Pole Dancer & Sage Xi2 questions

[civicrr]

I know that each individual is different but hoping to get some guidance in a effort to limit spending $$ on lines I'll eventually not use. I've got three of the Xi2 rods - one 8wt & two 9wt. My goal is to have a set up for floating, intermediate & sinking lines for fishing the CA Delta primarily for stripers. For those who have these rods, any suggestions as to line wt/head wt you are using?

I have the 8wt lined with Outbound Short floating in 8wt. The 8wt is working well throwing bass bugs, poppers & crease flies.

The 9wt has Custom Cut Outbound T-14 with 27' (378gr). The 9wt is working well for me. I was throwing all the flies I tied on a respectable distance.

When casting the medium Pole Dancer (5 1/2" with 1/0 hook) what size rod/line weight are you guys using? I'm not satisfied with the distance I'm getting using the 8wt/8wt ROS line throwing the medium Pole Dancer. It goes without saying that a more skilled caster would get better results than I am. Still, I also know that having the right set up will help me be a better caster.:)

I did a search & saw a thread by Charlie B. In the thread, he says for topwater he uses a 9wt rod as the minimum paired with 10wt ROS line (425gr). He said he can throw small flies on a rod set up for big but not the other way around. Makes sense to me.

If you guys recommend using the 9wt with either 9wt or 10wt ROS for topwater ,would you think that the 8wt paired with ROS intermediate in 8wt (or 9wt?) will work? Or would I be better served using a 9wt rod with a heavier head weight.

Thanks

[OceanSunfish]

If you're satisfied with the distance your getting with the #8, then go with it.... BUT

My interpretation of Charlie's POV, is that he prefers 'rigs' that will allow him to cover a lot of water in a single cast which means DISTANCE!

You have to remember that some locations are very shallow and you do not want to move the boat closer to mitigate short casting.

Lastly, think Lunker Punker..... we're not tossing Lunker Punkers 80'..... more like 80 yards..... That's what you're competing against out there.....

You would be better served to use your #8 for T-14/LC (Clousering) then use the #9s for topwater or waking/diver patterns.

My $.03

[civicrr]

OS,
Sorry. I don't think I was clear. I am satisfied with the 8wt/8wt ROS when throwing smaller flies. When throwing the medium Pole Dancer, I was not satisfied.

Using the 9wt for throwing topwater does make sense. Are you saying to use the other 9wt for the "I" line?

[Darian]

Why not just follow Charlie B's advice :question: He certainly knows what he's talking about. Get the appropriate line for the 9 weight rod. When the winds up, you'll still be able to stay in the game (whether using a floating, intermediate or faster sinking line). :nod: The other alternative is to use an Airhead fly.... :D

[cutwrk2fish]

Dear Sir, Alot of what your asking is also going to depend on what type of flies your throwing on your other rods and sizes.If you want to chat more about this please feel free to e-mail me at ammale@comcast.net . Hope your having a great Holiday...

[Charlie Gonzales]

Without spending any money, I would first try the 8wt(which is a 10wt by nature) OBS floater on the #9 XI2, it wont be over lined by two, but only one. Throw the medium pole dancer on this and see what you think. It should handle fine. You also need to look at your leader set up. You should be running at least 30# butt section down to around 15lbd tippet for good turnover and fly movement. The main reason many of us are throwing the 9wt(or10) with the #10 OBS floater is grain wt to carry the 5/0 pole dancer with some distance, and still be able to throw the smaller flies.

So I would have your 8wt rigged with t-11 or t-14 and your two 9's rigged w/ Rio OBS I line and floater in #9's.

Have fun!

[civicrr]

Guys,
Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it. What I didn't put in the first post is that flyfishing is pretty much all new to me.

Darian,
It isn't that I don't want to follow Charlie B's advice. He is using 11wt ROS on his 9wt rods. Since the ROS are already overlined by 2+, he is overlining by 4+. Being new to this type of fishing, I've found that it has a very steep learning curve. I am thinking that will be too big a jump for my limited experience/casting skills to handle. Of course, one route I could take is just buy the lines & grow into them.

As for flies for stripers, I have started a collection of clousers, flashtail clousers ,airheads & pole dancers. All of these flies are in the 4"-5" range. Of these flies, the ones that didn't really work well for distance with the ROS 8wt floating line were the airheads & pole dancers. The ROS 8wt floater was all I had @ first so I was trying things out & practicing casting. I've been using about 2' of 30lb with 5' of 20lb tippet. Turnover hasn't been a problem.

BTW, the smaller flies a referenced in the first post are for largemouth (swimming frog, poppers, etc). They are sized closer to the small (size 2 hook) pole dancers.

