I love the Rio DC for stripers on the single hander, especially from a boat. I am curious though if others find that the 26ft head holds it's loop form as far as a two-hander can throw it or not.
In other words:
It's easy to throw over 100ft with a two-hander, yet I find that a 26ft head runs out of runway before the full length of the cast can complete. The mass in the line keeps going after the kinetic transfer of energy in the sideways "u" shape expires, thus sending a flailing out-of-loop shape forward once the loop passes through the short head.
Three things help this (a) a big wind resistant fly (b) slowing the stroke down and (c) using a longer head length and taper. However after much experimentation, and personal preferences I find the 38ft mark to be the magic compromise for coastal flyfishing with stripped streamer type flies from shore. Most of my perspective comes from 6" flies for SWFF, consistent casts of 115-120ft, and strip retrieving to the knot or close to it.
As you add a longer taper, the longer casts tend to hold on to the loop longer, thus letting the cast reach further. But too long of a head requires that a lot of fat line is stripped into the guides while fishing a fly with enticing action close to shore, slowing down the re-load and fire process that might be key to hooking more fish. The line should slip easily out with a single flip or with the receeding wave for the next cast to full distance, false casts are really unnecessary as well as a good single backcast can fire such a head over the shoreline turbulence.
Although I failed to explain the 'why' in my previous post, I hope this is a better explanation of why I find the 38ft length ideal for the application of shoreline flyfishing with strip-retrieved large flies in surf and tiderips.
For river applications or flatwing swinging in currents I would opt for a 45-55ft head for line control and smoother stroke casting even still but that's another story...
