Quote Originally Posted by Bill Kiene View Post
Mike showed us about the new 'ultra short Skagit heads' which are about 2.5 x rod length.

They have changed the Skagit head length to 2.5 to 3.5 times rod length now.

Mike, Scott O'Donnell and Ed Ward are way into short heads on small two handed rods.

Their focus is effortless casting with the smallest two handed rods what will deliver the flies.

Mike and his team worked closely with Rio in the development of the new Skagit Short lines.

Mike also likes around 10' tips on the short heads. Factory sink-tips are 15' so we will have to do some shortening.

It was a beautiful day and lots of new hot info......Thanks Mike


**Mike's favorite rod right now is the 12'6" #5 Sage Z-Axis.
Sorry, I had other commitments and couldn't make it.

A couple of comments.

Rio's new 10' Sinking Spey Versi Leaders work great with these shorter rods and Skagit lines, right out of the package. There is no need for slicing/dicing and hoping your new loop will work. Just tie a loop on the mono tip fishing end and attach your tippet and fly. With our low water situation, the Rio's Older Trout Versi 7' Intermediate leader works very well, and again there is no need for cutting/slicing and dicing.

For those of us in the mere/sub mortal casting class, the 6 wt ZAxis 12' 6" works very well with the regular Rio Skagit 450 or 550 (550 for higher wind and bigger flies). With Rio's AFS heads, the 6/7 Floating head and in this case the 15' Floating Spey Leader is a superb match.