Elixir - Overhang

[ogilvie]

Well I was out today trying some new line matches and variations with weighted flies ,poly tips and so on. During some of the casts I noticed that if I left about 8-10 " overhang with a slightly weighted streamer(Steelhead) ,on the 7/8 Elixir Spey Line ,14' FS POlyTip,casting the Snowbee Tamar,standing in fast water up to my belly,a simple Snake Roll deliver the line gently about 90' without working the rod. A Cack Handed Snap Z delivered about 100' with the same effort...these are very productive and interesting line designs...a winner for sure

C

[headscan]

Lots of good reviews of these lines on Speypages as well. That's exactly why I picked them up for both my spey and switch rods. Plus the fact that Beulah tells you exactly which Elixir line matches each of their rods takes a lot of the guesswork out. I think that getting properly outfitted for two-handed casting is far more intimidating for the beginner than with single-hand outfits. If Beulah starts making reels matched to their lines and rods they'll make a killing with spey neophytes.

[toolman]

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?

[speyghillie]

Hi Toolman,

I.m sure Islandguy i give you the detail about the lines when he stops catching all that Steelhead on the Island, hope he leaves a couple for me , i can tell you Cack Handed is an old Scottish name for using the wrong hand, in fishing that means casting off the wrong shoulder. right hand up casting off the left shoulder, left hand up right shoulder.

You sometimes see Golfers putting with there hands the wrong way round, back hand facing forward.

Gordon.

[toolman]

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...

[ogilvie]

BAsically it's an enlongated version of the Snap "T" or a Circle Spey....very fast and very positive move to deliver your fly/anchor basically to where you want it...this cast permits you to pivot your body about 200 degrees and you know what that means...

my wife is chaseing me.. gotta go

C

[toolman]

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.

[toolman]

I have been working on using a bit of overhang on my Elixir 380gr. on the Loop 7116. It only seems to cast a few inches of OH before the point of collapase. It does cast great at the sweet spot, but it is right at the end of the heads taper, maybe an extra few inches at best. I have a few Airflow custom cut scandi heads that casts well with about 10"-12" of OH, but overall, they do not cast as well as the Elixir lines.

[maxwell]

yea i here ya TM...but all around im lovin the elixer for my switch 7112 and both speys 8116 blue and my 8126 alchemy...the rods are really starting too rock now...exspecially with the poly leader kit too match!

[ogilvie]

Well,was out today playing with the Elixir line again,yes looking for Steelhead(notta)-too much snow on the remote roads. And I have to say that this line amazes me to it's possibilities. Without question it is the sweetest "fishing"line out there!

Will be looking at several design changes over the year to enhance the tapers a bit and lengthen the bellies.

C