Re: Newbie questions -- after my 1st season of fishing

On Aug 14, 3:07 am, rdean3REM...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:02:33 -0700, Mike <MikeABcon...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:



On Aug 14, 1:28 am, rdean3REM...@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:04:31 -0700, Mike <MikeABcon...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On Aug 13, 9:15 pm, Dave LaCourse <dplacou...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Somebody just asked me another question about this.

You and others here do not use shooting heads, by your own admission,
and apparently based entirely on your non-use, and unfounded prejudice
against something you obviously don´t know anything about, you
continue to decry them, and give all sorts of "reasons" for not using
them.

I have been using heads for forty years.

Doubtless, people reading this stuff, newbies or otherwise, will draw
their own conclusions.

Anyway, back to the question. Buying a double taper to "save money"
because you can "turn it around" is pointless. You get ninety feet of
double tapered fly-line, of which you usually use much less than
half. The other half takes up a lot of room on the reel, often
requiring a larger reel to accommodate it, it can not be shot very
well , or very far, because it is too heavy, and it ends up all
scrunched and coiled, so that even if you did wish to "turn it around"
there would be little point in doing so.

The only sensible way to use a double taper fly line, and to save
money, is to cut it in half. This gives you two 45 foot single taper
fly-lines, You can then use a smaller lighter reel, for longer
distances you can shoot the backing line, and when the first half
wears out, you still have the other half brand new in the box.

Now this I agree with.

This is of course a "shooting head", and it has a lot of advantages.
But only for those with an open mind towards such things.

This is not as absolute as you seem to wish to convey.

Before you wander off again on the evils of shooting heads. This is
simply half a double taper fly-line, it has all the advantages of any
other DT line, up to 45 feet, (well over fifty feet, including leader
and rod), and it can also be shot a long way if required.

And this is simply wrong. What is generally considered a "shooting
head" is NOT half of a DT with some form of running line as backing. If
one were to take, for example, a 5 DT, and half it, and then tie one of
those halves to running line, one would have some
almost-useless-as-a-"shooting-head" rig that would be IAC, and
thankfully for the novice in the context I've seen presented here, never
used as a shooting head. Now, if one were to take about 1/3 or so off
each end of an _appropriate_ 9 or 10 DT, toss the center bit, and tie
one of those thirds to running line, and then use it on something like a
5 or 6 wt. rod for casting 60-plus ft./20-plus meters, one would have
what one could call a shooting head. But anyone who suggests novice
casters cobble together such a thing for short-range fishing is simply
wrong.

HTH,
R

I have not suggested "cobbling" anything together.

The definition of a shooting head is as I stated, what people
"consider" is not my problem.

Using the "center bit" of a DT would result in a piece of heavy level
belly line, extremely difficult to control. and more or less useless
for any sensible fishing technique.

There are people who use a piece of level lead core as "shooting
heads", again for special purposes, but nobody in his right mind would
advise a beginner to use such a thing, he would probably take his ear
off with it.

The taper is required for most sensible fishing. It may also be
reversed, and one then has a "bass bug" taper.

If you set up silly combinations, then you will only get silly
results. I did not suggest any such ridiculous or useless
combinations.

The simplest form of shooting head, is half a DT. This will allow a
considerable range of applications, without stressing the rod. As I
already mentioned, you can use half a #8 DT on a #6 weight rod with
impunity. It will cast better at close range, because the rod loads
sooner, and it will also cut the wind better. It can also be used for
distance casting.

A full #6 DT weighs ~ 480 grains. All #6 wt rods are designed to cast
a full line.

Assuming proper design and adherence to AFTMA standards, a 6 weight rod
is designed to load properly with the weight of the first 30 feet of 6
line (also adhering to the standard). They are not designed to
_aerialise_ the entire line, even one of their own weight-rating, and
don't need to be, because to "cast" the entire line, one doesn't need to
load the rod with the weight of the entire line. But yet again, even if
they were designed to sling '73 Buicks with ease, one doesn't need more
than about 20 feet of line to cast to fish 20-30 feet away.

Therefore, they will cast ANY line of the same weight.
half a #8 DT weighs ~ 315 grains, which the rod will cast easily,

In point of fact, one can use a short thirty foot head of 480 grains
for maximum distance,

Well, *** fire and save matches...around 480 grains, you say? Well,
why not just tie the line to the bullet of a .460 WM round, load 'er up,
and BOOM! Distance, baby, distance! Fishing and buf hunting at one
time!

short range heavy loading, ( bass bugs, pike
flies etc) or a a wind cutter, made from the front thirty feet of a
#12 weight DT, which weighs 380 grain, and is still well below the rod
´s maximum loading.

ALL ON THE SAME ROD a #6 weight, without stressing the rod, and
without any other problems at all.

Heads less than 30 feet become progressively more difficult to control
and turn over, and are best avoided.

If you want delicate presentation at long range using a #6 weight rod,
then use sixty feet #6 DT line. If you want even more delicate
presentation, use a full #5 weight DT. If you can aerialise this, you
then have a ninety foot shooting head weighing 420 grains.

A 420 grain, 90 ft. aerialised "shooting head" on a 5wt., and for
short-distance bass fishing to boot, huh? I don't remember offhand, but
if the "novice" that started this thread is the same one who wondered
about rod finishing, attempt to follow the above type of advice and
you'll realize a large savings due to economics of scale...



If you want to baflle me with bull***, then you need better bull***.

Uh, yeah, OK.

R

More bull***.

There is no AFTMA or any other standard for fly rods. The only AFTMA
standards are for fly lines.

The rod manufacturers build rods of #5 weight and up to cast a FULL DT
LINE. Otherwise the rod would be overloaded as soon as you had more
than thirty feet out, and at double or triple that distance it would
be seriously strained or broken.

You don´t know *** from shinola sunshine, and it is quite pointless
attempting to explain the difference to you. So I will simply cease.

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en

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