Light Weight Shooting Head?

[briansII]

For what it's worth......

I watched a very good caster throw the whole 90' of fly line, and a little backing, on my 9' 2wt. Getting 80' casts on a 3wt can be done, but even with a shooting head, you have to be dialed in. Add an unfavorable wind, wading deep, and you might need to call Steve Rajeff to make that cast. 80' is not "easy" on a 5wt.

Water hauling a perfectly match shooting head setup, you should be able to make long(ish) casts with your 3wt. You may need to buy more than one head to find what works for you. Using a water haul will help in wind, and will help with any technique issues. It WILL load the rod deeper, so be aware and bring a backup rod. Sage has a wonderful warranty dept. Going shorter than 30' on the shooting head is ok, if it makes it easier for you to manage. It may not cast as far, but struggling with a too long shooting head won't cast far either. Obviously, you'll need to practice/experiment.....and have someplace to do it. Park pond?

OR

I could loan you a light float tube. I think you and your So. African friend might enjoy it more that chucking and ducking for Goldens.

briansII

[BrownBear]

Float tube would be the best option by far.

Another thought, if you're willing to move up to a 5 WT the Rio Outbound Short (smallest they make is a 5) is a heck of a line for distance casting, even on windy days. Pretty easy to pop off 80-90' casts with a little practice. I can't do it with a 5WT or even a 7WT, but 8WT and up I can usually manage to cast the whole fly line. Used to be able to knock off the fly line plus a fair bit of backing, but I'm too geezerly now.

Only thing is, those danged Rio running lines. Decent for the first month, then they're as tangly as soft mono or worse. Teach you more than you ever want to know about managing coils of line in your hand.