few questions for the saltwater fly guys.

Some$.02...

I sometimes don't trust nail knot with heavey mono on da lil fly line end so I Albright the leader to the line.

Albright the backing (braid backing too) to the back of fly line.

Kink a lite wire leader and Albright to it for toothy criters no swivel...wrap wire in fly eye...bout 6" long.

You can improve Albright knots by doubling the layers of wraps like in a Bimini. Ie wrap up and back down before the tuck...

If you don't like surgeon knots double the smaller diameter and use blood knots.

Some brands of lines are small and hard others are thick and soft even of the same weight. Gotta find a balance in suppleness vs slickness to improve shooting the line.

Learn the double haul for distance casting. Fly casting is slack management coupled with generating line speed with a line that will compliment the particular action of the rod. Some rods work better with a heavier weight line than recommended and vice eras.

Casting is 2 fold...get the line off the water moving pausing to load the rod then driving the line forward shooting slack for extra distance. You cast da line the fly follows, the heavier the fly the harder to do... Use sparse tied flies for sinking rather than adding weight if possible.

The main limitations of fly fishin is depth and distance.

Even though the rod is limber stout leaders enable large fish to be caught despite the lack of pressure compaired to a big boat rod. Give'em the butt...

Later DL

I've got some flylines that are 10+ yrs old that are still fishable, but if a line is used regularly it should probably be changed every 3-4 yrs. If you notice the line does not cast as well as it used to, clean it. There are fly line cleaners and dressings available and they really work. For line to backing connections and line to leader connections I use loop to loop connections. I tie a long bimini twist in the backing and a whipped loop in the flyline and loop them together. If I have braid for backing instead of dacron I tie an extra long bimini and double it with a second bimini so that I have two identical loops. I also serve the flyline loop with thread and coat it with Dave's flexament or Loon's knot sense before looping it to the backing.This gives the flyline extra protection against being cut by the backing. On the leader end of the flyline I form a small loop (about 1/2" long) and hold it in place by tying two nail knots with 10-12 # mono and trim everything close and coat it with Dave's flexament or Loon's knot sense. A perfection loop is tied in the butt end of the leader and looped to the flyline.
All of these knots are shown in the knot book Practical Fishing Knots written by Lefty Kreh and Mark Sosin. Dave's flexament is a fly tying head cement sold by most fly fishing retailers. It can be home made also by disolving 1 part goop or shoe goo in 3 parts xylene. Loons knot sense is coating for knots it is applied in the shade and cures when exposed to sunlight outdoors sunlight through a window does not work. Loon also sells a U.V. light that will cure it at night or indoors. It is also available through most fly fishing retailers. I saw it today in Dick's Sporting goods in their tiny flyfishing section. They also had quite a few leaders and spools of tippet material. Many flylines sold today come with "welded" loops on one or both ends eliminating the need for some of these knots. some pre-tied leaders also come with a perfection loop tied in the butt end.

Well i went this morning and picked up a few things for it. Found a spool of 30lb power pro cheap so i have 300yards of it on for backing. I kept the same fly line on for now but will be replacing it soon. Also picked up a few flys that looked like they should work for reds or anything else for that matter. Made up a leader and tied on a fly and walked down to the pond to try it out. I did ok with it at first. I believe i had the leader to long. And after some more reading found out that most fly line is made to go a certain way and i had put it on backwards to have the fresh un faded part on the leader end. Went in and swapped the fly line around and shortened the leader to the exact length of the rod. About 6 foot of 25 and about 3 foot of 15. Give or take a little either way. Went back to the pond and tried again with a lot better results. Im not great with guessing distances but guessing i could get it out there pretty effortlessly and with good accuracy 40 feet or so. It was fun walking around trying to pop turtles on the head with the fly. Once i tried to go further than that i couldnt lay it out there nice and pretty consistently. But also didnt have the room behind me with trees and bushes. I did end up catching 2 bass while i was out playing around. Ill post up some pictures of what i have when i get home.

The top 2 flies and the one on the rod are what i picked up today. The others came with the rod.