Mending

"Cast for show, mend for dough!"

This is how one helpful guide put it, spinning it off the old golf saying. You could be the most graceful fly caster in the world, but we slide our poker chips “all in” on a world class mender.

Your casts are in the air. Fish live in the water. Fly fishing is a game of presentation!

The cold hard truth is, 20% of the anglers catch 80% of the fish. Many of the other 80% of anglers are skilled casters, but have overlooked the importance of mending.

Learning how to mend properly is what separates the boys and girls from the men and women in fly fishing. It’s a fundamental skill that will help you smash through the learning curve from a beginner to intermediate and beyond.

Many fly fishermen fail to understand the why behind the mend. Why should I move my line while it’s in the water - won’t that make my presentation worse than if I don’t touch it???

While the logic of the mend might sound counterintuitive, you must put yourself into the fish's fins. Fish spend 24/7 (yes, they don’t even sleep!) doing one thing and one thing only - looking for food and eating it. What if you had practiced a skill for that long? You would be pretty incredible at it, right?

Well, that perfectly describes the challenge of catching a trout - they are picky and most of them can decipher between the tiniest of details of what to and what not to eat. And if you’re fishing at the same river as everyone else, using the same local-fly-shop-recommended flies, then it’s all going to come down to a game of presentation. That fish has seen your Copper John before!

Perhaps you’ve had the opportunity to fish on a “drift boat”. Or maybe you’ve just seen someone fishing out of one before. If not, take notice when you see one. Typically, when you’re using a drift boat, you might catch 3x more fish than if you fished from the bank. Why is this? Your guide might be getting you into some good holes with a proven pattern, all other things equal, it’s because of your flawless presentation to the fish.

We’ve fished from the shore in the same hole, with the same pattern, at the same time as a brand new fly fisherman. He caught dozens to our few. In a drift boat, you are “drifting” at the speed of the current, for extended stretches of the river. You’ll cover more river, be in front of more fish, with near perfect presentation. Of course you're going to catch more fish! You don’t need to buy a drift boat to get into fly fishing. In fact, drift boaters still have to mend - just not as often.

The purpose of the mend is to achieve a “dead drift” / “drag free drift”. You’ll hear these terms often and can use them interchangeably. A drag free drift in dry fly fishing means that the fly does not drag against the water’s surface. In nymphing, it is letting the nymph freely flow, without tension from the fly line, allowing it to get to optimal depth and speed. These are the natural ways the fish are used to seeing their food, and if you’re going to have luck catching them, you’ll need to present it this way.

How Do I Mend?

First things first, before casting, observe the different currents and position yourself accordingly. A good rule to keep in mind is “only mend when you have to”. If you can’t get close enough, then mend. This is usually determined by the accessibility of the water (how deep/fast the water is), and the spookiness of the fish.

If you are unsure of how your fly line is going to react with the currents of the river, there is only one way to find out for sure! Give it a cast, and see what happens. Then mend accordingly.