Scandi grains for 8wt overhead casting

[nick k]

Hey all,

I'm picking up a Scandi head for my 8wt 13'0'' striper spey and I was wondering what grain weight it should be considering I'll be doing some overhead casting. As I understand it, you need to go lighter on line grain weight for overhead casting because there is more line out of water contributing to the load that would otherwise be unused in the load during an anchor cast.

Sci Anglers charts say the "Extreme" scandi grain weight for the rod is 520. There is a 510 that I could get, but I was thinking that the 480 would be better considering what I mentioned about more line and thus grains loading the rod when overhead casting.

What do you guys think?

 

[randyflycaster]

I would call the folks at Rio and tell them what rod you have. They are very helpful.

Randy

 

[thenewlushlife]

I think your in the right arena. I would say 450-510 sounds about right. I use the airflo scandi compact at 450 grain for both my 8110 switch and 7136 spey and its a wonderful line. Considering you have more rod, but also want to overhand makes it a bit complicated in terms of grains. If I were you and had to choose, I would go with the 450 scandi compact, good luck

 

[delopez]

Are you planning on doing mostly overhead casting? I remember chatting with Steve Godshall and he recommended sticking with a weight-forward for overhead double-hand casting. All depends on what exactly you'll be doing...

 

[roguebum]

I find that if I go a little longer (maybe a 28'-30' head) or a little lighter, it makes for a softer presentation of the fly. I don't get that snap and recoil at the end of my cast. Nothing is more frustrating to me than to have a great cast but have the recoil at the end of it with a big spaghetti pile of leader/tippet when it hits the water.

Not a huge deal, but sometimes it's the little things.