fellas, thanks for the suggestions
Here are some more findings:
* WC 9/10/11 for tips - nice, but short
* Midspey 9/10 for tips - nice, loads well, mine is 62' long (vs. 65' specs)
* Midspey 8/9 - ok dry line, but light load that doesn't access power in the rod
* Triangler Taper 10 (70' version) - nicer as a dry line, modest access to power
* Airflo Traditional 9/10 - decent dry line, forgiving, but only 78' (vs. 88' specs)
* My favorite tips line thus far is a based loosely on a Midspey 9/10, but longer.
Recipe: Take a longbelly WF12F steelhead taper (mine is Orvis closeout for $10), remove 5.5' from the front (at 10 wt diameter), splice in 12' of 10 wt line, and loop on 15' tips (9/10 wt tips).
Total length is 77', including a gradual 15' rear taper. It gives about 10' more working belly than my Midspey 9/10, and is about as much line as I can reasonably cast and carry when using Type 3 and 6 tips.
Looking forward to trying an XLT 8/9 on this rod