Charlie, I'll try switching the lines around like you suggest. I'll put the T-14 (378gr head weight) on the 8wt & see how it does. That line was able to throw everything in my flybox the other day on the 9wt. As long as I can cast it on the 8wt, it should work great. Pretty sure my casting skill will be the limiting factor not the rod. It sounds like I'll end up with ROS in floating & intermediate on the 9wt rods.

I'm not actually sure from your post if you think I should end up using the 9wt ROS or 10wt ROS on the 9wt.

Thanks, Mike

[briansII]

I was out a few weekends ago, casting the medium Pole Dancer on a 9wt Xi2. I used a 9wt, ROS. There was a pretty stiff, crossing breeze, but I thought I was getting good distance from that setup. The thought of going up to a 10wt ROS crossed my mind, but I didn't really feel lacking with the 9wt line. This was the first time I cast the medium Pole Dancer in real fishing conditions. It casts better than I thought it would. I can see where a 10-11 ROS would come in handy for the bigger Pole Dancer, but honestly, I don't think it's needed for the medium.....my opinion might change once I get more time with the fly.

To give you a baseline of what I'm used to. I'm using 30' of T14(heads and integrated line), on a 9wt Xi2 & Xi3.

briansII

[Darian]

Growing into lines is a very expensive way to proceed to gain confidence and that sounds like the real issue for you. :confused:

Not sure where you live but you probably should spend a day with a guide like Charlie Gonzalez (or someone where you live) and get some casting tips while fishing for Stripers. Nothing like digging a hook out of your anatomy because you've made a casting error.... ](*,)

It's the best way to shorten the learning curve. 8)

[civicrr]

Growing into lines is a very expensive way to proceed to gain confidence and that sounds like the real issue for you. :confused:



I'm confident that I have a lot to learn.:) Smart enough to know when a cast is going bad to start over.:D. Part of what I've learned is that different rods will respond differently to different line models & weights. At $75 a pop, I truly would like to limit my purchases to lines that experienced anglers like for my rod model.

Of course your right, getting out with a guide for some instruction is the way to go. I am actually planning on trying to set up a trip soon.

Thanks.

[Grampa Spey]

I recently had some fun with my Meiser 5/6 10.5' Switch Rod and Steve Godshall's custom SGS line for that rod and the MOW T11 floating tip and my Death Star with Steve's custom SGS and the MOW T11 floating tip in the surf at Bodega Bay with Charlie's smaller pole dancer.

Once, I learned the physics of the Meiser Switch Rod with the SGS and the Floating MOW I was able to shoot 2-3 rod lengths of shooting line with the smaller pole dancer. I actually had a couple of whacks.

Then the wave height increased, and I put the floating MOW tip and smaller Pole Dancer on my Death Star, Sage's TCX 7126. The distance inspite of increased surf height and cross wind increased to 3-5 rod lengths.

After about 30 minutes with the DS, I took off the PDer and went to Clousers. The fly is a little expensive to pushing it through the wind, high surf and the sea weeds in the water.

I used over head casts because I couldn't set up two handed casts/pokes in the surf and cross the parallel beachline waves.

This setup will work in that area.

However, on my local river and American and from a boat, the heads don't work that well because you need to stop stripping in before you run the connection between the running line and head.

So, I will be trying my Outbound Floating lines with the lighter Switch Rod, a Meiser 9/10 Switch and my Z7110 so I can strip the line up to the MOW connection. I will try my Rio Steelhead/Salmon WF10F floating line with the PD's, the floating MOW and my Z7110 as that is maybe the best one piece line I have for the Z7110.

All surface activity re nervous water, birds and fish striking stuff on the surface stopped after about 45 minutes, and we couldn't hear the seals on Seal Island.

I want to thank Bill Lowe for his lesson on how to cast the shorter two handed rods with the MOW in some high wind conditions and how to set up the casts with my Death Star. If you do it correctly your lower hand and rod tip will be whacking your lower abs on each cast.

Last but not least, my T11 MOW's seem to work for a wide range of my shorter two handed rods. The concept of the same leader length and basically the same weight for the range of tips seems to work for me. I have to do some adaptations when I go from the floating MOW to one of the sinking MOW's. After that up to full sinking MOW, which I haven't tried yet, you can use basically the same cast mechanics for the various tips. At this time I see no need for the T8 or T14 MOW with my shorter two handed rods.

The one difference for me is how the sinking MOW's combat the wind even better than the Floating MOW.

Then a park ranger and EMT came by warning people of a great White Sighting close to the Bodega harbor inlet.

[civicrr]

Gave the guys @ Kiene's a call today. I spoke to both Bill & Andy. I'm going there tomorrow to pick up a couple of lines. Should be all set up.

Thanks for everyone's input & advice.

Mike