AL’S KRAZY GLUE SPLICE – Al Caucci, showed me the easiest, strongest, and neatest way to connect a leader to the fly line that I have ever seen. The leader is connected to the braided core of the fly line instead of to the fly line coating. Al teaches the splice at his schools on the West Branch of the Delaware River and in the Bahamas. He not only uses the splice for freshwater trout fishing but also for tarpon, bonefish, and permit in the Keys and Bahamas. He has left the same splice on for over two years when fishing in saltwater. Bob Fischer of the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club uses this connection exclusively for all his saltwater fishing. He suggested I include directions in these pages.

Pour finger nail polish remover (containing acetone) into the cap and put at least 3/8 inch of the end of the fly line into the liquid and let it soak for about 20 seconds before stripping the coating off the fly line off with your finger nail. Then trim the exposed core to about 3/8 inch and enlarge the hollow core with a larger than normal pin—I use an old hat pin. Push the butt of the leader up into the exposed fly line core and wipe a drop of Krazy Glue onto the connection. Wet your thumb and forefinger and roll the connection around. Wipe a second drop on the opposite side of the connection and again roll the connection around to thoroughly penetrate the connection with glue. Do not use too much glue. Caucci, who developed the splice, said to be sure to use the Original Formula Krazy Glue (with a K) in the leak proof, air tight case from Borden. Some other CA glues, such as Zap-A-Gap, have failed.

CIRCLE HOOKS – I do not use circle hooks. Sure commercial fishermen use them because fish cannot get off when they do not tend the line. Adhering to the “do not set the hook” idea can result in deeply hooked fish. Usually, if you keep connected to the fly and strike with a slip strike when you feel the weight of the fish, you will hook up in the corner of the mouth—even with a regular hook. A.H. Wood described this hook set in Greased Line Fishing back in 1903.

SPLITS – Some days fish are feeding in the upper part of the water column, and some days you have to go down to catch them. Weighting the fly can accomplish this. The Clouser is an excellent fly because the lead eyes take the fly down—like a jig. You can accomplish the same thing by wrapping lead wire around the front half of the hook shank before finishing the fly—just be sure to coat the lead with head cement to prevent staining the fly’s body and wing. In either case you have to change flies when you want to fish at different levels. One solution is to use removable split shot attached between 6 to 8 inches in front of your favorite unweighted fly. I prefer size BB. Bob Clouser uses a wrap-around lead strip to take a fly down when he is not using one of his Clousers. A small container of “splits” limits the number of flies you have to tie and carry. Vary the location of the split to produce different actions. Experiment.

PAPER CLIPS – I make a small loop in each end of my fly lines to make loop-to-loop connections with the backing and the leader butt. I fold the end of the fly line back and secure the loop with a Speedy Nail Knot. Instead of using a nail knot tool, I use an ordinary paper clip with the outer leg straightened for a “nail.”

MAXIMS: “Just because you are on a diet doesn’t mean you can’t look at                 the menu.” – Feel free to interpret that anyway you want.

               Hope is a virtue, but continuing to do the same thing and hope for                  better results is stupidity.