Can anyone recommend a good 8 weight blank for getting off quick casts while sight fishing? I am looking for a reasonably priced blank made in the good old US of A.

Thanks!

Two come to mind immediately, the new Dan Craft models and the St. Croix SCV. The SCV is pricey, however.

There may be others, so many good ones right now I just don't have time to try them all.

...............

I'm new to all this, so I have never heard of Dan Craft, but I'll check 'em out. St. Croix I know and that's probably the only name brand I might buy. That or Lamiglas. Lamiglas has an XMG50 and they describe the four piece as "extra fast".

Thanks, Tom.

I have an AmTak Matrix AMF908-4 in my shop that CC's at 10.1/72. Fast action and powerful. Dan's FT blanks would be more powerful, lighter, and even faster and for not too much more money than AmTak AMF908-4.

Tony. As I recall from your deleted post, your problem is also one of false casting to get the rod to load. In your quick cast scenario, you may be holding the fly in your hand and have very little line outside the tip. Fast action rods are not necessarily the best for casting the little bit of line efficiently. A solution that worked for me on redfish in Louisiana was to create an very short head (20 feet) from a fly line 2 or 3 weights heavier, by removing 10 feet of belly. Something like a shooting head with both a front and back taper. This short head allows you to shoot line on the backcast and make your forward cast with no false cast. An added advantage is that you will likely strip the fly in to about 15 feet when fishing, which allows you to pick-up and re-cast without any false casts. I suspect that this line would well with a Dan Craft, but I would get a 6 or a 7 weight and shorten a 10 weight line.

Tony-

Sounds to me like you can't go wrong if you are choosing between the Lami XMG50 and the St. Croix SCV. I cast the XMG50 at a show a few years ago when the Esprits first came out and was very impressed. So impressed that I immediately bought a 9' 4-piece #8 blank. Unfortunately, I still have not finished that rod. Compared to other Lamiglas blanks I have used, this blank has a very small diameter and is very light. I have not run a CC on it but the action is definitely fast.

I recently completed a St. Croix SCV 9' 5-piece #8 that I bought at the same show and while I haven't caught many fish on it I have put it through the paces on a local lake (both from shore and from a boat). I can tell you without any hesitation that it will do exactly what you are looking for. This is an extremely fast, extremely light and powerful rod and it is the best #8 I have ever cast for my style of casting / fishing. To me, it has a lot of feel for how powerful it is and I like that.

Now, the caveat is that the finish on these SCV blanks - while gorgeous - is...delicate. By that I mean that in my experience it is very sensitive to certain solvents. Every multi-piece rod I build gets a coat of U40 Ferrule Lube before it leaves the shop. When I treated that SCV and took it fishing, I could not get some of the sections apart again. Apparently, the acetone in the Ferrule Lube softened the finish which firmed back up while I was fishing. I was able to fix it without hurting the rod, but it was a pain so be careful. All that being said, I still highly recommend the blank.

In terms of cost, I am sure the XMG50 is cheaper if that is a primary consideration. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Bill

Bill -

This does help and I share your experience with the St. Croix blanks being delicate, finish wise.

Thanks.

Don -

You definitely understand my application and it is tailing Redfish that I am pursuing. I like your "shooting head" suggestion. In regards to the 6 or 7 weight - that would work well for anywhere but the Indian River Lagoon in Florida, where 20, 30, and even 40 pound Redfish are not uncommon. The 8 weight I use now is usually adequate but here have been times when I wish I had a 9 weight. Their are some monstrous fish in there.

Thanks much.

Don Davis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tony. As I recall from your deleted post, your
> problem is also one of false casting to get the
> rod to load. In your quick cast scenario, you may
> be holding the fly in your hand and have very
> little line outside the tip. Fast action rods are
> not necessarily the best for casting the little
> bit of line efficiently. A solution that worked
> for me on redfish in Louisiana was to create an
> very short head (20 feet) from a fly line 2 or 3
> weights heavier, by removing 10 feet of belly.
> Something like a shooting head with both a front
> and back taper. This short head allows you to
> shoot line on the backcast and make your forward
> cast with no false cast. An added advantage is
> that you will likely strip the fly in to about 15
> feet when fishing, which allows you to pick-up and
> re-cast without any false casts. I suspect that
> this line would well with a Dan Craft, but I would
> get a 6 or a 7 weight and shorten a 10 weight
> line.

Tony,

If you want to stay away from the pricey name brands, go with the Dan Craft. I live up here in AK and do a lot of sight fishing for salmon in the summer/fall out on saltwater flats, casting at cruising schools of fish. The FT 1008-4 lined w/ a 9wt line, or a sinktip works great. I like the Scientific Anglers Headstart lines for in close casts, as they load quickly, cast good, and are very cost-effective. The 10 foot length also helps get the line off the water for quick casts. I've caught a couple huge kings on this rod, and it held up great. Don't look at the cost of these blanks to make a judgement. They are superb blanks at any cost. If I could only come up w/ the $$ to buy one of each!...and an excuse to give my wife....

Oh yeah, and Dan is awesome to do buisness with. Can't say enough good things

Ray

Very cool, Ray. Thanks. Flats fishing for cruising Kings. There is so much to experience in this life time.

