Marshall's
Notebook

Welcome to my notebook. Here is a notebook of fly tying tips, jottings on fishing strategies, trip pictures and stories, new gear and materials reviews. 

 

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Easy Mend Fly Line

Product Test
Orvis Wonderline "Easy Mend" Fly Line

For me, the best test of a fly line occurs when I fish it on the most demanding water I can find. I want the line to be fished through all the situations I fish. By situations, I mean the line has to perform when I fish a tiny dry fly, when I swing a wet fly, when I lob heavy nymphs, when I reach out and strip streamers, or when I chuck huge Hoppers into the wind. The East Outlet of the Kennebec River is a great proving ground because on any day in the fall, Salmon and Brook Trout might be fooled using any of these methods. The East Outlet is big water. Where I fish there are 12-foot deep pools 250 feet wide, fast chutes, cascading white water, long tail-outs, all above a boulder and rock bottom, slippery and cold.
I have fished the E.O. with the "Longbelly" line at least four times this late summer and early fall, and I'll not change it until it falls apart. Then I'll buy another one. This line is a good match loaded on my 10-foot, seven-weight  rod. I have used a hand-tied 10-foot leader changing over the last few feet whenever I need to adjust for depth. In any case, whether lobbing a heavy cone head Muddler, or casting 30 feet with a no. 18 Griffiths Gnat, this line performs just fine. 

Here's an example; I'm standing in the tail-out of a large pool, facing upstream. I want the 2-inch cone head Muddler to sink 4 feet to five feet after I cast it some 60 feet upstream and begin stripping it back. I load the rod, haul on the back cast, shoot the heavy fly with power, driving it into the upstream current. The long belly of the line floats high, the cone head sinks like a stone, and I strip. Wham! Brook Trout on! 

Here's another example; I'm seeing a few snap rises begin below me in the tail out. I suspect it's the # 16 Caddis I've seen flying about in the shoreline trees, but it may be Midges too. I opt for the Caddis, tie on some 6X. I need only a cast of about 12 feet, laid down in S-curves. With this line, the rod loads fine. I can set the line down gently! Wiggle of the tip to get the fly over the fish. Smack! A Salmon booms out of the water!

Another example; There's nothing going on on the surface. I think I'll try a nymph or two under an indicator. I suspect that there are fish in the far sweep of the run under the seam, some 40 feet from me, but I have high water and I'm right near the trees behind me. I bite on 2 split shot above the two nymphs, a Caddis Pupae and a dusky gray wet fly, add a yarn indicator near the butt section of the leader, flip a few yards of line downstream. Now I know the rod will handle this rig, but will the line help turn over all the weight when I want to extend the roll cast? No Problem! I give the cast a little help by hauling with my line hand and the rig rolls out to the target. I raise the rod tip, flail an upstream mend all the way to the indicator. The indicator disappears! Chunk! Another Brook Trout digging for freedom! All this is true. More than a few fish seen pictured here on my notebook have been caught using the Orvis "Longbelly" Line. I like it.