I find a 350 grain wet tip express fly line (SA) about perfect for much of the salmon fishing I do with my 9 wt one handed rod. I would like to set up a similar line (350 Grains) for my spey rod. It is a 14' 9/10 wt St. Croix. What are the alternatives to lead core attached to the end of a Rio mid spey floating line (8/9wt) which I have. I don't like casting lead core. Thanks in advance. I'm new to spey casting.
350 grain head for 9/10 wt spey rod?
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fishtale,
First of all, attaching a piece of lead-core to the end of the floating tip of a spey line is not a good idea and it will badly overload the rod as well. Second, either cut the MidSpey 15 1/5 feet from the tip and install loops or buy the MidSpey with tips that comes with loops installed by the factory and several different sink rate sink tips.
Third, although you could cast 350 gr sinking shooting heads with your 2-hander, it is not the recommended route to go. If you really are sold on using 350 gr sinking heads on your 2-hander, you will have to either cut the MidSpey 25 feet from the tip and install loops, or use the MidSpey with tips and remove both tip 1 and tip 2, then loop your 350 gr sinking head to what is left. This will give you a line that is about 40 feet long. And that is a very short shooting head spey line.
Fourth, why bother with a 350 gr sinking head or sink tip in the first place with your 2-hander? The rod will cast any 9 weight 15 foot sink tip and since sink tips are available up the a sink rate of 8 (about 8 inches/second, in other words, really fast sinking), it is not necessary to use a 350 gr tip on the 2-hander.
First of all, attaching a piece of lead-core to the end of the floating tip of a spey line is not a good idea and it will badly overload the rod as well. Second, either cut the MidSpey 15 1/5 feet from the tip and install loops or buy the MidSpey with tips that comes with loops installed by the factory and several different sink rate sink tips.
Third, although you could cast 350 gr sinking shooting heads with your 2-hander, it is not the recommended route to go. If you really are sold on using 350 gr sinking heads on your 2-hander, you will have to either cut the MidSpey 25 feet from the tip and install loops, or use the MidSpey with tips and remove both tip 1 and tip 2, then loop your 350 gr sinking head to what is left. This will give you a line that is about 40 feet long. And that is a very short shooting head spey line.
Fourth, why bother with a 350 gr sinking head or sink tip in the first place with your 2-hander? The rod will cast any 9 weight 15 foot sink tip and since sink tips are available up the a sink rate of 8 (about 8 inches/second, in other words, really fast sinking), it is not necessary to use a 350 gr tip on the 2-hander.
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fishtale
You might try some of the rio t-14 in place of the leadcore. you will want to loop this off the belly, or the first section. you should be able to use atleast 20'.
Brian St
You might try some of the rio t-14 in place of the leadcore. you will want to loop this off the belly, or the first section. you should be able to use atleast 20'.
Brian St
flyter: Thanks for the info. I haven't cut my Mid Spey yet as I was unsure of the best way to set it up with a sink tip. I think I am getting the picture now. Well almost. At the time of year I fish the Skeena and Kitimat rivers with my one hander, the 350 grain wet tip express is usually just about right for the current and depth on those rivers. That is 350 grains over 25 feet. I have one more question, how would a 15 ft 8 ips sink tip cover the water like 350 grains over 25'? Am I on the wrong track here, trying to get a spey line for my particular rod so it covers the water as closely as possible to the 350 gr wet tip express. Thanks for your patience.
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Sink tip
You could also get a 300 or 400 grain big boy which is 24 ft long. These are usually attached to the mian head (remove both tip one and tip two) or cut your line back 30 ft and intsall loops. But as mentioned in a previous post, may not be necessary.
Another alternative would be to cut and loop your line at 30 ft back from the tip. Then use a Rio compensator followed by a 15 ft type 8 tip.
I recently made an inquiry to Rio regarding their type 8 tips vs. T-14.
According to RIo, all type 8 (or any other sink rate for that matter) tips sink at the same rate, regardless of line size. In other words, an 8 wt type 8 tip will sink just as fast as a 12 wt type 8 tip.
T-14 weighs 14 grains per foot, sink rate 8/9 inches per second, costs $0.36 per foot and has a diameter of .040 inch.
I have some T-14 on order and will post a report on it at a later date.
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JD
You could also get a 300 or 400 grain big boy which is 24 ft long. These are usually attached to the mian head (remove both tip one and tip two) or cut your line back 30 ft and intsall loops. But as mentioned in a previous post, may not be necessary.
Another alternative would be to cut and loop your line at 30 ft back from the tip. Then use a Rio compensator followed by a 15 ft type 8 tip.
I recently made an inquiry to Rio regarding their type 8 tips vs. T-14.
According to RIo, all type 8 (or any other sink rate for that matter) tips sink at the same rate, regardless of line size. In other words, an 8 wt type 8 tip will sink just as fast as a 12 wt type 8 tip.
T-14 weighs 14 grains per foot, sink rate 8/9 inches per second, costs $0.36 per foot and has a diameter of .040 inch.
I have some T-14 on order and will post a report on it at a later date.
