toolman

I cast the Elixir 380gr. 32' Spey line, with my Loop 11'6" 6/7, this afternoon. An excellent line that casts, mends, floats beautifully and shoots farther than I can see an indicator (85' was easy). No coiling issues at -10C....Two Thumbs up! As for the choices between Scandi heads like the Elixir, Guidline, Loop, Airflow...or Mid bellys like Deltas, SA, Rio Mid speys... or Long bellys like XLT, GrandSpey, GPS, ...is a question of fishing method, distance required, water and wind conditions, fly size, leader/ sink tip length and weight etc. There are a few good middle of the road Multi-tip lines such as the Delta's, S.A. & Rio Midspeys etc., that do most jobs ok, but there are better options for different fishing methods/situations. For nymph/streamer fishing on the Bow River, the shorter Scandi Heads are my personal choice, as they allow me to work out to about 70'-80', very efficiently, with little back casting room needed. I can throw a triple indicator rig or sink tip with ease, in a strong wind, both near or far. Using the Delta under the same conditions, makes it difficult to fish near, as the rod will not load much until you have 40'-50' of the line/leader out of the rod tip. At distance, the long tapers of most 6/7wt. mid/long belly lines, will not turn over very well in the wind or with much weight on the leader. I can still fish an indicator or streamer rig out too about 80' with a Delta 6/7 Multi tip, but it's just easier to shoot a Scandi Head out to that distance and get less line disturbance on the water from the shorter lines and use less effort with an Underhand cast. Scandi Heads are very "adaptable" to the majority of fishing situations you will encounter on the Bow. I love using my long belly lines and fine tapered leaders, for fishing the hatches of spring/summer/fall, swinging nymphs, pupa, emergers, wets, drys etc., to fish "fine and far off". So, I would recommend starting with a Scandi line, such as the Beulah Elixir, to learn the basic Spey casts, then get a longer belly, like the 5/6 CND GPS multi tip line, for summer fishing. Skagit Heads are not often needed for a river like the Bow, which is of medium depth and flow, as most fly sizes and sink tips required, will be easily cast with a Scandi Head and Polyleader of the appropriate length and sink rate. There are a few situations where a Skagit Head and heavy, fast sinking tips made from T-10, T-14, might be usefull on the Bow river, such as during Spring run off, casting in high winds or the odd run that is faster/deeper than the norm, but even in these circumstances, the newly developed dual densitiy sinking Scandi Heads with Poly sink tips, may be the better tool for the job. edited:Jan/01/08'

Welcome to the Spey world Duncan. Your Lami is listed on the Airflow line recommendations chart. http://www.rajeffsports.com/modules/webspeychart.htm

Love the Hatch reels. Definetly on my wish list.

I have used a Roman Mosser, Steel Braided, Type 6, Sinking leader, on a few occasions. The outer steel braid does not allow the leader to have much elongation, which improves the feel of the take when High Stick, contact nymphing a rig in deep fast water. This low stretch leader allows faster, firmer hooksets from improved strike sensitivity. The first time I used a braided sink tip, was at a steep drop off into a pool, where the trout were sometimes sitting on bottom, close to the edge of the drop off, making it difficult to plunge a fly an extra 3' down to them, as it drifted off the ledge. I rigged up the 9' braided sink tip and attached a triple rig of wire #6 SJW's and cast it upstream above the ledge. The rig sank quickly and plunged off the ledge and down into the waiting mouths of the large Rainbow and Brown Trout that I suspected were hiding there. I pulled a couple of 22"-24" Rainbows and a 26" Brown out of that hole, one Sunday morning last, March. That sure was a fun fishing experiment. I was fishing at that same location today and landed a beauty 4lb./24" Rainbow, on a small pheasant tail nymph, right at dusk, only a few feet back from the ledge.

Al, I often fish a nymph/indicator rig with my Delta 6/7 line, as I did today with my Loop 7116. I used a hand tied, knotted, 6.5'- 3x Fluro Carbon leader, to a #6 Red Wire wrapped SJW, then 16" of 4x tippet to a #16 Copper John and another 16" of 4x tippet to a #18 rubber legged Pheasant Tail as the point fly. I tie off the hook bends to each dropper fly and place my indicator at the top of the leader butt, where it meets the fly line. Today the indicator was set about 5' to the first fly (SJW). I use Frog Hair Fluro Carbon, for leader materials and tippets, for all of my nymphing and most of my sub surface fishing. The 6.5' Fluro leader I tied, is made up of roughly ... 2.5'-16lb./ 2'-12lb./1'-10lb/1'-8lb., using 3 loop surgeons knots, then tie a Perfection loop in the Butt end of the leader, for an easy loop/loop connection with your fly line. The type of water that I usually fish in the winter, is slow to medium speed, medium depth (3'-4'), with shoreline and subsurface structure, often very close to the shoreline, so be stealthy and High stick whenever you can, to get the best drag free presentations, with as little line disturbance on the calm flat water. I never wade in the winter, always Spey casting or high sticking from the shoreline. For swinging flies, same type of water, using mostly unweighted/lightly weighted streamers, on type 3 tips for water that is medium speed and depth (3'-4') or I'll occassionally use a type 6 in the deeper, faster water (5'-6'). An intermediate is good for swinging in the slow, shallow water. I was using an intermediate recently, swinging a #14 Royal Coachman through the slow frog water that got a lot of grabs. Also, try swinging a couple of Midge Pupa on a 10' intermediate tip with a few feet of 4x-5x Fluro tippet to your first fly.

Thanks for the explanation. I think the Snap Z is demonstrated on the Rio Video series. I'll have to take a look at it.

