"Ken Fortenberry" wrote


large measure of salt, anybody who tells you to cast a 6wt or
heavier line on your 3wt has got a screw loose.



Although I agree that Mike's comments might confuse a newbie, I HAVE fished,
successfully and many times, using a 2 wt and a cut down '8wt' shooting
head. Now, obviously ( I think) when you cut most of the 8wt head off what
is left is no longer an '8wt line' ... it is simply a very short 2wt
shooting head.
Backed with Amnesia running line it is somewhat like a spin casting/fly
casting hybrid but gets the fly out there rather well.

I, personally, only used this system years ago on putentake stillwaters
around home here when I silly enough to think I wanted more sense of "fight"
from these sluggish fish. Two weight heads weren't available and a
shooting head is the way to fish stillwaters, imho, 99.874% of the time.
So I experimented starting with a 'retired" 8wt head and it surprised me how
well it worked. The system worked better and was more pleasant to cast (
for me ) than most shot/bobber/weighted nymph/standard line combinations
I've used.

I no longer use the 2wt/8wt marrage because I no longer fish a 2wt
....period. But I still buy 10wt heads and cut them down for my 8wt striper
rod ( balancing to feel, cutting off a little at a time and testing ) and
have fished this 10/8 combo and an 8/8 combo both enough to be able to
declare the shorter head works better for me, most times and situations.

You've mentioned fishing for Pike ( or something new for you, maybe not
Pike ) and shopping for a 9wt .... when you get one ... try cutting back a
11 or 12 head until you feel it balances the rod with a couple feet of
overhang ... it might surprise you how well it tosses a big fly


NOTE: I am a ****poor caster and no expert ... just a guy who "has done
that"