leader/tippet twisting

[gannoli]

Today while fishing my new setup I was experiencing some line twist where I tied tippet to the leader. Actually caused the line to break during my cast. Could this have anything to do with the fly I was using or using mono instead of actual tippet material? I'm just have a hard time diagnosing the problem. I attached a few pictures, one of the twist and one of the fly.

 

[MoscaPescador]

Twists usually are formed by large surface flies with too light leader. Go with something a bit thicker.

Dennis

 

[dabluz]

Wow....that's the worst case of line twisting that I have ever seen. Use only leader material (stiff mono) when making your leader and tippet. Mono that is used for casting is much limper. You may be using tippet material that is too thin. The tippet size is not for the fish but for the fly you are using. Using a popper like in the photo...I would not use under 4 lb test. I would probably use 6 lb test.

You may be doing too much false casting. To decrease the number of false casts, lift your popper off the water with a roll cast, let out a bit of line on the pickup and back cast and then make a forward cast and shoot out some line at the end of the forward cast. Don't try to make any of those extra long forward casts, you don't need them really. If you are using a longer rod (9 feet), you can usually pick up the popper off the surface and without a false cast, immediately make your forward cast. The twisting is done while the fly is in the air.

 

[JoJer]

As above, plus, flies with big wings, and big stiff legs can add to the problem, too, especially if the wings or legs are unequal in length.

 

[fredaevans]

Right on answers above, but I'll just add one small thought ... river fishing sort of thing. If you get 'leader twist' its a darned good indication the fly is out of whack (spinning). Even a 'grain' too much on one side is all it takes.

fae

 

[gannoli]

Thanks for the help guys. I just got the 8wt setup yesterday and was using an 7.5ft 4x leader with 6lb mono tippet (trilene smooth casting) as this is what the guy at the store recommended. I'll try and work on making fewer false casts, I'm still learning. I thought it had a lot to do with the fly, I've never had this problem and this was my first time using an 8wt and throwing such a large fly.

 

[stenacron]

Thanks for the help guys. I just got the 8wt setup yesterday and was using an 7.5ft 4x leader with 6lb mono tippet (trilene smooth casting) as this is what the guy at the store recommended. I'll try and work on making fewer false casts, I'm still learning. I thought it had a lot to do with the fly, I've never had this problem and this was my first time using an 8wt and throwing such a large fly.

For poppers, switch to a stiff 2X tippet and those problems will go away.

By the looks of things, that tippet in the picture looks more like a limp mono made more for spinning reels. It looks like it's stretching and whiplashing on you... could be what's causing it to wad up like that.