[Gillie]

I'm looking for opinions on using T-14 to build tips. I've read quite a bit on the forum about Skagit casting and the way Ed builds his tips. I'm trying to figure a T-14 tip for more traditional casting technique. For arguments sake lets assume a multi-tip WC line.

Do people simple remove the first 15' and attach a length a T-14 to replace it ?

Has anybody tried a modified version of Ed's tecniques ? What fascinates me about his tips is not just that the T-14 allows him to reach deep, but my understanding is that often these tips have only 1 -3 feet of T-14 with the rest being 11 or 12 weight running line to create ~10 ft total tip in order to stay at a consistent dept and get there early in the swing.

Has anyone tried taking this concept and applying it to a 15' tip with a WC? I'm thinking about 10 or 11 feet of 11 or 12 weight running line and 4 to 5 feet of T-14. I don't have much experience chopping lines and I'm hoping one of the line splicing gurus can tell me if I'm in the right ballpark or if I'm describing a monstrosity that will be an absolute nightmare to cast and fish.

I know many will encourage me to try skagit casting and Ed's tips, and I may go that direction but I'm simply exploring options at the molment and wondering what other things have been tried and if these ideas are plausible or if I'm way off base.

Gillie

 

[spey_bubba]

Hello Gillie:

I don't fish a "Skagit Style" line, but use tips a fair bit with an XLT or a short head line. I have used LC13 in the past, but find the T14 more supple and it's actually stronger in tensile strength (straight pull), although perhaps less durable (mono core). It's really easy to make tips with as well, although LC13 is a piece of cake with some Krazy Glue Gel and some 1/16" shrink tubing (you don't even need to whip finish, although with the T14, you do). An advantage of T14 is that it is more environmentally friendly - there's also less of a chance of getting really stupid from lead poisoning after using it. It is considerably more expensive than LC13 though.

I usually cut off about 15 feet from the front end of my short head lines and put loops there, then fish anywhere between 7.5' and 20 feet of T14. With an XLT, the cut points are a little different, but still fish the variety of tips. Using an intermediate density sinking section in front of a short section of LC13 or T14 works well to "fine tune" the depth, but I must admit to being a bit lazy on the water and simply adjusting the depth of my fly through the desired "swing zone" by varying how much across or down stream I cast and whether I mend much.

 

[beau purvis]

t 14

I bought a coil of t 14 from RIO and cut off 10ft.Nail knotted a peice of 30lb on the end, put a nonslip loop in that to attach my leader.Put a cortland or a loop provided by RIO in the T-14 package[dont remember if that is how it is sold],braided mono loop on the other end attached with three nail knots.I use that off the end of a windcutter in place of other WC tips when I want more depth.If I want even more depth I change out tip 2 with a compensator as I did for Chinook last June on the Kennektok.Never felt I needed any more.when I needed less, I put on a type 8 10 wght cut to 10ft in place of the t-14.I dont use the T-14 that often.Beau

 

[BLACK FRANCIS]

Gillie,
i have used the t-14 for tips all season. the great thing about it is that a five foot piece gets down great in about 3-6 ft of water and is very eay to cast. i have used it mostly on a full wc or a sa short spey. the wc gets down better full length caues the tip is thinner and has less drag. i have found that just doubling it over and tying two nail knots back to back on the doubled over section makes a great loop conection. on the terminal end i stripped off some of the coating and tie a loop in the mono core to loop tippet on. good stuff and very versatile.

 

[ChromeFever]

T-14

Can T-14 be purchased by the spool? If so how big are these spools and where can one buy these from?

 

[Rambo]

t-14 bulk

you can buy a 500 foot spool for 180 bucks
http://www.sanjoseflyshop.com/shootinglines.asp

 

[JR SPEY]

Two clarifications. First of all, Rio T-14 also comes in a thirty foot coil with a couple of braided loops for $14.95. Secondly, Gillie I think Ed Ward's tips are made from the belly (or body) section of 11 or 12 weight, not the running line. The idea is to have weight that is close to the grains per foot of the T-14. Rio has made long spools of heavy weight bellies available to selected flyshops so that you can order as much of this as you want.

 

[Rambo]

which flyshops

jr spey which fly shops have teh bulk spools of the rio belly sections I have been looking for some.
thanks
Rambo

 

[JR SPEY]

To be honest, I'm not sure. If I had known for sure I would have mentioned them because I think they are all Speyclave sponsors. I believe I was told that Aaron's shop had it and I don't doubt that Mike's Red Shed has it, too. They are regulars on the site, so perhaps they'll post a note clarifying it for us.

