Flyline Info

[marcshaw]

My apologies if you've covered this question before but can someone help me with picking which of the new Sage Bass tapers to buy. I fish a 10 ft. 8 wt. Loomis rod and don't know whether to up line this rod and/or whether to get the 290 or 330. I currently throw a 8 wt bass bug taper full line but while it's good for longer throws it hinges quite a bit with short casts or big flies. Thanks

[David Lee]

Welcome to the board , Marc .

If most of your targets are under 35 or so feet ..... go with the 330 . More weight and mass per foot of line out the tip-top= easy to throw something bulky a short distance . I'm curious as to the 'hinging' problem you describe w/ the Mastery Bug taper 8 .

Rod/line selection is a balance between several factors -

Bug size .

Average casting distance .

The cover you're fishing .

Hope this helps .

David

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Shorter rods are better for casting short like out of a boat.

I think the LMB 330 grn is what you need for an 8 weight rod in this case. It is overloaded but works great casting short to medium distances with big bass bugs.

We have a large selection of "short bass rods" in our shop.

Sage, Redington, Ross, TFO......

[marcshaw]

Thank you both for your input. The rod is one I use for virtually all my freshwater fishing other than trout. It's 10 ft because at 5' 4" I felt the length would help when wading for shad and it's very helpful when tubing in a pond. I've had it for years. The "hinging" I mentioned happens when I throw a bushy fly on a short line such as when bass fishing. My sense is that it'd be cured with a heavier line and that's what I looking into getting. I'll try the 330 grain in the new Sage line and only have to decide whether to get an 8wt or 9wt. It's very possible that a shorter rod with a stiffer butt section would be a better boat rod for bass so I'll put that on my wish list for later too. Thanks again

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

The Ross Reel Company has a new bass rod series that is only $169.00, just for the record.

7'11" #6, 8 and 10 line sizes with a case and lifetime warranty.

Redington has a new short Predator series that is $199.00 too.

These short rods are fun and accurated for that close in casting with larger bugs.

[SLOwag]

Redington has a new short Predator series that is $199.00 too.

These short rods are fun and accurated for that close in casting with larger bugs.

As an FYI, I just bought two 8wts, the 7'-11'' Predator and TFO TICRX 9'-0". I coupled them both with a floating 8wt RIO Outbound Short, they both threw the same large bass flies equally well with only five minutes of getting familiar with these rods. The TFO does rollcast better but maybe with practice the Predator is capable as well. My intent was to keep only one of these rods but as of today both perform to my expectations and I'm keeping both.

The biggest step forward for me was that these lines picked up off the water and shot the 35' with one backcast if I didn't need to dry the deer hair bug I was using. Up to this point I was trying to use my trout outfits and it was just not working too well. There was no hinging with a 9' leader that tapered to a 5x. I imagine the Sage 330 will work just as well.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

That all sounds great SLOwag,

My only comment is that a 9' 5x leader is not very commonly used on an 8 weight rod for bass.

[Hairstacker]

That all sounds great SLOwag,

My only comment is that a 9' 5x leader is not very commonly used on an 8 weight rod for bass.

I agree, especially if it's a purchased leader. Most, if not all, purchased 9' 5x leaders are designed for trout fishing and will come with a relatively light .019" or at most a .021" butt section. With an 8 wt. line, I normally use a leader with a butt of no less than .023" and, nowadays, never go less than 1x when fishing for bass on the Delta. The majority of the time I'm using 0x and I know a lot of guys just go with a relatively short (say 6') level leader of 20 lb test Maxima for their topwater bass bugging.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Yes HS

For larger, wind resistant bass and panfish flies I sometime use a short 7'6" 0x leader like a Rio that will have a larger butt diameter........ .026"?

[SLOwag]

^
I agree. I'm still learning to fish for bass which translates to a lot of experimentation. I wasn't getting bit until I extended the 10lb tippet another 18" with the 5lb material. Thanks for the advice, I'll look at my leader construction for my next trip.