bigger spool means lesser line memory, which will be transformed to coils. These coils preventing longer cast and also creating wind knots. Never in my life experiencing meehon goreng with a spinning reel, but it cost me hell of line trouble with the Tica SS500! (Uncle Albert, I heard what you said when you saw me having the meehon!)

I had improved the rigging method. The way showed by JerryC by attaching the split shot to the line is not very practical.

First, the split shot will slide along the line as the force during the cast would easily displaced their hold. Putting more pressure for the split shot to grab to the line so that they wouldn’t move would put risk damaging the line.

After a day with experiments, I found out using snap swivel is the simplest solution. Use the snap swivel that has appropriate weight equals to the split shot. The advantage is, it minimized the line twist effect. If there is, simply detach the leader (rig a loop leader), rig a heavier sinker and make long casts to eliminate the problem. Once problem resolved, put back the leader and fishing are back to business

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corbin
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Re: Spin-fly

Post by corbin » Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:32 am

Hi Wahoo,

Interesting idea, I will definately give it a shot on my next trip. How does it affect feel and sensitivity though? Do you still have as good control?

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