 

[Gillie]

JR Spey,
My bad, I meant 11 or 12 weight level line which is belly weight and diameter. It was late when I was writing. Running line would be worthless.

Gillie

 

[mattzoid]

Dr. Way

If anybody could cast 20 feet of T-14 it would be you or Steve. Man oh man, I couldn't get 20 feet of T-14 out of the water let alone cast it. Looking forward to seeing you again at Big Eddy.

 

[phomo]

T-14 tips

So what is the best way to splice the T-14 to the level floating to make a skagit tip? It seems to me the core of the T-14 is the tungsten wire that gives it the weight. Thanks for the help.
Mark

 

[spey_bubba]

Hello Matt:

There are some simple little tricks to making life easy casting a long tip... for a real "deep" experience, try 15 - 17.5 feet of SA Deep Water Express 550 (21 grains per foot)... it makes LC13 and T14 feel like a trout lines!

There are two casts which I use with heavy tips, depending on whether I want an upstream or downstream grip... either the Scott O'Donnell/John Farrar/George Cook/Dec Hogan's Circle cast, or the Simon Gaweswoth's snake roll. Both are the best casts to pull a real sinker out of the water without roll casting the tip up (which seems to be a bit of a waste of time, unless you are REALLY deep, i.e. 10 feet). Throwing another spiral (doubling up) on a snake roll or Steve Choate's spiral single also works well. Grab me at Big Eddy and I'll be happy to show you.

 

[mattzoid]

Thanks Way.

Phomo, I put braided loops where I connect my T-14 to the Skagit line. I use loop to loop connecters because I have several T-14 tips at different lengths and interchange them depending on water conditions and speed to arrive at the right depth.

 

[BrownTrout1013]

t-14

hi i am new to this site and seen this some were else but it was done differrently. what they did is striped the coating off and tied a triple surgens loop in the braided core. oh yes it has to be a dacron core or simular to do this they take a 3 foot pc of mono and wrap it around three times around the t-14 type stuff. leave enough room to tye a triple surgens knot and pull them tight. so the mono diigs in to the coating and you strip it off by pulling the mono through the fly line only in the area that the knot will be in. and yes i cut it back about 15 feet to put the sink tip on the line i used. also courtland line company sells mini head kits that you could do this whith they come in different sink rates i think 3,6,9.any ways good luck to you and tight lines 2 u brownie1013 <'}}}}>~~~<

 

[Maxg]

I cast 30 feet of LC13 on a 9 foot rod and have cast 35 feet of LC15 on a 15 foot double hander. I have also cast a head made of two lengths of LC13 stuffed up 50lb Gudebrod braided mono, 36 feet long, on a 15 foot Talon. Wasn't really sucessful but a 8/9 Loop Blackline will cast 625 gns of SA T40 head to hell and gone.
I would cast 40 feet of LC13 on a TFO 12x12 or on the Loop 8/9 if it meant the fly would get down quickly. Much the same with T14. Max

 

[Speybro]

Rambo

Kaufmanns in Bellevue (425 643 2246) and River Run Anglers in Carnation (425 333 4446) have level lines in #12, #13, #14, #15 and #16 weights.

 

[fshbm]

If you're converting a WC tips model into a Skagit-like line with the new Cheaters is it still preferable to make the custom 10' tips used with many Skagit lines or can you use the standard factory 15' tips for the same effect? That is, anyone know how the standard 15' DC tips will cast and fish in comparison to the custom T-14 heads? Is it worth the effort to go through the process of splicing the T-14 to floating line to make a variety of tips like those used with most custom Skagit lines? Not adverse to the labor, but would prefer not to reinvent the wheel if you know what I mean.

 

[spey machine]

........I've been casting 20' feet of T14 all winter. I made a braided loop for the butt end, some of the manufactured loops are too big, and then just nail knotted some 20 lb. Maxima to the leader end with a Perfection Loop. Then I just do a loop connection for my leader. I put it on the end of my 8910 WC with tip 2 removed. It weighs about 590 grains, which works well on my Loop Blue and Green 14'. It is a little light on my 1409-5 T&T. At the end of my swing, I just pull it upstream, and make my cast. It definitely gets down better than a type 8 15'er!!

 

[SSPey]

Fishing a 13' 6/7 wt on coastal rivers, I use short T-14 tips (7.5' - 10' - 12.5'), usually 10'. The short dense tips steer very well and drop down into pockets quickly. When 7.5' of T-14 gets down too fast, I switch to an unweighted fly. If still too fast, I go to a full float tip and choose an appropriately weighted fly. Works for me.