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JD
Fishtale,
Like JD just posted, all type 8 sinking lines or tips sink at 8 inches/second regardless of the line wt. This is why you don't need a 25 ft 350 gr sink tip. If the water you are fishing is 6 to 8 ft deep, the type 8 15 ft sink tip should get sufficiently down. If you need to get deeper, do as JD suggested and cut you MidSpey at 25 or 30 feet and loop a RIO Big Boy to it. Or as I mentioned previously, you can cut the line at 25 or 20 feet and loop a 350 gr tip to it. However, I have a strong suspician that the standard 15 ft type 8 sink tip will suffice.
Like JD just posted, all type 8 sinking lines or tips sink at 8 inches/second regardless of the line wt. This is why you don't need a 25 ft 350 gr sink tip. If the water you are fishing is 6 to 8 ft deep, the type 8 15 ft sink tip should get sufficiently down. If you need to get deeper, do as JD suggested and cut you MidSpey at 25 or 30 feet and loop a RIO Big Boy to it. Or as I mentioned previously, you can cut the line at 25 or 20 feet and loop a 350 gr tip to it. However, I have a strong suspician that the standard 15 ft type 8 sink tip will suffice.
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You might want to consider buying Rio's new sink tip compensator for $25 and their new type eight sinking tip for $20 for your current line and rod.
The sink tip compensator really adds new sinking rates to their older sinking tips including their new type eight.
Shown below is the Sinking Rate Data from Rio's catalog of the tips by themselves and in combo with the sink tip compensator.
Tips sinking rate Without Sink Tip Compensator:
15ft AquaLux® Tip 8” -- 2’
15ft Type 3 Tip 1’ 6”-- 3’
15ft Type 6 Tip 2’ 6”-- 5’
15ft Type 8 Tip 3’ -- 7’
Tips sinking rate With Sink Tip Compsensator:
15ft AquaLux® Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 2’ to 4’
15ft Type 3 Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 3’ to 6’ Depth
15ft Type 6 Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 5’ -- 8’
15ft Type 8 Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 6’ -- 10’
My new Mid Spey 7/8 came with the Tip Compensator and type 8 sinking tip. When late fall/winter comes, tip 1 & 2 are removed and the tip compensator goes on until spring or early summer.
I just bought a new sink tip compensator and type 8 for my old Accelerator 9/10 and Rio Versa tip 10.
The tip compensator makes a great midi sinking leader by itself with a few feet of tippet. The local fly shop manager said that several one hander fly guys have discovered that secret and are buying just the tip compensator to get their flies down a few feet.
The sink tip compensator really adds new sinking rates to their older sinking tips including their new type eight.
Shown below is the Sinking Rate Data from Rio's catalog of the tips by themselves and in combo with the sink tip compensator.
Tips sinking rate Without Sink Tip Compensator:
15ft AquaLux® Tip 8” -- 2’
15ft Type 3 Tip 1’ 6”-- 3’
15ft Type 6 Tip 2’ 6”-- 5’
15ft Type 8 Tip 3’ -- 7’
Tips sinking rate With Sink Tip Compsensator:
15ft AquaLux® Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 2’ to 4’
15ft Type 3 Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 3’ to 6’ Depth
15ft Type 6 Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 5’ -- 8’
15ft Type 8 Tip with Sink Tip Compensator 6’ -- 10’
My new Mid Spey 7/8 came with the Tip Compensator and type 8 sinking tip. When late fall/winter comes, tip 1 & 2 are removed and the tip compensator goes on until spring or early summer.
I just bought a new sink tip compensator and type 8 for my old Accelerator 9/10 and Rio Versa tip 10.
The tip compensator makes a great midi sinking leader by itself with a few feet of tippet. The local fly shop manager said that several one hander fly guys have discovered that secret and are buying just the tip compensator to get their flies down a few feet.
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Covering the water
how would a 15 ft 8 ips sink tip cover the water like 350 grains over 25'?
If I am reading you right, the 350 grain sink tip for your single hand rod is a Teeny 350? Or something similar? a 25 ft fast sinking head followed by skinny running line? The technique involved is cast, shoot line, let it sink and swing, strip line back and repeat the process.
With Spey rods, it goes more like cast as much line as necessary to reach the target. Mend, mend, mend fat line while the shorter sink tip sinks. Then repeat the process. Sometimes it is necessary to feed line into the drift in order to keep the fly "in the zone" long enough.
The big difference though, is the ability to pick up and mend all that line. That is why you can get by with the shorter sink tip.
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JD
how would a 15 ft 8 ips sink tip cover the water like 350 grains over 25'?
If I am reading you right, the 350 grain sink tip for your single hand rod is a Teeny 350? Or something similar? a 25 ft fast sinking head followed by skinny running line? The technique involved is cast, shoot line, let it sink and swing, strip line back and repeat the process.
With Spey rods, it goes more like cast as much line as necessary to reach the target. Mend, mend, mend fat line while the shorter sink tip sinks. Then repeat the process. Sometimes it is necessary to feed line into the drift in order to keep the fly "in the zone" long enough.
The big difference though, is the ability to pick up and mend all that line. That is why you can get by with the shorter sink tip.
><///('>
JD
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