fly line taper

On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 18:28:30 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:

I fish two or three places, Hebgen gulpers, Davis Lake damsel hatch, and
others similar, where I have yet to feel I've "solved" the casting
requirements of the situation. Specifically, you have a long line out on
the water and want to pick it up and lay it down quickly in a new direction
to cover a riser that has cruised into range. All stripping in of line to
get to the 'head," and false casting use up valuable time ..... cover
these fish quickly and you've got him ... take a while and you probably
guessed wrong on where he was headed. I need to be able to pick up a long
floating line off a stillwater and maximize my minimal abilities doing so.

My question, as my post season tackle check shows my lake floating line
cracked and ready for replacement, is there a specialty taper available that
will help in this situation?

For kickboating stillwaters, I, usually, fish an 25++ year old Scott 10ft
5wt that is lovely for the work, in general, and I have a wide variety of
lines for it. But it's rather slow in action ... maybe one of the 'modern'
broomstick rods would be best for this special situation? I doubt I'll
invest in a special rod, but if I did, what 5wt rod would be best, period ?
best for the buck? is the TFO 5wt TICR suitable?


This depends a lot on the flies you're using, but check out Airflo's
Bankmaster and Delta tapers. They have very long front tapers that
produce, thick, heavy bellies as compared to other fly lines of the
same AFTMA rating. If the entire belly is hung off the tiptop, it
results in a very quick, deep load that'll pick up and fire a lot of
line.

However, heavily weighted flies are difficult to cast on these lines
unless you're a very deliberate caster (which you may well be
considering your choice of rods.) On the plus side, they'll cast the
same heavy flies very easily using spey casts instead of going
overhead. These were designed as reservoir lines in the UK, meant to
cast a team of flies a long way, without tangling. UK reservoir rods
are quite long, usually 6/7 wts., and depending on the manufacturer,
vary from fast to slow.

As far as picking up, changing direction, and laying out line without
false casting, it's worth learning the single spey. Never tried it
from a kickboat and that could be a problem, but you could pick 40' to
45' of fly line plus leader, off the water and change direction easily
up to 60 degrees without a single false cast. While they weren't
designed specifically for the job, these Airflo lines are the best
spey casters out there in trout weights.

The TT line suggestion is a good one for the same reasons as the
Airflo -- a lot of grains packed right behind the tiptop producing a
rapid, heavy load. TT trout lines also spey cast quite well.

Trout spey rods are just entering the market now so the choice is thin
and the prices can be high, but Echo Rods (Rajeff Sports) is putting
out a 12'6" - 6/7 wt. trout spey that is supposed to retail at about
$270.00 USD. I haven't tried it yet so I can't comment on it's
performance, but the price is OK. The next closest would be the
Winston Ibis at $495.00 USD. Scott makes a nice, light 6 wt. but it's
$$$$. Cabelas offers a rod in this size range as well but I'd be a
bit leery of it -- the Cabelas line doesn't command much of a
following in the spey ranks. That could be driven by snobbishness,
but considering the number of folks also looking for a bargain in this
business, their lack of popularity would suggest something else.

I hang around the Spey Clave forum and one of the regulars there
talked about his first foray onto a BC trout lake with a light
double-hander. Apparently, the other angler's thought he was nuts
until he started booming out very long casts and hauling in a load of
fish. It's nothing to do 80' to 100' overhead and 70' to 90' on the
spey with these rods. Casting out of a kickboat would reduce the
distance somewhat but you'd still go a lot further than a single
hander would in the same position and expended a lot less energy in
the process.

To take this further, both Rio and Airflo make a 65' head spey line in
the 6/7 wt. range that matches these rods. Put a 10' to 15' leader
and the entire head outside the guides -- you get an idea of how much
line you can pick up and cast in one motion.

Peter

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