After casting CAT NAP ACTION!

 

 

 

Some thoughts on competition lines.

 

There is a lot involved in designing a line.

Loop timing.

loop speeds.

Rod loading.

Mass orientation.

Density.

Release from water and many other traits.

 

You can have a line with great feel but touchy loop stability or lazy shooting.

A line that feels dead that shoots like a bullet.

A line that feels heavy at the start of the forward cast and and light at the stop.

Heavy lines feeling light and vice versa.

Turns over too fast or too slow.

Lines that are forgiving of technique or VERY demanding.

Sticky, jumpy, lazy, sluggish, floppy, skittish and my favorite  "OOOOOH!   THAT"S NICE!" are often heard comments from casters.

 

What do I like?

A line that requires just a bit of tuning.

My early creations were a LOT of work.

Some were pretty damn good but took massive amounts of labor and MOUNTAINS of various parts.

Simon Gawesworth called my lines Calico lines!

The biggest problems I had were matching densities and line stock and I have boxes of line stock.

I feel spoiled now!

Just a few minor adjustments and your good to go.

 

 

Line traits.

I like some feel but I try to listen to what the rod is telling me more than what the line resistance is saying.

Stability?  Yea I want lots of that.

I don't like lines that are more than  moderately sticky.

The rods I like now make mince meat of lines that bogged my old rods.

 

I do like a balanced loading feel, Momma bear, some weight but not so much as to feel sluggish.

 

At this years SOR the Next cast team members got together for a line POW WOW.

All of us are a bit different types of casters.

 

Put a test line on a rod and we all cast it and give input.

The BIG CHEESE(Simon "The Snip") would perform line VOODOO.

Anchors like a rock.

SNIP and GLUE!

Yea or nae.

SNIP and GLUE!

A hitch or bobble?

SNIP and GLUE!

sluggish or light?

SNIP and GLUE!

 

It's truly wondrous to watch.