can anyone reccomend a floating skagit line setup?

[nealfish]

i recently purchased a 13' 8 wt cabbalas LSI spey rod.

although i would love to be able to get out and do some steelhead or salmon fishing, my chances are slim.

so i was hoping someone could direct me towards a floating skagit head or some setup where i could cast big striper flies in the deleware or the bays. im in bucks so a lot of the water near me isn't much deeper than 5 ft.

from what iv'e learned you have a skagit head, and then the tips. what i haven't been able to find out is if this would float high enough in the deleware or in other shallow bodies of water, and if another tip would be able to fish deeper waters on the same shooting head.

any help would be appreciated!

 

[PatrickC]

You might look at Airflo Speydicator. I love it. It was made to turn over heavy weight for indicator fishing or large heavy streamers.

 

[turkey]

Check the Rio and Rajeff Sports (Airflo) websites. They should have a line recommendation chart that includes your rod. That'll get you into your grain window. If you're set on a skagit head, something around 1.8-2 times the rod length is a good place to start. As far as tips, the Rio MOW tips are convenient. There are numerous options with the MOWs from full floating to "sink like a rock".

 

[trike23]

I would highly recommend rio they are top of the market when it comes to spey IMHO. I have Airflo heads also and I dont think they perform as well. If you plan on doing any steelhead fishing say in the salmon river I would say go with the skagit short head. If floats nice and you can really throw some junk with it.It turns over T14 and a large fly beautifully. Plus it is nice to have a shorter head when super long distance Isn't needed.

Dont be affaird to look at a full length scandi head also. I am not sure if sink tips and huge heavy flys are needed in the salt water? If they are not once you get good you can throw a lighter scandi head a country mile with much more ease than a heavy skagit line. I always thought a spey rod would be perfect for surf fishing but I am no expert. Not sure also how deep and how fast you need to get down but rio has versileaders for the scandi heads that usually can get the job done unless you have serious current. 5ft water isn't real deep to me but I gess with bay currents it may take some weight? And as far as grain weight much of that also depends on how much junk you are throwing. The more weight you want to throw with the sink tip and the fly the more weight the head needs to be.

The biggest problem with spey shooting heads is that you really cant have one that is perfect for everything.Its best to have a scandi and a skagit head in a few different grains.Sure you can get by but if your like me you need things to be ideal. I am just looney like that though.

 

[afishinado]

nealfish wrote:
i recently purchased a 13' 8 wt cabbalas LSI spey rod.

although i would love to be able to get out and do some steelhead or salmon fishing, my chances are slim.

so i was hoping someone could direct me towards a floating skagit head or some setup where i could cast big striper flies in the deleware or the bays. im in bucks so a lot of the water near me isn't much deeper than 5 ft.

from what iv'e learned you have a skagit head, and then the tips. what i haven't been able to find out is if this would float high enough in the deleware or in other shallow bodies of water, and if another tip would be able to fish deeper waters on the same shooting head.

any help would be appreciated!

NF,

I have an 8wt switch for SW / stripers. I use this head in a 500gr for two-handed overhead casting on the beach. The head is approx. 25' long and comes with three 10' heads: floating, half sink/half floating, and a full sink head. I also carry a full sink shooting head for deep situations (probably not needed where you fish). Works well. HTH.

 

[nealfish]

a lot of my fishing would be throwing big 4-6 inch flies to stripers or smallies, so a skagit head seemed more reasonable.

if i were, to say, end up fishing the black river in vermont or some lake erie tribes in the summer i would want a scandi line because they have a more delicate presentation for small flies. but in winter a skagit head is better because it can turn over hevier flies. this is all correct? and you change the skagit tips or poly leaders on skandi lines to change the depth at which you fish?

theres so many articles and everything on this but i feel like everything i read was trying to sell a certain line.

 

[krayfish]

I know nothing about filthy 2 handed fish poles but do have a question. Let's say I got tricked into going steelie fishing on the SR. If I borrow someones 13' 7wt and just put my regular line on with a super fast sink poly leader, will it work?

 

[afishinado]

krayfish wrote:
I know nothing about filthy 2 handed fish poles but do have a question. Let's say I got tricked into going steelie fishing on the SR. If I borrow someones 13' 7wt and just put my regular line on with a super fast sink poly leader, will it work?

'bout like casting a 4wt TCX using a 2wt line, in your off hand, backwards, with a 40knot wind in you face.... :-o

A 7wt 2H is a lot heavier than a 7wt SH.

SH fly line weight chart: http://www.flyfisherman.com/2011/12/14/fly-line-wt-grain-chart/#axzz2iw2MhCDM

I would guess a 7wt 2H rod would need a 400-450gr head to load it. Your 7wt SH line tops out a 185gr +/-. Also the head would likely be way too long for a 2H cast.

If you try it, make a video to share:roll:.....sorry Andy.

 

[trike23]

Its not always that a high grain scandi line cant turn over larger flys. Its more that a scandi line cant turn over heavy sink tips. If you wanna chuck heavy flys and need to get them down quick go with a skagit head. I can chuck some pretty large stuff on a 640gr scandi head particuarly if I am just skating the fly with no sink tip. Now If I add a section of T14 to that I need to switch to a skagit head to turn it over. Hope this helps and doesnt confuse? Trust me when I got into It I was totally lost. Its a lot of terms but once you get it its pretty simple.
Its all about how you fish and how deep you need to get.

 

[sandfly]

you are going to want a heavy head for the Delaware, for 2 reasons distance and depth... Delaware averages more than 5 feet in depth unless you just plan to fish the first 10 feet of shore.. most holes in bucks are big and deep.

 

[dano]

If you're looking to float high, Skagit won't do it for you. Skagit lines are designed to dig for a water tension cast. Floating high defeats the purpose.
Also, you're limited to sustained anchor roll type casting which doesn't work well in still water of the bay you mentioned. Overhead casting with that line will overload the rod.

You might want to check out both of Rio's new Chucker lines. I'm thinking of trying one out for my 11'9" 4wt.

I had SGS build me a floating overhead shooter for my 10'8"- 8wt at 28ft and 340gr. which polys up to 100 grain tips for fishing the Lake Erie and Chautauqua Lake shoreline. That was after experimenting with spey type lines. None of which I was really happy with. I can scadi type cast decently or overhead with ease using a type 6 10 ft poly leader.
The only other line that worked half decent was a short belly scandi.
It comes down to what you want to do, roll cast or overhead. No single line does every type of cast well. Switch type lines are probably you're best compromise.

 

[dano]

I usually setup my rods with running line, skagit head, scandi head, overhead shooter, tips.
What sucks with the head system is stripping streamers. Friggin' loops.

 

[geebee]

I'd look at the rio website - they have PDF tables that match specific rods to their range of lines.

I have a rio skagit line with a floating mow tip and a T-18 tip. The running line is built in.

To be honest. I only use it when I want to be super deep - the Rio Mid Spey is better cos I can Spey cast it, swing it and re cast - no stripping.

In either case, I'd recommend an orvis stripping basket to help with line management in the current.

 

[nealfish]

seems like the only thing i've gotten right so far is a stripping basket.
thanks though i'll definitely check all this out

 

[krayfish]

From what I can gather....adding a 10' section of t-14 to my regular line might be enough then. If I do get stupid, I'll get video for ya Tom.