Shooting Head?

[charles]

This may be a stupid question, or I may be way off base but... Has anyone ever used a shooting head system for fishing lakes. The thought of buying many seperate lines, spools, or reels for lake fishing makes my wallet shake.
Thanks in advance,
Charles

[1flyfisher]

Not a stupid question.
I use shooting heads primarily in the salt.
Plenty of steelhead fisherman use shooting heads too right?
I use SH's on pyramid on occasion.
I only use them when I want and have to have maximum distance, otherwise I prefer to use WF lines.
WF lines are just more enjoyable for me to use.

If you want to use shootin heads on lakes you should.

[jayclarkflyfishing]

I use shooting heads all the time at Pyramid.Love casting them for maximum distance.

[Steve Dinardi]

Charles, Not a stupid question at all. My only question is why I have not seen more use of shooting heads on lakes. Shooting heads are the only lines I have ever used on high sierra lakes. My go to line is a type II sinking head with amnesia shooting line. It was just a natural for me because I actually started fishing shooting heads 40 years ago on the Eel river for steelhead and salmon. Call me stubborn but I would never fish a lake without a shooting head.

Steve

[gene goss]

Pyramid Lake is fine for a shooting heads, switch rods, ect...where a long cast is what you want....most stillwater fishing you need a line that will give you a uniform sink rate, and accuracy......Charles 90% of your stillwater fishing can be done with one line....I would put my money ($55) into a camo intermediate line from cortland....stillwater fishing is not about how far you can cast....its all about casting to a target, and keeping your fly in the stike zone as long as you can.

[Scott V]

Pyramid Lake is fine for a shooting heads, switch rods, ect...where a long cast is what you want....most stillwater fishing you need a line that will give you a uniform sink rate, and accuracy......Charles 90% of your stillwater fishing can be done with one line....I would put my money ($55) into a camo intermediate line from cortland....stillwater fishing is not about how far you can cast....its all about casting to a target, and keeping your fly in the stike zone as long as you can.

Words of wisdom there Charles, if I could get Gene to adopt me, I would. Gene when we going fishing?

[charles]

THank you; 1flyfisher, littletruckee, Steve, Gene, and Scoot. All advice is approciated. I already have an Cortland Clear Intermediate and floating lines. I was thinking about getting shooting heads for striper, steelhead, and shad fishing. Maybe I'll both or all eventually. As fornow I have to stay within my fishing budget. Once agian thanks to everyone for the advice.

CHarles

[ifsteve]

Charles one consideration I don't think has been discussed yet and that is the fishing you will be doing in regards to managing the buisness end (the fly). Shooting heads are not the best line for situations where you are going to be manipulating the fly a lot in my opinion (except such as in a lake where you are retrieving a straight line). Mending for instance is not very effective with a shooting head.

[Gulicemo]

I've had good luck with shooting heads in still water. You can cast a mile and switch sink rates relatively easily without changing spools or reels. they are also great for shad and stripers. It is a bit more of a chore to manage line, but if you get a stripping bucket it is no problem.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

For lake fishing most are using a 9' or 9'6" #5 or #6 line fly rods. Longer rods are better for casting longer on open water, wading the shoreline or sitting deeper in a float tube or pontoon boat.

__________________________________________________ _____________________


For lake fishing on or near the surface most already have a weight forward floating full length line.

__________________________________________________ _____________________

Then the mostly popular lake line for mid-depth fishing is a Cortland 'Clear Camo' weight forward full sinking, as already mentioned here. Most fly line companies make a weight forward full length clear slow sinking "Intermediate" fly line.

__________________________________________________ _____________________

For another faster sinking line for getting deeper mid-summer I would get a weight forward 'uniform sinking' type 3 or 4 sink-rate. This will get you down deeper faster.

Some use a long sink-tip line like a Teeny 150 to 200 grain for their all around faster sinking line for lakes and rivers.

**Personally I don't fish lake at this time of year so because I don't really feel like fishing deeper than about 10 feet. I would fish lake early and late in the year when the fish are shallow.

__________________________________________________ _______________________

Some lake fishers use a pontoon boat or small boat and set up 2 or 3 rods with different lines on them.

__________________________________________________ _______________________

**Personally I don't like shooting heads for lake fishing because as you are stripping in the fly the looped connection give you feedback coming through the guides. With this going on it's hard to feel what's happening out at the fly.

Now if you are trolling, this is not an issue.

__________________________________________________ _______________________

Wading the shore of a lake can be a place for the shooting head system so you can get more distance.