Paul Arden | Monday, 16 December 2019
Things managed to get away from me over the past three months or so, flat out on the lake, chasing fish and so I’m doing two things with the competition, 1) I’m extending the date slightly to give you a chance to enter (I know that some of you are not even aware that there is a competition!) And 2) for every entry we will be giving away a Sexyloops Stealth Master Cap! So I’m putting in an order for 144 new Sexyloops Stealth Master hats and when they arrive the competition is closed! These hats are a special design manufactured for us in China and I also happen to know that Chinese New Year comes early this year (I know this because my wife is 1/2 Chinese!) And so I’m fairly certain now that our hats will arrive slightly after CNY because everything stops over this period of time. It’s a bit like trying to order something around Christmas-time in Europe!
There you go - you don’t just learn about fly fishing at Sexyloops; you also learn other stuff here too. Things you probably never even needed to know.
So for this very exciting competition we have opened it right up, and we are just looking for a Hot Torpedo story. The original concept was a story from the perspective of the rod itself, but after a few they are all quite similar AND I know from talking to many of you that you thought this was a crappy idea. (It wasn’t my idea by the way; my ideas are much better). So any stories you want; quirky is good, this is Sexyloops after all. Please get your entry in soon, as I say small extension, and you win a hat for every story published. As soon as the hats arrive in the UK the competition is closed! Best story wins a custom built Hot Torpedo.
https://www.sexyloops.com/htoc/2019/11/07/the-hot-torpedo-competition-is-back/
And remember even if you have all four main rods, the HT4, 6, 8 and 10, we also have two new rods coming out this month; the HT907 ie a 9ft 7WT, which will be available in both fishing versions and the instructor white variation - we have already taken orders on these by the way, some of you are so keen! And we have the HT7634 which is a 7’6” rod, also four piece, and fishes with a 3 or 4WT line (I know that’s going to be confusing!) :D
I also have two Rampage Blanks sitting around, these are 9’6” very stiff T27 or considerably more moderate T38. They are three-piece. It’s just something we are playing with. Also I have two prototype 12WT blanks in stock. One of these I’m going to build and send to Gary in Florida but I think we have some work to do before this one is finished.
So, over this festive season, take some time out between mince pies, and write a Hot Torpedo story and then email it to me paul@sexyloops.com And good luck!!
Torque Twist
It’s something that we have been discussing backwards and forwards on the Board for some time. For about three years now, I’ve been using this “twist stop” to place the fly down first with Gourami (so important - the Gourami must hear the fly land, and not the line! - and for the Snakehead Shot it adds lightning speed, saves time and it adds distance, as much as 2 or more metres. It’s something that has become an integral part of my casting shots here in the Malaysian jungle. I don’t teach it at first; but it’s something I add to the shot once all the other components are working properly and without thought.
Merlin on the Board, some time ago, suggested that it was a form of pull-back, second node frequency, forced unload. And I know that we are not all on the same page with regards exactly how pull-back works. And since Daniel mentioned it, I thought yes it’s giving that sort of result in the appearance of the loop and also the feedback from the rod. But I never filmed it… until now.
Yesterday I managed to get a chance to film the rod at 240fps, which is incredible, unfortunately I don’t know how to upload a video at 240fps, but even so you can see the definitive S-shape in the rod as it unloads and you can compare that to a normal stop where it doesn’t appear. I know it’s not going to be a conclusion to this discussion - not by a very long way! But hopefully it will add something and I’ll make a proper teaching video of this at some point in the future… https://www.sexyloops.co.uk/theboard/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3138
That’s about it for me this week. I was hoping to be on the lake today; looks like it will be tomorrow now. My birthday is on Thursday and Lars is on Friday, and Jesus’ is next week. This is of course birthday season and that’s because everyone shags in the Spring.
Have a great week,
Paul