Techy Thursday - Not as obvious as it seems

Ok, so we've all been there... we KNOW our line is clean, know its sweetly matched to our rod, our backcast is legit (and yes, we even checked our line isn't on backwards), yet things still aren't working too well for us.

We missed a guide...

I'm amazed at how many people still continue to hold the very end of the tippet and try to thread this up through the rod guides. In the anticipation of the sport ahead it's all too easy to drop the leader and watch it slide all the way back down to the reel. Bugger.

The solution is simple: bend a loop a foot or so back in your flyline and thread this through. The thicker flyline is easier to keep hold of and if you drop it, the loop opens and catches in the very next guide down... insert smiley face now...

And as for missing guides while rigging up? Simply loop your fingers around the blank whilst threading the line, running them up as you go and every time you feel a bump, you know theres a guide to loop through. A handy trick if you're easily distracted or tend to chat intently while setting up, as most of us do...

You're welcome