Leader Stretching

Might be a pretty dumb question... but I'll throw myself at the mercy of the masses...
 
Reading a couple books about fly fishing right now. The one chapter the author was talking about waiting around through the middle part of the day for that hatch to start in the evening. While he was waiting he was BS'n with a couple other anglers that were there. In the middle of the BS'n he talked about them helping each other stretch out their fly lines and leaders. He also did this for a casting competition.
 
I've never done this... is this something any of you typically do before heading to the stream. Seems like something you'd do if you let your line sit on your reel all summer or something. Will stretching your line out take any coils or loops out of it? I've never tried it...

Yeah idk... when he was talking about the casting competition, he said they would take their reels to the backing and they would help each other stretch their lines out. Just never heard of that before. Didn't know if it was common, actually helped cast farther, or if he was full of $hit....
 
Yo Cold... help me stretch out 70 yds of fly line I gotta roll cast from rt 5 to the lake

i bought one of those leader straighteners. at first it didn't work so well but i kept using it anyway. once the shiny coating was rubbed off of the straightener it works very well now. anytime i install a new tapered leader i straighten it out with the leader straightener.
someone on here, can't remember who, said to straighten out a flouro. leader you can use a pair of hemostats. just keep the line tight against the closed hemostats and pull the line tight around them. ~dt

Yes, it does take the kinks out for the most part. I have seen and heard of this being done to the line, and can see it helping with your distance and presentation. I can also see it helping with managing the line not on the reel while fishing. I don't bother stretching the line, but I always stretch the leader if it is coming off the reel, even if it was just stored there overnight.

The only time I ever feel the need to stretch the line is when I reverse my double taper line. I may just have to start stretching the line more often before fishing, but up to now, I just don't bother to take the time.

exceeding the modulus of elasticity...

Stretching your leader and fly line will improve the performance.

On your fly line, stretching should take out all of the memory and kinks. Allowing the taper to work properly. It helps the overall performance, not only distance. If there appear to be loops or memory in the line after a good stretch, most likely the line is twisted.

Stretching will help leaders to some extent. Monofilament stretches 20% on average before it breaks. I'm not sure about fluorocarbon. The stretching helps remove major memory and improves turnover greatly. If you want all of the loops out, buy a leader straightener. The heat caused by friction, along with the stretching/pulling tight while you use the straightener, will take out all memory.



Mike

I've used leader straighteners, and I've fouind that an old piece of innertube from a truck works just as well as the store bought ones.  As for stretching the line itself it will remove the loops in the line, and hel with farther casts.  I like to heat the line in hot water and then stretch it by tying it to a door knob and backing away while keeping pressure on the line or by running it through a piece of soft leather (golf glove) or innertube.  Ive also found that if you fasten you line to the back bumper of a hemi challenger and hold the other end, , , when the car reaches about 160 feet all the coils disappear.

Speaking about cars -- if you can find an old chamois cloth that outlived its usefulness in drying the family truckster, you can use it (the chamois, not the car)(after a good wash and rinse) to clean your line, refloat dry flies and/or remove twist. To take out twist just dampen a piece of the chamois, start at, oh, the first 10' and kind of firmly move the chamois down the line to the tip. Then go back near the 20' mark. Repeat 'til you don't see the line spinning as you move. (hemi challenger haha)