Shooting Heads for Switch Rod

[lee s.]

Water hauling........ UGH!!! Have any of you held your head under-water while someone does this and heard the resulting commotion? And what do you think the fish, an animal with adaptations to really "hear" under-water, must be able to receive and respond to.
Idatron, no wonder it is so hard to start a cast with a shooting head. Who told you to keep the hinge point out of the rod? With anything denser than a floating head, we may have the hinge in our fingers or more before rolling the head out of the water.
Learning to keep the head in the AIR until DELIVERY will make for a more stealthy presence and presentation.
Just "old school".....
....lee s.

[Idadon]

OK, I just can't resist. The truth is I always try to have my head above the surface while I'm fishing! Having that out of the way, I get your point. Doing a "Water Haul" isn't pretty and not the best way to do things. To the hinge point position at the start of the cast, that's the way I was taught. Strip in till the connection was just outside the tip, a quick roll-cast action to get the head up followed quickly by the lift back to start the backcast. If the connection was inside the tip then the loops made an annoying thud- thud as it went back out.

While I'm here, I talked to a tech guy at Rio this afternoon. Explained to him the situation. He said to forget the shooting head thing. Instead he recommended a Skandi Short Versa Tip line one weight over what the rod is. In my case a 7 weight Skandi for my 6 weight. Also a good shooting line. Have any of you guys tried this setup? What about the going up in weight?

[troutless]

I guess in my mind I had the idea of fishing my shooting head casting singlehanded. Over the years I adjusted but that hinge 30' down the line is always a problem.

[....]

I'm open to suggestions as to the one perfect line to swing a #8 Silver Hilton on the lower Klamath or a Demon on the lower Rogue.

Unless you're a lot younger than me, and, I'm not really that old, and also built like a tank, I suspect you'll find single-handed casting a 6wt switch won't be very fun for very long. That bottom handle is there for a reason. Two-handed overhead cast on that switch rod, yes, will make managing a full-sink shooting head a lot easier. Particularly if you are throwing big stuff at the end. It's not that hard to learn, a lot easier than becoming spey-proficient.

Hiltons and other small flies...just get a scandi head...learn to speycast it...

On water-loading, and I mean, roll it up, straighten in front, water load in front, one single back cast, let it go. Very effective for casting long sinking heads with big flies. Some people swear by it, some wouldn't even consider for the commotion, as already discussed above. Situation-dependent in my opinion.

On the scandi head for overhead...not a lot of experience here myself...done a few times...they do make fine overhead lines as well. But, for overhead casts, if you are thinking a new line, my preference is to an integrated line like an Outbound or "40+". No junction to stick in the guides.

I am skeptical of the "one size over" recommendation for overhead on the scandi line.

[lee s.]

Just a quickie before heading to the Klamath.....the thud-thud is a tic-tic with maybe different knots and we fish a lot at night and found ourselves "searching" without the tic-tic to tell us where we were at casting-wise.
Like you said....all in how you were taught or learned.
....lee s.

[Idadon]

Pretty much decided that my old shooting heads are going to be retired. I'm having a hard time imagining throwing any kind of fly line in the dark but but I can see how a signal (in this case a tick-tick) telling the fisherman how much line he had out would be beneficial.

I think I'm going to go for the Rio Skagit Max Short and get a couple of different tips. Not sure what other manufacturers offer that's similar. A lot of you guys seem to like Airflo and then there's Beuluh, etc. I think the short head coupled with my novice status might be my best chance to avoid frustration and the subsequent return to single handed casting. Wish me luck!

[Andrew Guibord]

Generally speaking, you do not want to load up the rod for over head casting as heavily as you would for water loading styles of casting such as in spey. Line up the shooting head, cast it and it should feel comfortable to false cast if the line and rod matches your over head casting style - fast action tip casting, or slower bend down into the butt preferences ( that sounds kind of nasty, sorry). The " switch" in switch rod does not refer to sexual preferences , instead refers to the fact that you can use single or double hand casting grips because the rod is not cumbersome to hold with one hand like a 12 to 15 foot full blown spey stick. If #9 head feels heavy, just drop down a line weight until it feels comfortable to false cast.

[Idadon]

Thanks Andy. The river ice has thawed so it's time to experiment.