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What brand and model of sink tip line? Up
until recently, most of (I can almost say all and feel comfortable about it)
manufactured sink tip lines that didn't lend themselves well to distance
casting. And, the faster the sink rate of the tip, the worse
they cast.
Look at where your sinking line joins to the
floating line. The floating line is probably the same diameter as that of
the sinking. If it is, you will have a 'hinge' effect at that
juncture. In order for the sinking portion to sink, it will have a higher
density than the floating portion. So, as you are casting, and your line
attempts to make a loop, the heavier (denser) sinking portion of the line (the
sinking tip) will be at the top of your loop, and because it's more dense than
the floating portion of the line, the loop will collapse as the line tries to
turn over. In distance casting, you should be trying to cast the smallest
loop possible. Therefore, the collapsing and the hinging are even more of
an issue. This is why some folks actually like to use a full line of one
particular sink rate, i.e. an intermediate line. There is no joint where a
hinge effect could occur.
Make sense? I think it was about 2 years ago
that Mastery started manufacturing their sink tip lines with a fatter belly
(which happened to be that floating section behind the sinking tip portion of
the line) to reduce the possibility of hinging. My AirFlo Multi-TIp lines
are also set up that way. It's really interesting the extreme difference
between the diameter of the floating belly portion and the skinny diameter of
the 7 inch per second sinking tip.
Summarizing (I knew you were waiting for this
part!), the line could be part of the problem, too.
Richard Embry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 1:46
PM
Subject: Re: WW Grigg Rod and
Grashoppers' test of the shooting head
Richard and Willy - good thoughts but I may have
inadvertently mislead you. That line is a type IV sink tip standard line.
but I've yet to gain the control I have with a 7 wt with a type II sink tip
and no where near my 5 wt with a WF Floating line. Practice, practice,
practice.
A point well taken about lessons. This is the first year
I've fished the surf and big rivers and it's probably time to get some
coaching on these techniques before learning bad habits.
Thanks to both of you. This kind of response, both in fun
and serious, make this a fine board.
Bart
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2001 9:32
AM
Subject: Re: WW Grigg Rod and
Grashoppers' test of the shooting head
Oops, I meant to say I would NOT buy anything
smaller than the floating 0.031 running line. Doh!
Richard
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 1:57
PM
Subject: Re: WW Grigg Rod and
Grashoppers' test of the shooting head
Casting shooting heads is way, way different
than casting a full standard fly line. During the casting motion,
the caster should only 'carry' out of the rod tip the length of the head
plus anywhere from 3' to 6' of the running line. False casts should
be limited to one or two, and shooting the line, as opposed to casting the
line, on the forward cast.
Shooting heads are tricky to learn because
casting stroke and timing are so different than a 'standard' cast.
They really are incredible when the caster learns the correct timing and
the caster uses the double haul. A friend of mine that is
a decent caster just cannot use a shooting head, and gave it away.
It's too much a departure from the memory his muscles have to cast a
'standard' fly line.
Probably the best thing for you would be to,
if you have a particular fly shop you frequent, talk one of the fly shop
staff into demonstrating the cast for you and giving you a couple of
pointers.
Forget about Amnesia (pun intended here,
<grin>) and what Willy said. A better running line, in my
opinion, for our coldwater environment would be one of the standard fly
line running lines put out by SA or Cortland. Since the line will be
used on your 8 weight, I would buy anything smaller than .031 running line
(I think the rated breaking strength of that size line is about
20#).
For beginning to intermediate fisherpersons,
I believe there are better fishing line options other than shooting
heads.
Just my $0.02 . . .
Richard Embry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2001
12:52 PM
Subject: RE: WW Grigg Rod and
Grashoppers' test of the shooting head
Grasshopper... You must become a master of the Amnesia. When you
can cast the weighted Comet far and deep into the salmon laden
river while standing arm to arm with other shooting head
loaded flyfisherman - then and only then will you be ready to leave
the monastery.
I bought an 8 - wt, 4 piece, added an Okuma reel
(based on info from this board) and am well pleased with the result.
Now if I can just learn to cast a Type 4 ST without warning the women
and children to take cover, life will be good.
Bart
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