Home Waters: Hard Water
| Home Waters |
By Jack Simpson
‘Hard Water’ officially begins when the edges of the lakes are frozen too far out to break a path to open water anymore. Or the air temperature is a steady -6C at lake level and the line being retrieved stops dead--seized in a ball of solid ice in the tiptop.
So, you ‘pack it up’, cursing the too-short a season and the days you weren't on the water due to ‘commitments’. Sure, you may get to wave a stick at the end of the driveway, "just practicing", on the rare days the air temperature is above freezing, to the puzzled looks of neighbours (who just don't understand), but this is a poor substitute for being on the water.
How are you going to ‘make it’ through until "Ice-Off?”
Here are some practical suggestions to salve your fly fishing soul through the winter that will make you a better, more productive person on the water next year:
1. The obvious: tie some flies, search in books and online for new patterns for your applications, setup in "your corner" and get at it.
If you don't tie, learn how. We have in this area one of the most talented tiers in Western Canada and he is always looking to put on a winter course. Paul Carnes is a master of teaching the art of tying; he learned from one of the original Kamloops fly fishing innovators, Mrs. Helen Peacock, the creator of the original ‘Tom Thumb’ dry fly.
2. ‘Winterize’ your gear. Take the lines off the reels, pull them through a cloth, moist with warm water and a drop of mild dish soap, then repeat with a cloth moist with clean water. Store your lines by hanging them in large loops from large pegs or around plastic clothes hangers. Store them in a dry sunshine-free spot in the basement or in a storage closet. I have a couple of bicycle wheel rims that I wrap my lines on and hang up in my ‘Man-cave’.
3. Take your reels apart, clean them with lubricant spray and put a tiny drop of synthetic oil on the moving parts: just a drop of light grease on the bearings. Any reels that have cork disc drags (like Islander Reels), put a drop of synthetic oil on the cork face and smear it all around the face of the disk.
4. Fly line backing require no maintenance to speak of. I'm a bit fussy with my gear, so when I remove the line, I peel off a few yards of backing, just to see if it's damp. If it is, I put a few drops of methyl hydrate onto the backing that's wrapped on the spool to get rid of any moisture that may cause mould issues with the dacron backing.
5. Clean and wax your fly rods. I use any kind of furniture polish on a soft cloth and just clean all the sections and look for any nicks or fracturing of the finish that may indicate a possible breaking point under load. Winter is the time to replace warranty sections or replace rods, NOT after you need them! You may decide to have a custom rod built or, even better, decide to build your very own. ‘Hard Water Season’ is the time to do it. I know many rod builders (including myself), who don't even look at building until ‘Ice Over’.
(Before putting rod sections together, take some soft candle wax and apply a thin coat to each of the male ferrules, so when assembling your rods, any dust in the female ferrule will not scratch the finish. An extra bonus is that the joins will never seize together and will never come loose during casting.)
Store your rods in that same dry place, out of the tubes. (The tubes dry out and your rods don't stay damp).
6. Open up all of your fly boxes stack them in a dry, warm place where there is a good flow of air, like a furnace room, so they dry out, which prevents the hooks rusting. Spend an evening or two with a hook file or sharpening stone and touch up all your fly hooks, set the flies aside that need replacing.
7. Go through all your spools of leader and tippet material and make a list of what needs replacing. Ordinary monofilament leaders and leader material breaks down under UV light fairly rapidly (about 2 seasons) so you need to test the breaking strength regularly. Flurocarbon will last substantially longer, even in sunlight. (Spools of leader and tippet material make great ‘stocking stuffers’ so be sure and let Santa know.)
8. Clean, oil and sharpen your tools: pliers, forceps, nippers, knives and retractable gadget holders.
This is all called ‘puttering with gear’ and serves an important purpose: it gets your gear all cleaned and ready, it allows you to stock up on ‘stuff’ for the next season and best of all, it keeps your gear in top shape.
"You take care of your gear--your gear will take care of you."
Questions? I'm only too happy to answer any general fishing questions. Please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jack Simpson
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