Single hand rod skagit grain weights

[emann]

First off I would like to apologize for things that may sound stupid, don't know much about the world of spey lines...yet...

I wanted to get into single hand spey casting and needed help on shooting head grain weight for a single hand 7 wt rod. Rio recommend 475 grain for 7wt spey rods but I know single hand rods are different. Generally speaking the first 30 feet of the weight forward taper of 7wt line is around 200 grains, but I know my 30 ft teeny 250 sink tip is 250 grains so would that be about where I want my shooting head weight to be? And do I have to take into account that I will likely be fishing 10 or so feet of sink tip? Was looking into Rio Skagit Ishort heads if that helps. I hope this somewhat makes sense. Thanks!
Evan

 

[ia_trouter]

That sounds like a good starting point. May be a little light with a sink tip. I would dig deep on the net for somebody else doing it before I bought the wrong line.

 

[fyshstykr]

First off I would like to apologize for things that may sound stupid, don't know much about the world of spey lines...yet...

I wanted to get into single hand spey casting and needed help on shooting head grain weight for a single hand 7 wt rod. Rio recommend 475 grain for 7wt spey rods but I know single hand rods are different. Generally speaking the first 30 feet of the weight forward taper of 7wt line is around 200 grains, but I know my 30 ft teeny 250 sink tip is 250 grains so would that be about where I want my shooting head weight to be? And do I have to take into account that I will likely be fishing 10 or so feet of sink tip? Was looking into Rio Skagit Ishort heads if that helps. I hope this somewhat makes sense. Thanks!
Evan

May I ask what the conditions are where you'll be fishing, and what your fishing for?

 

[eastfly66]

You may also want to check out the OPST Commando heads , if you sent them an email with your rod info they will get back to you with a recommendation.


http://www.opskagit.com/commando-heads.html

 

[emann]

May I ask what the conditions are where you'll be fishing, and what your fishing for?

Mainly Swinging streamers for resident trout (no room to back cast generally) and hopefully some steelhead this winter.. Also some still water fishing for trout and bass. I have some credit at the caddisflyshop (online) so I wanted to get line from there, don't think they carry the opskagit commando heads.

 

[fyshstykr]

Why not get a 2Handed rod that's better suited for the task? I've tried the single hand Skagit thing and it's not near as fun, and requires too much effort. This type of casting should be relaxing.

 

[emann]

The river I fish is super heavily covered, already hard enough getting through with a 9foot rod. I have little doubt a 12 foot rod would get in the way while walking and fishing. But I do understand that single hand Spey casting isn't as efficient.
Thanks though

 

[fyshstykr]

Break the rod down into 2 sections when traveling to and fro.

 

[ia_trouter]

It does sound like a switch rod situation. Don't mean to discourage you though. It seems that quite a few folks do some single hand spey. On some of my Driftless streams even a 9ft rod is a pain at times.

 

[emann]

Thanks for everyone's input, ill look into switch rods but it will be a while before I can afford to start looking at new rods. In the meantime I'm going to give the single hand a shot.

 

[fyshstykr]

Don't mean to discourage you either, well actually yea, I kinda do. I'm just of the belief that if your gonna do 2Handed casting it needs to be done with a true 2handed rod. We all have to follow our own road, if your road continues on with a single hand rod doing the Skagit casting, so be it.

 

[guest63]

I would like to encourage you to learn the single-handed spey cast. It is not that easy, but can be done. Ever since I learned to single-handed spey, I don't see much of the use for back cast, although having the room for back cast will allow me to do different things with the fly rod. Getting the right line is important, but you really don't need to worry about having the line specifically designed for the job. You can get by with slightly heavier line, but not lighter line. You can also have regular fly line. Just go two or three weight heavier. I have casted all kinds of lines and did not see much of difference in terms of performance. Good luck and you will succeed in no time.

 

[fireroad]

As previously mentioned the OPST heads are a great place to start as they were primarily designed for the just the application you describe. With the head you will also need some type of sink tip (Airflo FLO tip, Rio MOW) between the head and your tippet. I prefer the FLO over the MOW and you will be able to turn over T14 if you need to get really deep.

There are also single hand specific spey lines out now, and other lines that work really well for single hand spey casting (Airflo River and Stream, Airflo 40+, Wulff Ambush) but for purely streamer work with sink tips I would go with the OPST.

 

[ddb]

Most one-handers are easily modified with a 3" butt extension from ARE. It can be done as a removable option too if you also built a short butt.

This gives you two-handed control, efficiency, and consistency w/o the extra work/arm fatigue.

I now have redone 4 old rods and will never go back to one hand profile on them.

DDB

 

[fishmandoug]

If you like Rio, the skagit max short is the head you would want. Either the 250g or 275 would probably work well.

I personally use a OPST commando 225g on a 6wt and at times I wish I went for the 250, but only when throwing the largest/heaviest flies.

I also think this single hand spey/skagit thing is completely awesome and has many great uses where a Spey/switch rod would be cumbersome.

 

[flytie09]

Here are you options that are out there now for a 7 Wt single hand rod -

http://redsflyshop.com/file_viewer.php?id=5341

OPST Commando - 275 grain
Airflo Skagit Scout - 270/300 grain
SA Spey Lite Skagit- 240/270 grain
Rio Skagit Trout Max - 325 grain

While yes a double hander switch rod and lines may be better... if you're on a fixed budget, look at these.

ft09