I saw this video clip the other day on the Southern food blog, Chicken Fried Yankee, and I just had to share it with you guys. Who knew ribs and BBQ sauce could inspire art like this? —Colin

By Kirk Deeter

In golf, they say, “You drive for show and putt for dough.” The same is true in flyfishing for trout, except the drive is your cast, and the putt is your drift. It doesn’t matter how you get it there, but once that fly lands on (or in) the water it has to look perfect. The key to the perfect drift is mending your line: basically, keeping your fly line upstream of your dry fly (or strike indicator when you are nymph fishing). Once the fly line gets downstream of the fly or indicator, it will grab the current and cause the fly to drag. Usually that’s game over, and you lose.

An ideal “mend” involves lifting the fly line from downstream and placing it upstream, without moving the fly or strike indicator. The most common mistake, even among people who understand the importance of mending, is getting herky-jerky and trying to whip the line with the rod from chest level. Wiggling your flies around for the sake of mending defeats the entire purpose.

STEP 1

Lift: Fly rods are built 8 feet long and over for a reason. When you start the mend, lift the rod tip just high enough to pick the fly line off the water, but not so high that you disturb the leader.

STEP 2

Swing: With your rod tip straight up, swing it across your face from downstream to upstream.

STEP 3

Place: Gently lay down your line to the upstream side of your fly or indicator. Sometimes, in faster water, you might want to “kick” that rod over with more force.

By John Merwin

Tying a Bimini twist seems to be every angler’s nightmare—at least among those who haven’t tried it. Although it looks intimidating, it’s not that difficult. After 30 minutes of practice, you should be able to tie this important knot easily. The Bimini creates a doubled line ending in a loop. The doubled line can then be tied directly to a lure, swivel, or hook. Often, a Bimini is tied in a light running line or leader, and the loop is then tied to a heavier shock leader. That’s standard procedure in flyfishing for bigger fish like stripers, tarpon, marlin, and tuna.

STEP 1

Start by doubling about 3 feet of line. Hold the tag end and standing line together in your left hand. Put your right hand in the loop at the end. Rotate your right hand clockwise 20 times, creating a series of spread-out twists in the doubled line.

STEP 2

While seated with knees together, use your right hand to spread the end loop over both knees. Keep holding the tag end and standing line with your left hand so the twists don’t unwind. Now grab the tag end with your right hand, still holding the standing line with your left.

STEP 3

Pull With Your hands upward and slightly apart. At the same time, spread your knees to put tension on the loop. This packs the twists closer together.

STEP 4

Now move your right hand (tag end of line) downward so the line is roughly perpendicular to the twists, and slightly relax tension from your right hand. Maintain tension on the loop with your knees and on the standing line with your left hand. You’ll feel the tag end start to wrap itself around the twists. Keep loosening tension with only your right hand as the tag end wraps downward, over the twists and to the beginning of the loop over your knees.

STEP 5

Anchor the resulting wraps by making a half hitch with the tag end around one side of the loop. Then make three half hitches around both loop strands, pulling the hitches up tightly against the base of the wraps. Trim the tag end, breathe a sigh of relief, and try it again.

THE FINAL RESULT

When you’re all finished, here’s what the Bimini should look like.