Leader Setup For Underhanding Streamers On Light Switch Rods

[chiasson]

To my scandi brothers,

 

I finally got a Scandi head for my switch (Z-5110, 11 foot 5 weight); I ended up going with the Airflo 270 grain compact scandi and a miracle braid running line. This setup cast beautifully, however, I'm wondering what would be the optimal leader setup for fishing streamers with this particular rod and line. I tried a 65 grain fast sink versi leader I had on hand (10 feet and 65 grains) with a few feet of 3x to an unweighted streamer, I couldn't get it to pick up the leader nicely on the forward cast and it would dump instead of laying out nicely. I should mention that the setup did work nice in places where I could put more line behind me, but I was half over handing, not very pretty or practical when I usually have to fish from shore or can only wade out a few feet with trees right behind me in the spots I've been fishing lately, most of these places are tidal still waters, narrow beeches with sharp drop offs a few feet out. Should I try a lighter versi leader or something something completely different? I'm not sure if I need shorter and heavier or be trying a lighter leader that will pick up more easily, maybe cut a few feet off the back of the leader I have?. I'm hoping that made some sense.

 

C

[cheeler]

You might want to have an instructor watch while you're casting, but try shortening your leader a bit and see what happens. You're at 42 feet with that type of setup, which may be a bit long. Also, if you don't have the room for a bigger loop, your scandi head and the entire leader may be in the water when you're trying to cast.

[chiasson]

I did some more casting today and I'm getting better with it. The problems I was having, as you suspected, we're largely technique related. I was doing a bunch of things wrong not to mention trying to cast 90 degrees from shore with next to no water behind me. After watching some Henrick videos and practicing a bit I'm getting the hang out it. What a feeling when everything gels, it feels like I'm firing a laser gun.

 

Regarding the leader length, I've read that 1.5 X the rod length is optimal. Does this rule also apply when fishing with versis/polys as well, or just with straight mono leaders?

[DutchDryfly]

I would suggest the following leaders:

 

13 feet floating polyleader

10 feet intermediate polyleader

8 feet sinking leader

and if you really need it a 5 foot superfast sinking leader

 

[cheeler]

The rules I've seen usually relate to total length of your setup - 3 to 3.5 times the rod length. If Dan McCrimmon comes through town this year, I'd suggest taking his class - he showed us how to do a scandi cast with the entire loop in front of us.

[Whistler]

The sinking leader (65grains) is a little heavy for such a light scandi head. You will find that the rig will cast better if you shorten the leader and thus lighten the burden that the scandi head has to turn over. Also the front end taper of the compact scandi is very light and better fished as a dry line. You will find increased casting performance byt shortening the front of the head though not too many people are comfortable cutting 8-12" of perfectly good line off of a sweet new fly line. Other less painfull tips would be to keep your fly size small and your leader short-under 40".

If you want technique help I will be doing some schools and private lessons in the Calgary area the first week of May this year.

 

good luck with the casting,

 

Brian Niska

[chiasson]

Thanks for the tips everyone. Been having a lot of fun with the new line. I was thinking about trying the shorter Rio versi leaders, they are 6 feet and 45 grains.