Ask MidCurrent: How Do You Mend to Get a Better Drift?

Question: Is there a secret to mending a fly line? I just can’t seem to get it right. Help!
—Doug Smith, CO (via the Ask MidCurrent form)

Answer: If there’s one skill that separates average fly anglers from consistently successful ones, it’s mending. While it might not be as glamorous as a perfect cast or a perfectly timed strike, mending is perhaps even more important to hooking trout. It’s the secret ingredient in the recipe for a drag-free drift, and it’s often the difference between a fly that gets ignored and one that gets eaten.

Why Mending Matters

To understand mending, you first have to understand what trout are looking for. Trout don’t chase their food; instead, they wait in the current for it to come to them. Aquatic insects tend to drift naturally with the current. Anything that skitters or moves unnaturally across the surface raises alarm bells. That’s where the concept of the “dead drift” comes in: the fly must appear to float freely, uninfluenced by the angler’s line, rod, or hand. (There are exceptions to this rule, such as ovipositing caddisflies.)

But here’s the catch: Your fly is tied to a leader, which is connected to a fly line, all of which lie on or in the water. Since rivers aren’t uniform and are made up of multiple currents moving at different speeds, if your line lies across a fast current and your fly is in slow water, the fast current will pull your line—and eventually your fly—unnaturally. This is called drag, and it kills your presentation.

Mending is how you counteract drag.

What is Mending?

Mending is the act of repositioning your fly line on the water—during or after the cast—to eliminate or reduce drag. Done correctly, mending keeps your fly drifting naturally in the current, giving you a longer and more convincing presentation.

Think of mending as line control. It’s not just a single flick of the wrist but often an ongoing process. In some cases, a single well-timed upstream mend is all you need. In others, particularly when you’re dealing with tricky currents or long drifts, you might need a series of strategic mends.

The standard upstream mend places the fly line up-current from the fly, allowing it to drift more naturally. Photo: Charles Hildick-Smith

When and How to Mend

The golden rule of mending is simple: mend early and with purpose. As soon as your fly hits the water, the clock is ticking. Once your fly line bonds with the water’s surface tension, moving it without moving your fly as well gets harder.

Here are the key mechanics to good mending:

1. Mend Immediately
   Make your mend the moment the fly lands, before the line has time to settle into the current. Early mending prevents disturbing the fly and reduces the chance of dragging it underwater.
2. Start Low
   Begin your mend with the rod tip low, near the surface. If you start with a bunch of slack hanging from the tip, you’ll end up moving that slack instead of the line on the water.
3. Find the Hinge Point
   The hinge is where the mended and unmended parts of the line meet. Ideally, this should occur at the seam between currents of different speeds. Mend too little, and your fly will still drag. Mend too much, and you’ll pull the fly out of the strike zone.
4. Lift High and Mend with Authority
   Don’t be shy. Use a high rod tip—even overhead—to pick up more line, and commit to the mend. Hesitation leads to half-hearted mends that move nothing and only create slack.
5. Don’t Drag the Fly
   The goal is to lift and reposition the line, not pull the fly out of its lane. With practice, you’ll learn to isolate the movement to just the portion of the line you want to shift.

Types of Mends

The most common mends are upstream and downstream:

• Upstream Mend: Use this when the faster current is between you and the fly. The line is being pulled downstream ahead of the fly, so you mend upstream to reset the belly of the line.
• Downstream Mend: If the fly is in faster water than the line, it will be moving faster than the rest of your setup. A downstream mend keeps the fly line from holding the fly back, letting it move naturally.

In more complicated scenarios, such as when your line crosses multiple current speeds, you may need multiple mends. For instance, you might start with a big upstream mend to reposition the bulk of the line, and then add small downstream mends near your rod tip to counteract slower currents near your body.

The Reach Cast: A Mend in the Air

Sometimes, the best mend is one you don’t have to make on the water. The reach cast is a preemptive aerial mend where you reposition your rod tip upstream or downstream at the end of the forward cast. This lays the line diagonally across the current, buying you precious seconds of drag-free drift before you even need to think about mending again.

Mending is a Process

One of the most important things to remember is that mending is not a single act—it’s a process. Sometimes one mend is enough. Other times, you may need to mend several times to adjust for multiple current speeds. The key is to stay engaged with your drift, watch how your line is behaving, and be ready to adapt.

With time, your understanding of river hydraulics will grow. You’ll begin to anticipate the currents before you cast and even plan your mends in advance. Eventually, you’ll stop thinking about it altogether—it’ll just become part of how you fish.

And when that happens, you’ll find that your fly spends more time in the strike zone, looks more natural to the fish, and—most importantly—gets eaten more often.

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