PDA

View Full Version : Rio Freshwater 7' 1.5 ips Freshwater Versi Leaders with Skagit and AFS Heads



Grampa Spey
10-03-2008, 07:39 AM
With my Meiser 5/6 Switch rod and the Rio 350 grain Skagit coastal shore casting with the wind, sea weed and shallow water has been a constant challenge.

Last week I tried a 7' 1.5 ips Fresh Water Versi Leader with my 350 Skagit with a variety of flies from Jay's crab fly to various clousers and Jenson minnows from size 4 to 2.

I was able to over/under hand cast with no operator errors. It was easy to set up the cast with the 27' head, the 7 Freshwater Versi Leader and a couple of feet of tippet. I was able to cast and shoot several rod lengths of running line with each cast all afternoon with no tangles in or out of the water. I even had probably a halibut strike which snapped off the end of one of my flies.

Yesterday afternoon, on the American River, the wind increased and made casting my Z6126 with the 15' Rio Spey Versi Leader a chancey effort and my Rio 15' Floating Spey Versi Leader.

I took off the 15' Spey Floating Versi Leader and replaced it with a 10' Floating Spey Versi Leader and attached the 7' Freshwater 1.5 ips Versi Leader and added a 6# 2' tippet to the 2' of tippet left over from last week.

The casts went from chancey to basically effortless with a variety of flies from size 4/6 steelhead flies to some smaller caddis flies.

Our low water levels and constant high winds, this year have been a challenge with my Skagit and AFS heads trying to find a leader that worked with my sorry casting, defeating the constant wind and yet not snagging the bottom with every cast.

I think the Rio 7' 1.5 ips Freshwater Versi Leaders with Skagit and AFS Heads may be the answer with these two rods and the Skagits and AFS lines that work with them.