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IMPORTANT
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Beginning
Saltwater Flyfishing: Fly Lines
Our October 2001 contribution from Nigel Haywood
In the article on rods I covered the weights of rods most likely to be useful in the sea. In a sense, that was putting the cart before the horse. Selection of rod is based on the weight of line you want to throw: it’s the line weight rather than the rod which is determined by water and climate conditions, and the size and aerodynamic qualities of the fly.
The relationships are complex. But ultimately you will end up with a number, the AFTM weight of the line. And, as I’ve said before, the most useful numbers are likely to be between 7 and 9. So what are these numbers?
Line Weight
AFTM stands for the (American) Association of Fishing Tackle Manufacturers. Before they came on the scene, lines were classified by size, with letters of the alphabet used for different line diameters. So, for example, an HEH would be a double taper line with a tip of 0.025” and a belly of 0.045”. The problem is pretty obvious. Apart from being arcane, it only made sense if lines were of the same density. And there is a world of difference between the density of floating and sinking lines. Rods are designed to cast particular weights of line, not volume. So the AFTM decided to classify by line weight. They standardized on the weight of the first 30 ft of line, excluding level line from the end of the front taper. For weights 7-10, the result looks like this:
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Fly
Line Weights
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AFTM
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30
ft: Grains
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Grams
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Grains/Ft
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They didn’t quite move away from eccentricity: their choice of grains as units (a grain is 1/7000 lb: don’t ask me why) was less than ideal. But I suspect tolerances to the nearest grain don’t really exist in fishing rod design, so the rough and ready gram conversion above should be adequate.
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over flats, use a floater or intermediate |
Why does any of this matter? Because you’ll cast better if you cast the weight your rod is designed for. There’s nothing magic about fly rods. They have test curves like all other rods. They operate best with a specific amount of weight to throw: think of the line beyond your rod tip as a long, thin lead.
So the important thing is the weight of line beyond the rod tip (yes, there is a further complication caused by the weight of the line from the butt to the tip ring, but that way madness lies). You’ll see from the table that a #8 rod is designed to cast around 14 grams. If you use a #8 line, and have 30ft of line beyond your rod tip, you’re spot on. Suppose, though, that you only have 26 ft beyond your rod tip: you’re then, effectively, fishing with a #7. 34 ft, and you’re using a #9.
Rods are pretty versatile, and can cope with a fair range of line sizes. But for best results, use the optimum weight. A good way of ensuring this is to mark the flyline, with a broad band of indelible ink, or, if you fish a lot at night, a short whipped knot, at a point where your stripping hand would be with the right length of line beyond the rod tip. See the mark or feel the knot, and you’re in business.
Shooting Heads
An even easier way is to give up full length fly lines, and use shooting heads. Seen by many as the invention of the devil, largely, I suspect, on the grounds that they’re effective, they have massive advantages over conventional fly lines, and no real disadvantages.
The first advantage is that you can tailor your line to the optimum weight. If you’re really pernickety, and regard all tackle makers as charlatans, you can first calibrate your rod: you have a #8, so off you go to the park with a range of shooting heads. Find the one that loads the rod to suit you best: if it’s 30 ft of #9, then consider the rod a #9. Having decided what your rods are, out with the scissors and braided loops, and get manufacturing. Fishing with cliffs behind you into turbulent water? Go for a short head of a heavier line weight. Fishing mud flats for mullet? A longer head of a lighter line weight will minimise splash. Chopping up heads is no problem, if you know how much a foot of line weighs. And the table above tells you. If you’re content to work to the nearest gram, there’s any number of digital kitchen scales available at very little cost which enable you to weigh the results of your creativity. But remember, it’s easier to shorten a line than to lengthen it.
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line will be washed about. A fast sinker is the best bet |
Other
advantages. You can usually cast further than with a WF line (although
the latter is really only an all in one shooting head), especially if
you use monofil backing (but see below). Shooting heads form the basis
of an interchangeable system: instead of changing reels or spools to go
from a floater to an intermediate, simply loop on a different head. They’re
cheaper: you can make two from a DT fly line, and mill ends are usually
fine. Because they’re so versatile, they encourage you to experiment,
which can help you find the fish.
Disadvantages. Some backing, especially monofil, tangles easily. Braid
can lacerate your fingers (though, on the other hand, it’s easier
to grip than a full fly line). The join between backing and head can pick
up gunge from the water. Their versatility can make you chop and change
when you might be better off persisting with a line you know should work.
A Shooting Head System
The ideal system will contain lines of varying densities: floating, intermediate, slow sink, fast sink and (if you can bear it, and are sure you need it) lead core. Mark the tips with an indelible pen so you know their weight: a wide band and two narrow for #7, two wide for #10, for example. Connect a braided loop at the rear, or whip a loop in the line. Make sure the join is smooth, otherwise you’ll get fed up with it rattling through your tip ring (and costing you distance). For shooting line, between the head and the backing, I use 100 ft braided monofil. Put a big loop in the forward end, big enough to pass the coiled shooting head through, so you can easily loop or unloop it. I then use loads of 30lb braided Dacron as backing.
Mono shooting line will get you further, and will sink faster than braid if you’re using sinking lines. As I’ve said, it tangles easily: you should use a large (at least 4”) diameter reel with it, to minimise the coil effect, and stretch it fully before using (something you should do with flylines anyway.)
Line Densities
In some ways, the line density is less critical than you might think. A slow sinker is a good compromise in many situations: you can work a fly just below the surface if you strip quickly; you can work a fly deep if you let it sink and pull gently back. But the workhorses will be the intermediate, for fishing just below the surface when you’re targeting mackerel, scad, garfish, bass and so on, and the fast sinker for Pollack and coalfish. Conditions will play their part: so use a fast sinker, stripped quickly, for fishing near the surface in windy conditions or turbulent waters, where a floater would be blown or washed about. For deep fishing in quiet gullies, a leaded fly on a long leader and intermediate line will sink more naturally than on a fast sinking line, where the belly (unless the line is density compensated) will sink more quickly than the fly.
There is a lot to experiment with. But there is no real need to get complicated. A #9 rod, with appropriate reel, and a shooting head system with intermediate and fast sinking heads will work just about anywhere. The main thing is to get out there and do it.
The next thing to consider, though, is what kind of bugs are you going to tie on the end of your string. Watch this space.
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Flies
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Tackling Up: Reels
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: First, Find your Fish
Beginning Saltwater Flyfishing: Tackling Up: Rods
If you have any questions or comments regarding this article please visit our Saltwater Flyfishing Forum
Nigel
Haywood was brought up on the Cornish coast, and has fished in the sea
for as long as he can remember. He tied his first saltwater fly over thirty
years ago, and over the last ten years has focused almost exclusively
on the fly rod. He is writing a book, provisionally titled Flyfishing
the British Coast for Merlin Unwin