Lead core line question...

[Danny McB]

Hey guys I have a small roll of T-8 leadcore and want to make a shooting head like line for some streamer fishing.

My problem and question is: I only have a 5 wieght (dont want to use my 8 wt for trout) and when I do the math for the right grain window I am going to have a 16-18 foot lead line before the running line. Is this too short for the rod to load properly? Shouldnt the head be around say 30 feet? Will it cause problems casting other than the normal differences I see with a full sink line on my 8 weight? Just curious about this before I cut into this line since once you cut you cant go back.

Thanks to anybody that has experience with this.


Danny McB

[darrin terry]

I've never experimented with this, but it seems that if you get the weight correct, then the rod will load properly. It's the weight of the head, not it's length that loads the rod. It's just that with most lines, that weight is designed into the first 30' or the head of the line.

[Danny McB]

Thats my thinking Darrin but I wanted re assurance before I cut into it.

I think you and I both have streamers on the brain.


Danny McB

[RichardCullip]

danny

I use a 200grn integrated shooting head (SA Streamer Express) on my 5wt. That works out to be ~25 ft of T-8 which should cast okay. The preferred length of shooting heads runs btwn 25ft and 30ft. Anything shorter than 25ft tends to dump (loop unrolls prematurely) and limits the distance you can cast. Anything over 30ft is hard to handle in the air unless you've got a really fast rod and a great casting stroke.

The basic idea of a shooting head is to concentrate the proper mass to fully load the rod into just 25ft-30ft of line. Most rods are designed to be fully loaded with about 45 ft of line in the air which is heavier than the standard 30ft of fly line that determines the rating of the rod.

As an example, the first 30ft of a standard line for a 5wt rod weighs 140 grns but most 5wt rods can carry up to 45ft of line in the air. If you ratio up (sorry for the math lesson) 140 grns over 30ft to 45ft of line you get 210 grns (plus or minus a bit). Shooting heads just take that weight (mass) of 45 ft of fly line and concentrates it into only 25-30ft of line. This way you can fully load a fly rod with a shorter amount of line in the air. This fully loaded rod lets you get good distance on your cast with a minimum amount of false casting and witout handling a long length of line in the air. It's an efficient way to get good distances on your casts.

Hope this helps. If not, try to forget everything I just tried to say.

[Danny McB]

"I use a 200grn integrated shooting head (SA Streamer Express) on my 5wt. That works out to be ~25 ft of T-8 which should cast okay. The preferred length of shooting heads runs btwn 25ft and 30ft. Anything shorter than 25ft tends to dump (loop unrolls prematurely) and limits the distance you can cast. Anything over 30ft is hard to handle in the air unless you've got a really fast rod and a great casting stroke."

Richard that is my biggest concern but since you stated that your 5wt handles 200gr that makes more sense to me and also gives me more of a starting point that I can comfortably cut it too without worrying to much about cutting it too short.

Thanks for your input. Your math and explanation helps a lot and does make sense too me.

Danny McB

[RichardCullip]

"I use a 200grn integrated shooting head (SA Streamer Express) on my 5wt. That works out to be ~25 ft of T-8 which should cast okay. The preferred length of shooting heads runs btwn 25ft and 30ft. Anything shorter than 25ft tends to dump (loop unrolls prematurely) and limits the distance you can cast. Anything over 30ft is hard to handle in the air unless you've got a really fast rod and a great casting stroke."

Richard that is my biggest concern but since you stated that your 5wt handles 200gr that makes more sense to me and also gives me more of a starting point that I can comfortably cut it too without worrying to much about cutting it too short.

Thanks for your input. Your math and explanation helps a lot and does make sense too me.

Danny McB

Danny you can always cut it shorter but it's quite a bit harder to make it longer once it's cut.

[Danny McB]

Exactly Richard thats why I liked your explanation since it gave me a higher grain weight/ longer length to start with so I know it wont be too short after the first cut. When I first started researching this I was apprehensive about going all the way down to the 140/17.5 feet but that seemed to be the standard answer on the websites I found. Im really glad I asked here first. Thanks again.

Danny