Tips and Advice

Line Mending

This process works very well in winds that do not exceed twelve miles an hour

Timothy Kusherets

After you cast, and a strong wind picks up your line, you will be able to see that more line is spent going to either side of you than out in front. This is called line-belly and nothing can be done to stop it once it starts, but you can minimize the effects. Let's say that during your cast the wind is blowing from your left to your right, and as a consequence so is your line. Moments before your lure hits the water, flip the bail over. Your line will start to straighten out. While the line begins to straighten move your rod to the far left of your body and point the rod down towards the surface of the water. When your lure hits the water, let it fall for some time before you pick up your rod to the normal position of straight out in front. What this does is allow your offering to fall in the manner that it was meant without the hindrance of wind picking up your line again. At some point, when you are ready to begin the retrieval process, place your rod in its normal position that it would be if you were using a dart, buzz bomb, or zinger and begin pumping your rod by pulling and reeling in the slack. To make your offering fall, lower the tip of your rod towards the water line and reel in the slack and then retrieve your lure by pulling the rod up and across your body; this motion simulates an injured fish and at the same time, you will find that most of the line belly is gone. This process works very well in winds that do not exceed twelve miles an hour. If at some point the wind becomes stronger than that, and sustains, then you should either pack it in for the day or go somewhere else.

© Timothy Kusherets 2005/08