sage method 4wt., slightly wobbly fighting butt, hardy marquis #5, cortland 444sl, and shirt to match.

i tied up some small light bonefish flies that would be in the wheelhouse of a four weight to cast.  for those not in the know, in fly casting/fishing it is the fly line that delivers the fly to the target and not the fly itself.  in conventional fishing (spinning or bait casting) it is the weight of the lure that carries the line with it to the target.  in a sense it is like throwing a rock at target with a line attached to it.  in fly fishing it is different and more like throwing a line at a target with a rock attached to it, if that makes sense.  thinking about it like that, it is obvious that the smaller the rock attached to the line, the easier it is to throw the line to the target with the rock coming along for the ride.

every rod and line size has a range of fly sizes that it can easily turnover or cast.  the smaller side of this range is not a factor.  a virtually weightless piece of yarn tied to the end of the leader is easy to cast and turn over with any size rod (if it isn’t you’d be wise to get your casting checked out).  a twelve weight can easily cast a size 20 adams.  note that i didn’t say delicately or accurately, just easily.  it is the upper or heavier and bulkier side of the range that becomes somewhat of a limiting factor.  ever try to throw a 2/0 striped bass clouser with an extra large lead eye on a three weight?  as the upper side of the range is approached there comes a tipping point where the line is no longer turning over the fly but it is the flies own momentum created by its own mass traveling through the air that is carrying it out much like a lure on a spinning rod.

often i will hear people say “oh i can cast that heavy fly with this set up no problem” when the fly is obviously too heavy to be cast by the line itself.  in fact what these people are really saying is that they can get the fly to the target, but not necessarily using the energy transferred from the rod to the line to carry that fly out.  which is what a fly cast really is.  i know this is kind of splitting hairs in the grand scheme of things but to me it is a pretty big deal.  i don’t like to fish flies that are at or beyond the point where the line is not completely turning the fly over.  sure it is possible, i once “threw” a rebel pop-r lure on a nine weight and caught fish with that.  to me, though, it’s just not fly casting once the line is no longer carrying the fly on its own.  if i need to throw a heavier fly, i will use a heavier rod that can actually “fly cast” that size of fly or i will downsize the fly so that it can actually be cast by the rod i want to use.  if you are thinking “what is this kook talking about” or “who the hell gives a sh_t”.  don’t worry about it.  just keep on pounding and having fun out there.  i just like thinking about things like this to define and redefine the personal parameters of my sport.  perhaps some of you out there like to think about things like this as well. so there it is.

so anyway, i tied up some four weight appropriate bonefish flies (that can actually be fly cast with a four weight) and went out on wednesday to play with my shiny new toy.  i knew that a four weight would be a bit sketchy to use with the reefs here but i just had to get it wet.  there were quite a bit of fish out there but i wouldn’t call it the gangbusters that apparently the young guns had experienced on monday.  although the four weight method and i charged fearlessly into the fracas and fought valiantly, the two of us were no match for the bones we encountered that day.  casting and fishing the four weight was no problem.  like i said it was a little tip heavy but overall performed fine.  it was, however, a bit challenging to get bit on flies that were considerably smaller and lighter than what i would normally use.  of the five fish that “team four weight” did manage to hook, four were full on denver vs. seattle super bowl absolute shellackings (sorry broncos fans).  i lost almost all the four weight flies i had tied along with a few leaders.  the new 444sl 4wt. fly line was also a casualty as it got torn up pretty quick before finally breaking on some nasty reef.  in the end team four weight was only able to land one little rat “day saver” and even that battle was a toss up all the way to the very end.