Casamar Clincher
Book number four in the Fly Fishing Series, The Angler as Predator is out! I will be shipping books later this week.
Book number five entitled Fly Gear, is written and is being edited. I am shooting photos of knots and doing other such tasks for final book assembly. One of the knots that is shown is the Casamar Clincher. Harry Kime showed me this knot many years ago. He was one of the west coast’s early saltwater fly fishers. He once hooked a huge marlin while he was fishing from a 14-foot pram I the Gulf of California. It dragged him out of sight of land, and when he finally got it close enough, he realized it was several feet longer than the boat. Rather than play the “Old Man and the Sea,” he broke the fish off. Still, he was able to wrestle it in on the Casamar Clincher. Harry loved this knot for the shock tippet because it can be easily untied and retied. Once the knot is set, the stiff material of the shock tippet holds all the kinks and bends when the knot is untied. Thus, all the angler has to do is remove the old fly, put on a new one, and reset the knot right back into its original configuration. Harry always allowed the long end to stick back at least as far as the fly so that it was easy to grab onto when untying the knot. He said it was never a problem because it points back toward the fly and therefore doesn’t catch on weeds or other items.
The Casamar Clincher. First tie an overhand knot near the end of the shock tippet; pull the knot nearly tight Run the end of the tippet through the eye of the fly and then up through the overhand knot.
Step 2. Loop the end of the shock tippet around the standing end and above the overhand knot. Push the end down through the overhand knot.
Step 3. Pull on the fly and the standing end of the shock tippet to draw the knot tight.