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Fly Fishing with Doug Macnair
A Product Update©
Scientific Anglers L2L Reconnect Leader System --
Has It Gone Full Circle?
A Product Update©
Scientific Anglers L2L Reconnect Leader System --
Has It Gone Full Circle?
Doug Macnair
Sure enough, they’ve done it again … this time Scientific Anglers has rounded out the full potential of the L2L Reconnect Leader System, or have they?
To this already flexible system, they’ve added a wet-tip capability along with a modification to one of their very excellent System X boxes enabling the fly fisher to preload up to four fly rigs ready to go at stream-side…
Allow me to take a writer’s license and recall my earlier words ... “It wasn’t so long ago when I reported my views on the then new Scientific Anglers System L2L (Leader to Line) connectors. I liked it then and I like it even better today; in fact I presently have six lines equipped with the L2L and have yet to experience a problem…”
“That said, now comes Scientific Anglers with yet another improvement to the L2L – interchangeable leader connectors configured for 3X through 6X. It takes but an instant: lock and unlock with a simple twist. (Take that you nail-knoters.) The advent of the replaceable reusable L2L Reconnect is without a doubt a time-saver on the water.”
What do I think? Quite honestly, I think the L2L Reconnect system is extraordinary. Realizing that many of you are fans of the ubiquitous nail knot as the perfect way to join line and leader, allow me to ask this question, have you ever watched your “nail knot” connection sink into the surface film dragging along the tip of your high cost floating line? I have! Use the new Reconnect system and that that won’t happen -- the connector floats. Then, too, the connector also serves as a mini strike indicator when nymphing and does this job very well.”
Nice words? I hope so … Now, more nice words. Very simply, the new Wet Tip Reconnect system along with the modified System X box brings a great innovation a little further along the trail to absolute fly fishing novena.
Take a moment and think about this scenario…
You are standing above a small creek that has experienced very little fishing pressure. Below you, the trout can clearly be seen finning in the gin-clear water obviously awaiting their next meal. Edging quietly into the water, you flick your Adams (dry) upstream, mend, and allow it drift into the current. Three casts bring nary a rise… “Perhaps a terrestrial?” you think. A pre-rigged Black Gnat (wet) replaces the Adams in less than a minute – a half twist removes the Adams; a half twist locks on the Black Gnat …
Sad to say, the Black Gnat enjoys no more success than the Adams. “So, how about a nice big Bugger?” you think. You reach for your System X box and produce a Woolly Bugger you pre-rigged … in less than a minute the switch is made … the Bugger is locked on, this time with a shorter leader taken from the Wet Tip system, but it, too, fails to produce a strike. “O.K., if it's war you want, so be it…” Yet another pre-rigged take-off of the L2L Reconnect system appears from the System X box – this time it’s a Scud mounted on the Wet Tip rig (a 4-ft., type II Sink Tip coupled to the 5-ft. leader). Importantly, this change-up on the water required little more than a minute …
Now perfectly positioned for high stick nymphing, your first toss upstream begets a fat brookie, the largest you’ve ever seen -- it’s easily over 5 pounds.
Upstream, you buddy who is sitting on a rock tying off yet another nail knot hollers down, “How did you do that?”
Your response is simple: “When you’ve fly fished as long as I have, you sort of develop a knack for this sort of thing…
In case you were wondering about pre-rigging and quick-change as purported here – the secret is in the Reconnect Organizer as depicted here: each is reusable and each will hold two rigs. In fact, as the name reconnect implies, all of the parts are reusable -- over and over again.
How’s that my friends?
Thus it is that we gather together today to bemoan the loss of our former friend, the nail knot. Unfortunately, he was weak. The fallacy of the nail knot is/was the way it’s tied – it wraps around the line and grips it exactly like what I used to call “Chinese handcuffs.” Eventually the wrapping cuts through the line’s PVC coating, hits the mono core, and is gone in a heartbeat. Many fly fishers now tie two nail knots, but if two is better, why not six? No, I am not a fan of the nail knot. With the advent of the L2L Reconnect System, I celebrate its demise and, for that matter, the reduced need for loop-to-loop connections.
I am of the opinion that with the lighter weights - 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 - the Reconnect system will improve the cast of many fly fishers. The Reconnect offers the smoothest turnovers I’ve ever thrown. I attribute this to the wonderful transition of power between line and leader that so many of us fail to achieve with our knots, coatings, and loops. It lifts smoothly from the water without the turmoil so many of us experience. Keep in mind that the connectors, both male and female naturally float unlike your mono connections.
If this sounds good, it is! Tight loops and an increase in accuracy are always welcomed by even the most seasoned fly fisher. Promise me this: don’t be afraid to try the L2L. It won’t hurt a bit … and when you find it works far better than you ever thought it would, don’t thank me – instead, pass your regards to Scientific Anglers.
Believe me, whether an expert or beginner, the L2L Reconnect has something to offer almost any fly fisher interested in such things as simplicity, reliability, and versatility. The L2L Reconnect system is a great step forward in fly fishing technology.
Where next for the evolution of the Reconnect System … Will it be a heavier weight for 8 and 9-weight lines? Will it be a variation for both salt and freshwater? These questions and answers are quite legitimate … Unfortunately, only the Shadow knows (and more than likely, Bruce Richards).
For more information regarding these and other fly fishing accessories, contact:
3M Scientific Anglers, 3M Center, Bldg. 223-4NE-05, St. Paul, MN 55144-1000. Telephone: 1-(800) 430-5000.
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© Copyright: Douglas G. Macnair, 2007.
http://www.theflyfishingforum.com/forums/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=60#_ednref1 All pictures are through the courtesy of Scientific Anglers.