some time ago i built a 10' rx7 six wt rod with an 8" removable extension handle. my intent was to "explore" some spey type casting
with a rod that i could use for both two handed and single handed overhead casting. i have cast this rod with various lines of 6 or 7 wt
and it casts well. i just aquired a hardy angel 6/7 reel and want to use it on this rod but don't want to buy additional spools. i thought about building a set of 30' shooting heads with running line and loop connectors, but i wonder if i can use the RIO windcutter multi tip set up for this rod and if so what line weight should i buy for a six wt rod. with the shooting heads i know i would go up about two line sizes but not sure with the rio windcutter multi tip system. my primary use for this rod is lakes, large rivers and some light saltwater. the ability to roll cast would be useful. any advise would be appreciated.

Larry,

If you mean the windcutter spey and overhead casting, I don't think they make one light enough for the RX7 10' 6 wt. I have the 6/7/8 windcutter and I single hand cast it with my 10 wt (a long way might I add). If you are going with a shooting head system, you're going to target 225-250 grains as the high end for the 10' 6 wt rainshadow. You'll probably go with less than that in the end (more like 200-225 gr). The 6/7/8 windcutter spey would be way to much to spey cast that rod and WAY WAY too much to overhead cast any more than 20'. The 5/6 might be better, but I suspect it would still be too much.

For what you want, you may want to look at long belly steelhead/salmon lines for two hand casting. The cortland 555+ are fairly long and a little heavy, but the longer belly matches the slower action of the RX7 rods well. I used the 7 wt 555+ with my 10'6" 7 wt RX7 with a 4" extension to single and double spey a fair amount. That was a good match.

Thanks,
Rick

rick, thanks a lot for the input. i think you probably saved me from making an expesive mistake. it looks like shooting head system is what i need to do with this rod if i want both floating and sinking on one spool.

If you want to do shooting heads on a trial basis, get a few factory seconds and samples lines off of @#$%&. Go for DT7's and DT8's in floating lines, and several sinking lines in various densities.

Then get out the glue & needle & do some splicing!
From the DT lines, you can get two shooting heads of different lengths-- for a 6wt, a 33' and a 36' might be good lengths.

Or you can take part of the DT, splice it to a sinking line, and have a sinktip shooting head...

Or just have a full sinking shooting head...

Or...

Actually, I tried the grand shooting head experiment myself for several years, and finally realized that I was sacrificing so much in line control that it wasn't worth the 5'-10' gain in distance over a SA XXD line (or similar). I tried all sorts of running lines (found mono to be best for distance, floating shooting line for line control) & head lengths, only to reach that unfortunate conclusion.

The only time shooting heads are far superior (to me, anyhow) is when you need to be fishing DEEP-- like 10-20' in rivers, 20'+ in still water. There's less drag on the fast-sinking head when paired with flat mono running line. If you really want to go deep, get some LC-13 and pair that with flat mono. However, that's when you are borderline flyfishing/chuck & ducking.

Larry,

If you want it on one spool, then a shooting head is probably your bet. How deep do you want to go? You can add on a 10' x-fast sinking polyleader and drop down in the water column pretty quickly. Add 6-12' of Gudebrod lead tips and you'll fish 15' deep pretty easily. The lead will really pull the floating fly line down and the polyleader will keep the fly down (with a short leader of course).

Thanks,
Rick

Larry,

I've been working on the switch rod concept a bit over the years.

There is one off-the-shelf line that I would strongly consider for that particular rod: It's grain window and recovery.

The Airflow single hand Delta Taper series.

In Tim Rajeff's Airflow catalog these would be the "Delta Float" WF series.....www.rajeffsports.com

NOT the Airflow Delta Spey tapers.....As they would all over power that rod.... Probably blow it up.

All of the Delta Float WF lines have classic spey tapered, 46 ft bellies with ideal grain distribution for diverse deliveries.

With classic two handed change-of-direction spey deliveries, we will normally use these lines with an attached Airflow 10 ft. Steelhead Poly tip....Either floating or various sink rates.

....Turning them into very functional interchangeable tip ~ 56 ft belly spey tapers for any lightweight two hander.

For that rod I would use the 7/8 Delta Float WF with any of the 10' Steelhead poly tips for two handed Spey......Or just as they are for single hand double haul or single hand Spey.

If you want to use that rod two handed overhead...Up size the line to the 8/9 and use the shorter poly tips to whatever sink rate you will require.

These lines really do fill in the off-the-shelf "Spey Line" void needed for many of the light weight two handers or "Switch Rods".

Bob Meiser

Bob, thank you for sharing your knowlege. it saves me a lot of research and trial and error. thanks to everyone for the input.

Another question for Bob Meiser

Which Airflo line would you recommend for a Dan Craft FT- 10ft 10wt
being built as a switch rod? I currently have a a Delta Spey Floating WF 10/11F and would like to use it on the new rod if possible.

Thanks

Bob,

I agree with you that the Deltas could be just right for what he wants. I question the line weight recommendation though. The Rainshadow RX7 10' 6 wt CC's around 6.0. Having cast it, it is a slow 6 wt with a 6 wt line. It doesn't have a lot of backbone. The 7/8 delta float would be fine for spey casting, but I wouldn't go any heavier than that for overhead casting. If anything, I would drop down a line size to the 6 wt. The RX7 10' 6 wt will overhead a long belly 6 wt line (like a steelhead/salmon taper) decently well, but with anymore weight than that it doesn't have the power to push the line out. A decent haul with 45' of a long belly 6 and you're maxing out the rod.

Thanks
Rick

No Rick I disagree....

In the absence of the line speed gererated with the single hand double haul delivery, the caster can really utilize the additional grains to load the rod with two hands on the overhead....Regardless of your CC rating.

With just a quick two handed underhand pop/low hand position on the upper grip... That slow recovery rod will rip the 8/9 wt line right into the next county no worries with this delivery style.

Bob,

For the Craft FT 10' 10 wt. I'd consider three off-the-shelf lines:

The Hardy Mach-1 Salmon for 9/10 wt. ......A 39 ft. advanced grain weight forward shooting head/spey line.

A sweet two handed line regardless of delivery style....And it comes in full float or various sink rates.

The Airflow Delta Spey floater you mentioned....But in 7/8 wt.

as a floater, it will spey very well......Although at 52 ft of head length, the 10 ft. rod will have a problem laying out a nice straight line easily with two handed overhead delivery.

Perhaps the best two handed line overall to consider would be the Rio Windcutter 10/11 interchangeable tip Spey line.

Use it with tip two removed: This creating a 39 ft , interchangeable tip shooting head line system.

....For both two handed overhead, and underhand Spey deliveries.

A great river line for this rod if built as a small two hander.

Bob Meiser

<"With just a quick two handed underhand pop/low hand position on >the upper grip...


HUH? i can't visualize this. guess i better read the book and watch the video.

Larry,

Search: Dana's Spey Page

Or: Flyfishing Forum

Lots of two handed lingo and knowledge being shared there.....Including a short video on the underhand delivery by Dana.

Really good stuff on that site about two handed rods.

Bob Meiser

Bob,

I see your side of things. You're talking about no haul, I'm talking about hauling line. With any type of haul at all, the 8/9 would blow the rod out. With an underhand cast like you're talking it would be fine. Gotcha.

Thanks,
Rick