Power gum

[Davy Wotton]

I had a question a few days ago from a client and feel you guys out there may also be interested in this.

This all started back in the UK in the early 70s.

The rods and mono in those days were not comparable to what you now have to do, so remember that. But you could still cast a very long way, which was well needed at times when fishing still waters, anything from 20 yards or more.

Typically the evening rise as termed would be either to chironomids or caddis.

Frequently due to the avergage size of fish, you would get bust off in a hurry.

One of my friends, who was also a very good angler, figured out that we needed some sort of connection between the fly line and the fly that would absorb the shock of a big bow when it took the fly. Lake fish can hit you very hard and your natural reaction would be to raise the rod, good byy fish and fly.

There was at that time a product on the market called Optima power gum. It was used by pole fisherman who do not use a reel as such. Here you have a conection from the tip of the pole that is a elastic, to that goes the line to the hook, with a float between for bite detection.

What Arthur did was to use a short section of this power gum, betweenthe fly line and the fly.

There was no doubt that this drmatically reduced loss of fish.

OK, l had forgot all about use of this to be honest, until my client showed me a so called shock gum connection, which was way to short, not enough stretch and with a loop to loop conections for above and below attachment.

Having used this for many years, and also knowing its worth, you may wish to give it a go if you are one who suffers from break offs when fishing with small flies and light line, less than 4x.

Much of that related to too heavy a hook set, wrong rod of use, too heavy a fly line and so on.

I will admit that l loose very few fish from break offs, now and again it will happen.

First, buy this on a spool, it is available in 9 and 15lb bs.

The position you have it fixed can vary from the fly line or lower down the leader to the fly.

For avergage use you need about 4 to 6ins.

It is a very supple material by the way.

One reason why l choose not to have the connection at the fly line.

The simplist way to attach it, and the way l prefered to do so was this.

I would add this section 5 ft down from the leader and then to it add my length of additional.

It is not easy to secure with a surgeons knot as it may when taught slip. Unless you add Zap a gap to that connection, which we did not have back then.

I used at that time a more complicated knot fixture, that you do not need to day.

The lower knot will act as a stop knot, so you can here tie the additional above that knot, or continue with a further step down of BS as you require.

Some persons liked to use a very smll loop at this point.

It does feel very strange when you play fish for sure, and there is no problem to set hooks with its use.

DW.

I forgot to add this.

When a fish does take your fly, it does not feel the same degree of tension that it would without the gum. Some of us were more than convinced that this factor also increased hook ups, hard to prove that one way or the other, but l know a fish finds it more difficult to throw the hook due to the extra degree of stretch, it is the tension between your rod tip to the fly that doe's allow the fish to do that most times.

DW.

[hornyheadchub]

Rio makes Shock Gum, and it works great. Probably a godsend for many guides when thay are fishing with newbies. I used it for the first year I fly fished for trout, and I still keep some around. It sure makes landing fish on 7X a heck of a lot less stressful

[Davy Wotton]

Have not used the stuff Rio imports, the brand l use is Optima, from Germany.

By the way, some clients we have to up grade to 6lb BS or more to avoid break offs !!

Davy.

www.davywotton.com

[jdmidwest]

Funny, I hardly ever have a problem with breakoffs and light tippets. I use Orvis Braided leaders and Orvis Super Strong mono tippet in 6x 90 percent of the time while fishing for trout. The main failures I have are due to knot failure and not tippet strength. I know the braided leaders are a little more forgiving than the tapered mono ones because of the construction. I actually loose more to the hook pulling out than anything else, screwing around and playing a fish too hard and not letting him run out. Shock tippets are nothing new, they have been used in saltwater fly fishing for years. Feathercraft in STL used to sell a shock tippet for freshwater also, I can't remember what it was called. Does anyone use flourocarbon tippets anymore?