5/16/2008

Maximum use of “Fat Yarn”

The only way I can think of losing fishing gear and being okay with it is “if” a fish breaks off and swims away with it, other than that I'll do all I can to save on gear and that includes properly tying up yarn to a hook. Every penny counts.

Timothy Kusherets

Notice how the yarn is tied directly to the hook. See how the yarn never goes past the bend? Cutting yarn this short ensues that as it stretches in the water that biting fish have their attention streamlined in such a way that fewer strikes are missed.

Nobody want to admit that they’ll lose fishing gear just about anytime they head into the great outdoors, but I say “pshaw” to that. I know that gear will be lost and it doesn’t bother me that it will happen. What really chaps my legs is how gear is lost unnecessarily when it doesn’t have to. If I lose some stuff to fish that’s one thing, but give me a chance to pinch a penny here and there and I’ll take it.
Every penny adds up no matter how cheap fishing gear is and that includes yarn. Mack’s Lures makes some of the finest yarn material I’ve ever had the good pleasure to use and I do everything to squeeze every penny out of it, especially as I found that I had been squandering some of it without even knowing it. When making leaders one night I figured out a way to maximize this yarn’s use, and you won’t believe how easy it is.
Yarn tied to a hook or egg loop requires a certain amount of fabric to successfully make a knot strong enough to withstand many casts without falling off. In most cases, it’s advised to use about four inches of yarn for every knot, which includes just about any size of hook. It was when it came time to trim the ends that got me thinking looking down at the growing pile of snipped bits and pieces. You get a lot of yarn in each package but the wasted ends bothered me just sitting there on my table in small fluffs of stuff when I thought “Why do I have to trim the line at all? Why not ‘never’ cut four inches of yarn again and keep the entire package intact?” It was an instant boon to get even more product out of one that gave so much for so little.
There are two very productive ways I like to use Fat Yarn now: One, split the yarn down the middle making it twice as long. When taking the yarn apart it must be done with care, though it is fat it is fragile, which is a necessary component of making those fibers as natural in appearance as possible, and the hookups will prove that they do in fact pass muster. Two, tie the yarn directly from the package to hooks that are going to be fished in turbid water where large profiles garner the most strikes. In both cases it meant feeding the end of the yarn right from the package to the egg-loop on the hook, tying the knot so the first tag end was flush with the bend of the hook, and then pulling on the yarn so it became tight from the knot to the bend of the hook and then cut it as tension is applied to it. Every experienced angler knows that when yarn gets wet it stretches just a bit, and if the yarn goes too far past the bend of the hook skittish fish might bite the flailing end without biting into the hook. By tying the knot right from the package, to the hook, and then adding tension to the yarn before cutting it two things happen: One, material is saved and two, the fish’s attention is streamlined because even when wet the yarn never goes past the bend of the hook. So, if the fish bites into the yarn it will also be biting into the hook. It is a foolproof method of tying fat yarn that has never failed me and has added to my overall success ratio landing fish!
I’m not infantile about all of this. I know that as long as I continue to fish disposable gear will be lost, but by using this one little cool trick shrinks monies spent and increase the amount of fish I land. I think about saving time, money, and effort all the time. The only way I can think of losing fishing gear and being okay with it is “if” a fish breaks off and swims away with it. Gear lost is part of the game called fishing, but I’ll be thinking about ways to save all the time. Remember, it all adds up. A nickel here and a dime there eventually becomes hundreds and thousands of dollars, and just like a fish, I’ll fight for every penny of it until the bitter or sweet end.

Keep the yarn draped over the table you intend to use while making leaders at home. The only portion of the yarn that should be cut is tightly pulled just at the bend of the hook. Using Fat Yarn in this way maximizes its use so that 100 percent of it makes it to the water to biting fish.

These two corkie setups are nearly perfect and were constructed by a good friend of mine in Scotland; her name is Susan Breakenridge and was a novice at tying fat yarn. Looking at these two examples you would never know that these were the first two she had ever tied; if she can do it then any novice fisherman can making it that much easier for experienced fishermen to save on fishing gear and get more hookups.

To get some of the best yarn material available contatct:

Mack's Lure
2514 Easy Street
Wenatchee, WA 98801
Order Desk: 800-525-8737
Phone: 509-667-9202
Fax: 509-667-9896

Or go directly to their website by clicking Mack's Lure