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Does anyone know if there are recommended guidelines regarding the weight of the fly (Streamer mainly) you are casting and the recommended wt. of the fly line. That is, are there certain lines and tapers that will work better with heavier flies.
I am casting pretty much large streamers with bushy maribou tales -- fly wt. is 15 to 20 grains. I can't seem to get any distance using an 8 wt. rod. Maybe with a bass taper??
Anyone have any ideas??
I used a bass taper on my 8wt throwing deer hair poppers and never had a problem. Even cast it out into the backing a time or two. I never weighed any of my flies, but they were big and bucked the wind pretty well.
What action (flex) is your rod, that might be affecting your casting style more than anything (could be a full flex, mid-flex, or tip-flex). When I'm fishing the salt, or for large fresh water species, I use an 8 or 9wt with a mid-flex, and chuck some pretty knarley big flies (heavily weighted clousers, and poppers) and have never had much of a problem casting them.
What taper do you have on your line now? I would definately try something that has some sort of taper designed for casting bigger flies because it certainly does help. I would think though, that just about any decent WF should come close to doing the trick.
TT
The only way to really figure out what is best for your needs is try as many types and sizes of line you can get a hold of and try them on your rod with your flies.
Try and get together with other fishers or a shop that will let you try their stuff and do a "tune up" trying different line types, tapers, and weights.
Everyone has a different opinion or feel for how they like their setups to cast so it is really worth trying out as many lines as you can. One persons solution maybe a different type of cast, faster or slower whereas another may be a different flyline taper and then again another may be to upline in line weight.
I use lots of big streamers and use heavy lines with short tapers on long soft rods to get the job done but my feel while it works great for me is usually too mushy or slow for others.
as well as the line the size of leader/tippet needs to be considered.
this chart is a guide, not to be considered as definitive.
http://www.flypatternbook.net/flysize.htm
Are you not achieving the desired distance because the end of the line and leader are not turning over, because you can't shoot much line with your rig, or some other reason?
The bulk of the fly being cast is just as important as the weight. A bulky, wind resistant fly can be more difficult to cast than a lighter but more compact pattern. A bass bug taper line usually has a shorter front taper and shorter over all head length. This results in more weight up front and helps turn over heavy and/or bulky flies on short to medium length cast but may make it more difficult to make long casts. A bass bug taper may help if the end of the line and leader are collapsing into a pile and not turning over.
I have found bass bug and other specialty tapers to be a little helpful at short distances but the improvement is not great. I feel that the key to making good casts and achieving distance with bulky flies generating sufficient line speed during the cast. The fast you get the line and fly moving, the farther it will carry. A controlled casting stroke combined with a good double haul will get the line and thus the fly moving. Casting with a loop that is opened up too much will hurt.
Sometimes, going up a line size or two will help quite a bit.
I just weighed some size 2 Umpqua Swimming Frog flies. I weighed a dozen unused right out of the boxes. Average weight was about 16 grains. These deer hair Dahlberg diver variant bugs are fairly bulky. While I can cast them with an 8wt WF or Bass Bug taper line, I find them easier to cast with a 10 wt line and in fact, that is what I use on my 8wt rod when fishing these flies. I am typically making casts of 60 feet or less. So perhaps your line is just not heavy enough to carry your flies very well.
This is exactly what Spey, Scandi and Skagit lines are designed for, turning over big bulky flies at distance. With a single hander try a WF line one size heavier than your Rod rating and add a Poly leader or even a very short (2ft) piece of T12 on the end of the fly line. This will add mass to the tip and help to turn over your leader. With a Spey or Switch rod you can add up to 12ft of T12 and still cast well but a single handed rod will not be able to pick up this much so have a bit of a play and see how much your rod will handle.
All the best.
Mike.