[flytyer]

Moose,

You bring up something inadvertently that cause problems for folks, especially those new to spey or those more experienced spey casters who are used to seeing 2 line designations on a rod (i.e. 14' for 8/9, etc. CND, Loop, and T&T put a single line designation on their rods (i.e. T&T 1409, Loop BL9140, CND Custom 1409). The CND, Loop, and T&T rods simply mean that they are 14' rods for a 9 line, or in spey line parlance, an 8/9 line.

Many folks make the mistake of assuming that any of the three rods I mention (CND Custom 1409, T&T 1409, Loop BL9140) are made for a 9/10 line. They are actually made for an 8/9 line.

 

[flytyer]

JR Spey,

When speaking of the Loop Adapted lines, you are correct. However, the Loop Adapted line is a very short-head spey line, really a shooting head for 2-hand rods. And just like shooting heads with single-hand rods, you must overline by one line size to get the proper line load.

If a rod maker made a single-hand rod that was designed to cast say a 6 wt shooting head and called it a 6 wt rod, all would be fine as long as the one who bought the rod used nothing but 6 wt shooting heads on the rod. If the person didn't like shooting heads and wanted to use a WF line instead, he would have to go down a line size to a 5 wt for the same casting performance. And if someone else prefered either DT or the long-head single-hand lines with a head length of 50 to 66 ft, he would need to go down to a 4 wt for the same casting performance.

The same with Loop rods. Since they are designed to cast a specific Loop Adapted line, you need to go down a line size for short and mid-belly spey lines, and 2 sizes for the long-belly XLT or GS. Otherwise the action gets slowed down a bunch because of overloading the rod.

This is why I consider Loop rods to be the size on the rod, i.e. the BL9140 is a 9 wt rod which uses an 8/9/10 Windcutter, 8/9 MidSpey, 8/9 Delta, or 8/9 Long Delta.

 

[flytyer]

JR Spey,

OK, I see where what I posted could get a new spey caster off to a less than ideal start. And for this I applogize to all.