Shock Absorber for Fly Fishing

During the past years I have been fly fishing for asp a lot. Lots of try and error was involved!

Whenever I use a nylon tippet below 0,25mm it easily can happen, that the asp strikes too aggressive and the leader would break within the first second.

In order to fish tippets around 0,20 - 0,23mm one solution is to fish a pretty soft rod (ERN 4 - 5). In addition I have to keep an angle less than 180° between my rod and the fly line during retrieving. That way no fish breaks me off.
Since I often need to fish heavy weighted flies (1,0 - 1,5 gramm) a 7wt. fly line is a must have. Also I want to be able to cast serious distances easily. So an ERN 7 fly rod matches better here.

Using an 0,25mm nylon tippet combined with a 7wt. fly line and an ERN 7 fly rod always did a proper job for me. But using thinner tippets brings in some pros:

- my fly sinks faster
- my fly has more action
- the tippet is less visable in clear water situations

In order to still use my 7wt. fly line and fly rod I was looking for a quick solution to absorb the truly aggressive takes. A simple piece of elastic band seems to be a proper solution (see the picture below). I yet have to fish that shock absorber for a while to be sure it does work in long terms. My first tests have been promising so far. The quick solution shock absorber did a pretty good job.

Of course I am already working on designing addtional ways how to built a quick shock absorber. So pls. stay tuned. ;)

Besides working on the shock absorber I was fishing for carp, asp, pike perch and more. Also we had some teaching of fly casting and trained our distance 5wt. game a bit. All in all the whole week was about fly fishing and fly fishing only. Just about right!? ;)

Edit: Further great infos about shock absorber check out this: Shock Absorber

Great week to all of you.

All my best

Bernd

The Shock absorber



Some pictures of my last week as always...