Ray Vinzant Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tony,
>
> If you want to stay away from the pricey name
> brands, go with the Dan Craft. I live up here in
> AK and do a lot of sight fishing for salmon in the
> summer/fall out on saltwater flats, casting at
> cruising schools of fish. The FT 1008-4 lined w/
> a 9wt line, or a sinktip works great. I like the
> Scientific Anglers Headstart lines for in close
> casts, as they load quickly, cast good, and are
> very cost-effective. The 10 foot length also
> helps get the line off the water for quick casts.
> I've caught a couple huge kings on this rod, and
> it held up great. Don't look at the cost of these
> blanks to make a judgement. They are superb
> blanks at any cost. If I could only come up w/
> the $$ to buy one of each!...and an excuse to give
> my wife....
>
> Oh yeah, and Dan is awesome to do buisness with.
> Can't say enough good things
>
> Ray

I'm going to agree with Bill Falconer on this. The Lamiglas XMG50 blanks are very nice, light, fast blanks. The feel of it reminded me of a Sage XP.
Wes

Tony. The DC will handle a much heavier line than rated. I am suggesting fishing the 6 or 7 with an 8 weight line made out of a 10 weight line. Commercial shooting heads don't usually have the back taper and are spliced at 30 feet. The line I suggest you build is spliced at 10-12 feet from the tip. The splice never enters the guides, and the integral back taper aids the cast . Similar to the multi-tipped systems but with a very short head length. If you get an DC 8 weight rod, build your line from a 12 weight.

Thanks, Don. You are the second person to mention using a heavier weight line. For whatever it's worth, Dan Craft said he recommends you match the rod to the line for casting 40 feet +. All good information and I have gone one weight lighter because of a stiff blank before. I've got the DC FT series and the XMG50 on my short list. Enough analysis, time to go fishing.

However, Dan, I am sure I'll be contacting you off-line to ask you about this hybrid line / shooting head configuration again.

Tight lines!

Don Davis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tony. The DC will handle a much heavier line than
> rated. I am suggesting fishing the 6 or 7 with an
> 8 weight line made out of a 10 weight line.
> Commercial shooting heads don't usually have the
> back taper and are spliced at 30 feet. The line I
> suggest you build is spliced at 10-12 feet from
> the tip. The splice never enters the guides, and
> the integral back taper aids the cast . Similar
> to the multi-tipped systems but with a very short
> head length. If you get an DC 8 weight rod, build
> your line from a 12 weight.

Tony
The rod you have been using, try overlining it with 2-3 heaver lines. Since you want to cast quick, a one shot deal, you need weight to load the rod at the short distance. Since it is all about weight, use heaver line, maybe also take off some of the running line in front of the belly to get you into the heavy part of the line fast.
If it is not to cold out side, try to cast the heavy lines first 2-3 heavyer, see if the rod loads and witch line works
Just a little 1 1/2 cents

Bill. The extra heavy line will work, but then when you try to aerialize the extra weight in a more normal cast, you can overload the rod. Not a FT DC necessarily, but other rods. The beauty of the ultra short head is that you can extend the line a few feet more into the back taper, conditions permitting, and shoot like crazy. I had thought that Orvis was going to market a "Redfish" line with the required short head, but when it came out the head length had been increased as long as other lines.

A lot of spey fishermen are using T14 to make short, heavy heads for their lines which makes them easier to pull out of the water. Might work here if you want it to sink.

As far as your comment that you want to overline the rod because of previous experience with fast blanks, I see this all the time and went through this myself. My thought on this is that what you are really doing is slowing down the rod with this heavier line, to act more like the slower rods you are used to. In otherwords, it's totally counter productive. Once you learn to retime for your faster rod, you might find that it actually works best at its rated line weight. That's my experience, anyway.

The latest...I spent quite a bit of time in Florida with - literally - the guy who wrote the book on fly fishing for Redfish. (We must also mention the man who started this whole insanity - Captain Danny Ayo). It is more common than not for these guys to use a line one weight over for casting to Reds inside 40 feet. My comment earlier was misleading and confused another thread in regards to the rating of the rod itself. I meant that one time I did make a decision to go with a 7 weight rod in one series because the blanks rated for 8 sure seemed like 9's or 10's. You know how that goes. Every manufacturer is different.

I have decided to use a 7 weight, casting the same 8 weight line I've been using for a while. When I fish where I need to cast for distance, I'll use a 7 weight line.

Jon Tobey Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as your comment that you want to overline
> the rod because of previous experience with fast
> blanks, I see this all the time and went through
> this myself. My thought on this is that what you
> are really doing is slowing down the rod with this
> heavier line, to act more like the slower rods you
> are used to. In otherwords, it's totally counter
> productive. Once you learn to retime for your
> faster rod, you might find that it actually works
> best at its rated line weight. That's my
> experience, anyway.

Don Davis -

Can you please explain your "shooting head" set up...again. I am relatively new to all this and all I know for sure is that I have weight forward line which means I have a section that is thicker for the first 30 ft. then it tapers to certain diameter and maintains that diameter for the rest of the lenght?

You may have to start from end of the line and work your along telling me how many feet of which, etc.. You can do this off-line if you like with my e-mail address, which should be visible. Just so you know, I decided to go 7 weight not 8 weight.

Thanks,

Tony