[Yooper-Fly]

Something else to consider with tips........

I really dislike poly leaders unless it’s with a trout Spey. They don’t have the energy to really carry much at all and get beat up in the wind something fierce!!!
What I discovered (and many of you probably also) is that the Rio INTOUCH replacement tips (in a lighter wt than your rod) work like an absolute dream paired with scandi heads 500gr and above. Plus, they last way way longer

 

[Yooper-Fly]

Thanks for the great overview of the 3d lines. Some great advice!
In doing a rather crude weighing of various attached back end coils, It appears that 30" will get me to 480 (the line actually weighs 527). I'll start with a 16" cut and then drop to 8" increments. However, it that's correct I'll need to cut some off the front to get it down to 34'?

As for flies, I use mostly unweighted flies but have some large unweighted intruders that weigh 29 grains dry that I use during high receding/murky water. My 8wt. 12'6" rod with the airflo scandi 510 casts those flies easily with a 10' 80 grain tip (a poly leader won't do it). The fortunate thing is they use no bunny strips and gain a minimal amount of weight wet. My interest in converting to 3d stems from a desire to eliminate extra reels, reel spools, extra tips and polyleaders. It may be that I'll need to continue with the airflo with a tip If I find that the 480 is the right 3d for the 8 wt. and it is incapable of casting large unweighted intruders.

480gr sounds extremely light weight for an 8wt. I like a minimal of 540gr

I find it doesn’t matter wether I put on a tip or just a long leader, you just find a line that works and you are good to go.

in my opinion, a lot of obsession goes into finding the ‘perfect’ weight. But in my experience, that doesn’t matter nearly as much as finding a solid rod/line combo for your liking.
I have a 13’6” 8wt that will cast 540-570 scandi easily.......doesn’t matter if there is a tip or not. A few slight adjustments is all that is needed.
Likewise, I can cast 570-630 skagits, same story on tips

 

[Yooper-Fly]

Thanks for the input.
It appears that Rio is suggesting the 3d lines need to be lighter than floating scandi lines ( the 520 3d is rated as a 8/9, the 580 a 9/10 & the 480 a 7/8). What is your experience with 3d's?
I too have a 13'6" 8 wt. (sage one). I find it to be a little less particular than my 12'6" rods, however, it's a bit of a problem in standing waves on my frameless one man. The tip flails up and down and fouls the other rod in the holder. As a result, I'm trying to make everything work on the 12'6"s.

I often cast a 34' 510 Airflo scandi line with 80 grains of 10' mow lite tip (sacrilege, I know), In theory, a 580 3d should work on the meiser 12'6". I'll find out soon since our rivers are reopening at the end of this month.

.

I’ve never used the scandi 3D lines, but I have used several multi-density skagits and intermediate Scandoid. Not apples to apples, but probably similar per the question.

In general, yes, I like to step down in weight with those kind of heads. The only time I find you don’t need to is with really beefy rods......say a 13’ 10wt or 15’ 10wt.