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View Full Version : favorite striper lines for wade/bank fishing?



Jasonh
04-01-2005, 09:12 PM
I have done almost all of my striper fishing on teh american out of a boat and was just curious what lines you guys like out there for wade fishing. I have fished my airflo 350 wading but it is a little heavy for fishing on foot. Thinking a 300 grain line might be better.

Jason

David Lee
04-01-2005, 10:21 PM
Hi Jason .

The "best" is very subjective - Some people like shooting heads and others like "full" (integrated) sink-tips .

The best American river line (for Stripes , Shad , and Steelhead) I have ever used is the Rio D.C. 24 foot sink-tip .... 200 grains for rods up to a 6 wt. , 300 for a 7 wt. and heavier . It casts like a dream , sinks quick , and , most importantly , mends great . The downside is the running like will crack sooner or later .... At $50.00+ a pop , you can go thru a few lines in a season and lose all of your Beer money :cry: . The Cortland Q.D. 225 and 325 are also very good .

A full shooting head setup is nice . The downside is running line management (mono runners will make you daffy if you don't stretch them) . The upside is that they cover the water better (an LC-13 head w/ mono will cover large areas better than ANYTHING else) , sink "flatter"(more sensitive to rocks , tree limbs , fish ....) , and when the running line craps-out ... you toss it and get another spool for $5.00 .

In a perfect situation ... you would have rods/reels set up w/ both :idea: . Of course , in a perfect situation ... you'd have a brace of toothsome creatures carrying your gear for you and fetching cool beverages at your beck and call ...... :twisted:

David

Darian
04-01-2005, 10:51 PM
Hmmmm,..... "....a brace of toothsome Creatures...." 8) 8) It boggles the mind :shock: :shock: :shock: ; a fly fisherman concerned with the physical side of life instead of the ethereal..... What would've Isaac Walton have said about this,.... this.... indiscretion :roll: :roll:

Wait a minute :? , you also said "In a perfect situation,....". So, it hasn't happened yet... :roll: :wink: :P :P :P

Of course were I to locate a willing "brace of toothsome creatures", I would indulge myself, as well; having a rather hedonistic bent :shock: also. :wink: :lol: :lol:

Anyway, What David has stated is true, but It seems to me that the water levels (depth)/current speeds and whether the fish are on top or not has a lot to do with the choice of lines while wading on the AR. It will, also, dictate where, on the river, wading is possible or probable. 8) 8)

Adam Grace
04-01-2005, 11:35 PM
David, you must be an excelent caster to carry 300 grians on a 7wt rod.

We shops guys set up the average 8wt wielding customer with 300 grains if they are fishing out of a boat with an integrated sinktip style line. Granted some of the LC 13 and T-14 heads can weight near 350-390gr, depending on the length of the head, and many guys use 8wts with those types of heads all the time. Most guys cast better with a 250gr head and floating running line when wading. It is easier to keep the lighter head off the water during the back cast and not slow down while pulling line off the top of the water instead of from underneath it.

I like a 30' 250gr on my 7wt Loomis GLX out of a boat and a 24' 200gr sinktip for wading , but that rod is a little softer than say an old Sage RPL+

The use of heavy shooting head style lines definately requires more experience when overloading a fly rod.

David, it sounds like you have plenty of enough experience with fishing heavy heads.

What 7wt rod are you using?

David Lee
04-02-2005, 12:40 AM
Hi Adam - I am NOT an "excelent caster" (put a 5 wt. in my hands w/ a floating line and see how sorry I am :oops: ) , but have spent the past 1 1/2 years bombing shooting heads into the great beyond . My 7 wt. Sage RPLX spits out a 351 grain LC-13 head (27 feet) with no trouble .... That rod isn't happy with any less than 250 gr. on it , preferably 275 (ideal 8) ) . The RPLX rods were the best light big game rods ever made , IMO .
There isn't a lot of "casting" involved , just roll-cast the head to lay in on top of the surface , then one backcast , then shoot . My RPLX 10 wt. will throw a full 30 feet of T-14 .

I'm not too keen on long heads .... anything over 30 feet is a pain to airealize (for me , anyways ...) - I like the short (24 foot) sink-tips a lot , but with any sinking line of that type , I try not to false cast much . roll it out , back cast , and shoot that sucker .

There is a funny kind of "fear" and voodoo regarding the use of heads and leadcore ..... I stayed away from it for quite a while , then gave it a try . You always hear how hard/difficult it is to cast or manage leadcore/monofilament ..... Like anything else , once you do it for a while , it becomes pretty easy . In a lot of situations , it rules the river . People say Shad bite best at dawn/dusk , right ?? I love going out in the MIDDLE of the day (10:00 AM to 4:00 PM) and terrorizing the Shad while everyone stays home and waits for dusk so the fish will "bite" . Lines are just tools - some take practice to learn how to cast , but in the end .... they just help you to put the fly where it is best eaten .

If anyone overloads the rod 2 or 3 line weights , be careful .... nothing sucks as hard as being "kissed" on the back of your head by a HEAVY sinking line going at warp speed - keep your glasses on and wear a hat !!

David

Andy Guibord
04-02-2005, 07:42 AM
I would use a 200 grain sink tip in most wading situations. Shooting heads are versatile and allow you to adapt to the flow and depths of different locations.

Bill Kiene semi-retired
04-03-2005, 10:24 AM
Probably 90% of the fly fishers use boats to fish for stripers but wading has to be pretty special. We do have a handful of peopel who have figured out how to be sucessful on foot.

I think that most should use a integarated (one piece line) 'sinktip' or 'sinkhead' that is 20 to 30 of very fast sinking (type 5-6-7 sinkrate) with a floating running line.

At the beginning this is easier to handle with no loop connections to stick in the guides like with a interchangable shooting head system. Plus with floating running line it should not sink under water around you feet while casting.

After you become more adept you can try other line combinations like a new Airflow XT running line spliced by Andy or Jim to 27' of lead core.

Also, when you are first starting out for stripers, buy some streamers that are on the smaller end of the scale so it will be easier, especially if you are wading.

I believe Jeff Putnam has tried about all the one piece sinktips and told me that the Rio DC was the easiest/nicest to cast as someone mentioned here already.

Be sure to bring you rod and reel into the shop with you and have one of the guys help you with the right choice of line for stripers.

This same line will work at certain flows for salmon and shad.

mike N
04-06-2005, 12:24 AM
I prefer shooting heads to cover the river when striper fishing, however, I do not fish stripers too often. 27' of lc-13 seems to load up my 7 wt quite nicely.

Mike

smokeater
04-24-2005, 11:45 PM
For shad on the AR I found a 225 grain sinking line on an 8 weight that I shortened from 30' to 15' to be pretty versatile. It takes a good double haul to huck it out a long way, but being shorter made mending a snap, it really helped to work the current seams in tight where you would otherwise drag the bottom. I also found that I could really hang it out at the dangle point and get alot of strikes as I start to strip on the retrieve. When I really need to go for distance accross faster water I switch to my 300 grain. But for the most part I've done really well with the 225. For stripers down in the lower half I stick with the 300.

smokeater
05-03-2005, 11:20 PM
I don't know what I was thinking. I went out the other day just to compare my 225 and 300 grain. The 225 barely loads the rod since I shortenned it. Probably should have just left it as it was. The 300 really loads the rod but tends to catch the bottom as it reaches the dangle point. I will probably pick up a new 225 and not mess with the length. Anything from 200 to 300 grain should work well in most cases.