Fly fishing innovation

[Deleted User]

While visiting a local fly shop today I examined a new product that I think is great!
It's a fly line with interchangable tips. You start with the basic WF floating line butt section then you are given about three or four different tips like floating,fast sinking,sinking and one other I think. It sells for about $100 which you may think is steep but considering the price of spare spools and other qualityc flylines. I'm thinking seriously about getting one.
Stew

[smilesforu]

Is it the Rio wind cutter line? Great line systems with the only draw back I can think of is the loss of line control if you really shoot it out there. You just strip back in until you get the head back to the tip and then roll it out and shoot it back out.

Stew you can also make systems similar yourself with a loop system that are cheaper. Probably not a bad idea starting with a factory made one first, in case you mess up.....GULP.

[Deleted User]

You are right about the loss of control Marty. I made a couple of shooting heads by cutting a DT line in half and then splicing flat mono to it. I could easily cast it across the casting pond at Eastmoreland. Using it on the river was completely different story though. I lost most of the control of the line.
Stew

[Steelheader69]

Yes, I agree it's great line. I have the windcutter spey line by Rio with the multi tips and think it's great. Beats the heck out of multi spools.

But hey Stewwy, I found a really cool innovation that works REALLY well.

Take a spey rod with a sink tip line. You want that big rod that can swing that fly line quickly. Now, here's the tricky part but it'll work. Have your net ready by the bank, cause' you'll need it. Tie on an Indian Reservation bought M1000 to tippet, light, and swing it into the hole. Watch the fish come to you. images/icons/smile.gif

Just kidding. I'd highly not advise that. LOL.

[santiamflyguy]

Bigstew--

Just a few things that might help you on your way to becoming a, well, umm, uhh, yeah...

Normal shooting head length is about 30 feet. Experiment to see what feels right, but half of a double taper (90/2=45ft) is generally a bit long. Selecting the wrong length is a common mistake; a shorter, heavier head will do much better. A key to constructing your own shooting head setup is to purposely "overload" the rod. If you cut a #8 line down to 30 feet and put it on an 8 weight rod, you won't have any control. Even if you use 45 feet of #8, it'll still feel underpowered and won't 'shoot' well at all. Why? Because the rod is designed to 'load' optimally load with 60-70 feet of line out...that sweet spot you reach just before your longest casts...but you're only using 30-45 feet, and that barely flexes the tip. Hardly the best way to use your nice new rod, is it? You might as well make it work hard!

However, take a 10 weight line, cut that down to 30 ft and put it on the same rod, and your casts will shoot out with more authority. Why? You're putting a flex into the rod with 30 feet of 10 weight that would normally occur with 60 feet of 8 weight. I don't remember the precise grain weights or the respective line, but 10wt is approx 1.8 times as heavy as 8wt. The line'll travel straighter and farther, because the rod 'loads' like it was designed to (that 60-70 foot cast sweet spot), all the way down into the midsection. You're using the whole rod, and much like a golf swing, if you use your whole body in sync, you'll hit longer, straighter shots than if you just use your arms or lower body to power into the ball.

Normally, 2 weights above the 'normal' is the sweet spot, anything less and you lose distance and control because you are only flexing the tip, anything more and you might overload it and have an instant two piece rod...and not because the sections seperated at the ferrule, lol. Sink-tip and sinking heads need to be a bit shorter than 30 feet, purely because they weigh more per foot than a floating line. I've been known to use a 10-12 foot length of deep water express when I need to fish a deep pool. You can also make mini-heads of just 5-6 feet if the banks are brushy and what not, using an even denser line (like a 13wt fast sink). This lets you cover the water with just short flips of your rod...no backcast troubles images/icons/smile.gif.

My favorite quote about casting a shooting head goes something like this: "At first it'll feel like you're twirling a pregnant armadillo around by the tail..." (Deke Meyer). While this is true, when you're sending out 100+ feet of line and swimming your Matuka through that beautiful slot on the far side of the river, you'll forget all that images/icons/smile.gif. I use shooting heads maybe 90% of the time I fish steelhead. When I don't use them, it's because I'm doing something stupid, like fishing a 4wt rod on a little coast river in the middle of August.

Also, if you loop the end of your running line (mono is best here) and the end of your shooting heads, changing them midstream shouldn't be very difficult, especially if you've got the appropriate flies and leaders on each head. It only takes minutes to change from a floater to a sink tip to a full sinking and back to a floater to really work through a pool. Although sometimes it's a lot more fun to keep one head on and find water fitted to it.

Whew, that was pretty long winded. I hope y'all can find something useful in there.
-sfg

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the advice SFG. Normally I can get the distance I need with the WF or DT I am now using. when I experimented with the shooting head about 20 years ago I was under the impression I needed to be able to cast clear across the Deschutes or I wasn't fishing. i prefer the "Greased Line" style of fishing and have had success with it. I suppose if I were to fish the Cowlitz or any other large river my thinking might be different.
Stew

[santiamflyguy]

very true, bigstew, that you don't have to cast to the other side of the river to be fishing effectively. i don't know how many times i've seen someone step into a run and strip off maybe 60 feet of running line and fire it out across the river...and across the tops of three or four steelhead. even if you're capable of throwing 130+ feet of line, don't forget to make the 10 and 20 foot casts images/icons/smile.gif. about 3/4 of the fish i catch are with less then 50 ft. of line out. you don't look like a good fisherman if you're trying to extract your shooting head from the big pine tree on the far side of the river, now do ya? images/icons/wink.gif

[Firedog]

Stew, I just bought the fly line with interchangeable tips last week. I havent fished it a lot yet. Did really like how it handled and cast what little I did use it. I was fishing the Kalama so cast we fairly short though. The heaviest tip got down well, havent tried the other tips yet.

I went to fishermans to pick up a new line for the first time in a long time and the manager at OC showed me that and I decided that was better than buying multiple lines and it is very easy to change. Mine is an 8wt, came with a case for holding extra tips and also says you can order a wide range of spares. I think you would really like it if you decided to pick it up.