I think a short 7'-8' furled nylon leader with a few feet of tippet added, would be great for swinging drys, bombers etc. The floating furled leaders turn over very quietly and ride high on the water through the swing, which helps prevent drowning the fly, a common problem if your leader is too long or sinks.

The furled leaders are more difficult to mass produce and keep costs competitive with Polyleaders, so are of less interest to the major line/leader manufacturers. I have messed around with furled floating leaders and braided leaders as well. The furled leaders can be custom made for very specific applications on moving water, stillwater and salt. They can also be custom made in different sink rates and with different materials including Nylon, Fluro Carbon, Micro braids, Copper cores etc. They are often designed with specail features, such as high shock absorbtion, using a hybrid mono/fluro/micro braid, or colored as a stike indicator at the butt end, etc. The guys in the UK have really developed these specailized leaders. I wish I had a selection of the sinking furled leaders available to experiment with. Here are a few good links: http://www.furledleaders.co.uk/nymphing.htm http://www.blueskyfly.com/features.html http://www.blueskyfly.com/article.html http://www.blueskyfly.com/article2.html

I got the Cack handed part, it's the Snap Z moves that I'm not too sure of. PNW Spey Speak, I guess. See, I keep it simple, like you showed me Speyghillie, that all Spey casts come down to... "Single Spey, Ness Style", or.... "not Single Spey, Ness Style", cause there's only one Speycast that matters anyway...

Islandguy, do you know the grain weights for the Snowbee 10'/14'/16' Polyleaders, in all densities? Lately, I have been using an Airflow 7' Bonefish, floating polyleader, with 24lb. core, attached to a custom cut 33' Scandi Head, for long line nymphing with indicator, on my Loop 7116 Blue. These Bonefish leaders have a harder, outer polycoating, which helps prevent the leader from becoming too soft and limp, in hot tropical conditions. The cold weather however, makes these leaders a little stiffer and it easily turns over a triple nymph rig out to 80' and beyond. The hard outer coating seems to be very good at protecting the leader from the abrasion of sharp ice along the edges of the shorelines and ice chunks/slush in the drift. I have not had any coiling issues with these leaders in cold water/air temps. When I first started casting Scandi heads, I liked keeping the rear portion of the head inside the rod tip, as it felt like it loaded the rod better, but now I use a bit of overhang and try and find the sweet spot. Casting with a bit of overhang helps form a tighter/sharper v loop off the rod tip. ps. Anyone know what a "Cack Handed Snap Z" is?

Which rod/line will you be using for nymphing?

Thought it would be a good idea to mention the hazards of hitting low hanging power lines, when using a long Spey rod and fishing in the city. There's one power line that I have hit accidently, on three different occassions. Now, I try and not park my car unwittingly, underneath it, as that was the problem, I would get out of my car, take the rod off of the rod carrier and when I lifted the rod in the air, I struck the power line. On another couple of occassions, I was false casting a bit of line out of the tip to rig up in the parking lot, oblivious to the lines above me and struck the rod tip on the power lines. So heads up when Spey fishing in the city and stay clear of any overhead lines.

This conversion kit will not make your single handed rod, a Spey rod, but rather a switch type rod. Mainly, it will allow two handed overhead casts, which makes it easier to get a bit of distance and the extra rod length will give added mending capabilities and it may be great for high sticking, swinging drys, small beadheads, etc.

That's awesome Harps. Should be a great stick to play with all winter.

I have a Vac-rac, rod carrier, that will hold 8 large Spey rods, coming from the UK, in a couple of weeks time. Gordon is shipping it to me, along with items for his booth at the Flyfishing Exposition.

Now it's got the "bling"...LOL... I have a nice new Loop Blueline 14' 9wt. Spey rod, with a 9/10 Loop Quatro Multi tip Shooting line, waiting for me down at the Greyhound Depot, that hopefully will delivered to Hansons Outfitters and be in my hands by tommorow. It's been a good Christmas for me. Hope everyones was the same.

Your new Switch rod is going to be a lot of fun. Congrats and enjoy.

A few of my best days on the river this year. The first FFC Nymph Clinic in May 07'... Our first FFC Spey School, with Scotland's, Gordon Macleod, instructing. Our second FFC Nymph Clinc in May 07'...

Cheeler, The 12'6" 7/8 Beulah "Spey Rod" will be good for everything you are looking for and a great compliment to the 5/6 DC you now have. As for nymphing with the 12'6" 7/8 Beulah Spey, no worries, you can get great hook sets at 80'-90' out, no problem and there are many winter lies on the Bow where you're gonna need 80'-90' casts to get into the fish. Harps, I'd recommend the 11'6" 6/7 Spey rod, for the waters in S. AB. if I only had one rod to fish with. We have a shipment coming to Calgary, possibly leaving later today or early tommorow, so if you guys need something, get Islandguy to put it in with our stuff and you can pick it up at my shop. We're hoping to get our new toys to play with on the weekend. Don't forget the Elixir Spey lines and Snowbee Polyleaders as well. Greg

Welcome to the world of Spey, LS. You did very well today, for your first time swinging the big stick.

Totally agree Flyslinger. Little details like the color of our lines/leaders, prime fishing times, stealth etc., still relevant today.

Seems everybody's been using the SJW for a long time. Nymphing with indicator, old news...read on. http://www.flyfishinghistory.com/treatyse/rod1.htm

That's awesome LS. Thanks for sharing your day with us.

Merry Christmas Gordie. See you next month. Greg

Woo-hoo! We want a price for the following items: Beulah 11'6" 6/7 Spey Rod 3pc.- Elixir 380gr. @ 32' 1pc.- Elixir 435gr. @ 35' 2pc.- Elixir 335gr. @28'. PM me and we'll work out the details. We'll be looking at everything on the sites in the next few days and may have more items to add. TM & Max