fly line taper

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?

"Larry L" wrote in message
...


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?

try a wulff triangle taper or one of the slick coated distance lines, both
SA and Rio sell them, Cortland probably does too.


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
?

they are not broomstick rods but they are fast action, Sage XP, Winston
Boron IIx

best for the buck? is the TFO 5wt TICR suitable?

Only you can answer what is best for your buck and I don't know about the
TFO series aside from seeing them on the rack in a few shops.

"Larry L" wrote in message
...


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?

try a wulff triangle taper or one of the slick coated distance lines, both
SA and Rio sell them, Cortland probably does too.


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
?

they are not broomstick rods but they are fast action, Sage XP, Winston
Boron IIx

best for the buck? is the TFO 5wt TICR suitable?

Only you can answer what is best for your buck and I don't know about the
TFO series aside from seeing them on the rack in a few shops.

"Larry L" wrote:

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?


You might consider a steelhead taper. It has a long belly, you can do
a sort of roll to lift the line, back cast, and send it wherever you
want directly. The long bellymakes it possible to do what I think the
spey guys call a snake roll with 50 feet of line out. A little
practice, and you can cast accurately 70 feet out at a 90 degree angle
to the last cast. I don't think the rod is a key here, it wortks for
me with a Sage LL 3wt, and a GLoomis GLX 6wt. In fact it works with
the 3wt line in the 6wt rod when you forget to bring the right reel.

Chas
remove fly fish to reply
http://home.comcast.net/~chas.wade/w...ome.html-.html
San Juan Pictures at:
http://home.comcast.net/~chasepike/wsb/index.html

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

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

Chas Wade wrote:
"Larry L" wrote:

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?



You might consider a steelhead taper. It has a long belly, you can do
a sort of roll to lift the line, back cast, and send it wherever you
want directly. The long bellymakes it possible to do what I think the
spey guys call a snake roll with 50 feet of line out. A little
practice, and you can cast accurately 70 feet out at a 90 degree angle
to the last cast. I don't think the rod is a key here, it wortks for
me with a Sage LL 3wt, and a GLoomis GLX 6wt. In fact it works with
the 3wt line in the 6wt rod when you forget to bring the right reel.


Yeah but you can cast a kite string with a broomstick.

Willi

"Chas Wade" wrote

to the last cast. I don't think the rod is a key here, it wortks for
me with a Sage LL 3wt, and a GLoomis GLX 6wt. In fact it works with
the 3wt line in the 6wt rod when you forget to bring the right reel.



I can't find any lines called " steelhead taper" or the tapers Peter
suggested in lighter than 6 wt .... I'd like to use a 5wt rod

It will and has handled a 6 WF line just fine, but ... I'm confused ... if
the first 30 foot of a 6wt steelhead taper weighs the same as the head of a
standard 6WF ( however many grains '6wt' is ) then it would seem that trying
to 'roll pickup" 50 feet would really overload my 5 wt ... I've already
broken it twice ( it was made LONG before the guarantees when have today )
and paid well over $100 each time to have Scott replace the tip section ...
I really like the rod and don't want to abuse it You mention a 3wt
version? what manufacturer? model or taper name?

"Chas Wade" wrote

to the last cast. I don't think the rod is a key here, it wortks for
me with a Sage LL 3wt, and a GLoomis GLX 6wt. In fact it works with
the 3wt line in the 6wt rod when you forget to bring the right reel.



I can't find any lines called " steelhead taper" or the tapers Peter
suggested in lighter than 6 wt .... I'd like to use a 5wt rod

It will and has handled a 6 WF line just fine, but ... I'm confused ... if
the first 30 foot of a 6wt steelhead taper weighs the same as the head of a
standard 6WF ( however many grains '6wt' is ) then it would seem that trying
to 'roll pickup" 50 feet would really overload my 5 wt ... I've already
broken it twice ( it was made LONG before the guarantees when have today )
and paid well over $100 each time to have Scott replace the tip section ...
I really like the rod and don't want to abuse it You mention a 3wt
version? what manufacturer? model or taper name?

On Mon, 25 Oct 2004 00:03:49 GMT, "Larry L"
wrote:


"Chas Wade" wrote

to the last cast. I don't think the rod is a key here, it wortks for
me with a Sage LL 3wt, and a GLoomis GLX 6wt. In fact it works with
the 3wt line in the 6wt rod when you forget to bring the right reel.



I can't find any lines called " steelhead taper" or the tapers Peter
suggested in lighter than 6 wt .... I'd like to use a 5wt rod

It will and has handled a 6 WF line just fine, but ... I'm confused ... if
the first 30 foot of a 6wt steelhead taper weighs the same as the head of a
standard 6WF ( however many grains '6wt' is ) then it would seem that trying
to 'roll pickup" 50 feet would really overload my 5 wt ... I've already
broken it twice ( it was made LONG before the guarantees when have today )
and paid well over $100 each time to have Scott replace the tip section ...
I really like the rod and don't want to abuse it You mention a 3wt
version? what manufacturer? model or taper name?



You're right, seems like Airflo has stopped making the Bankmaster and
the Delta doesn't seem to cover the same range of lines that it used
to. Spend a summer doing things other than fishing and the whole
world goes to pot. (OK, so Trip doesn't see why that's necessarily a
bad thing.)

If you can't get these lines, why not a DT?

Peter

turn mailhot into hotmail to reply

Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharl...ers/index.html

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 20:30:26 -0400, Peter Charles
wrote:
[snipped]
You're right, seems like Airflo has stopped making the Bankmaster and
the Delta doesn't seem to cover the same range of lines that it used
to. Spend a summer doing things other than fishing and the whole
world goes to pot. (OK, so Trip doesn't see why that's necessarily a
bad thing.)

Damned straight. Thanks for asking ;-)

/daytripper (An entire nation can be drunk on its ass, but *that's* ok...)