Has anybody had any experience with the Orvis shooting heads system? I am looking for any easy system to use on rivers and streams in Michigan. It is sometimes tough having to switch reels around and this looks like a decent sytem. I am just worried about the loops catching and ease of changing. Are there any other systems you guys have tried that work for you? I am looking to fish dry’s and streamers for trout only. Thanks in advance.
I use shooting heads alot. They are great for certain applications, but not all. What will you be useing them for? if you need to mend, DO NOT get a shooting head system. The fine running line will not let you mend well.
I plan on using them on the Ausable and Rifle rivers of Michigan for Streamer fishing and dry fly. I would not need to mend during streamer fishing but with a dry fly and the floating line that will be a need. Is it that difficult. I would not be fishing in very big water.
They work great for streamer fishing, I use them for stillwater, estuary type stuff. SteelheadI would not reccomend them for dry fly stuff. They don’t turn over as well as a full line, and you’ll once you get past the 30ft of head, mending will be really tough.
I use the Orvis shooting heads. A few years ago Orvis shortened the heads to about twenty-six feet. I believe they did this so anglers can haul with less line out and not have the loop connectors hit the tip guide and kill the cast.
The problem is these shorter heads don’t load as well as the old, thirty-eight foot heads; so now I make my own shooting heads by buying a regular line and cutting it down. Having said that, you might prefer the shorter shooting heads. The big question you might have is should you buy a six- or seven-weight head for a
five-weight rod? You’ll have to experiment to see what works for you-but will that mean buying a line and then not using it because it doesn’t properly load the rod? Orvis might exhange the line.
Also, the Orvis running line - unless they changed it - has a lot of memory. I’d go with the Cortland line, but
you’ll have to put a big loop in it, so some anglers use a loop to loop connector. This will make it a little harder to change lines when fishing.
Randy58
How far can you cast a normal line?
I have been building and fishing shooting head systems (Skagit heads) for steelhead for a number of years now. I have had no problem mending these systems using floating running line. In fact they may be easier to mend because of the thin running line having less resistance with the water. I also use these types of lines as floater setups. The main concerns here are to maintain line weight and head length. Once a line is “tuned” to a specific rod it should not matter if you are fishing a floating setup or a sinking one.
For trout fishing, I would agree with Roguefly, the shooting head is not a particularly useful solution, especially if you wanted to dry fly. Personally I’d get a WF floating line for dries and a sink tip for streamer fishing. If you really don’t want to carry the second reel or spool, then you might try one of Rio’s Powerflex Sinking Leader. They come in a number of different sinkrates, and can be attached/removed pretty quickly. I know of several folks who use the fastest sink rates to get streamers down quickly in heavy flows when targetting browns in the evening.
I don’t think any solution is going to be as good as two different lines, but a WF floater is much more versatile, I would argue, than a floating head would ever be, and you can always get the line down with a sinking leader. Just more grist for the mill.
I have the Orvia Multi Tip set-up for my 8wt for the same reason you mentioned. I don’t use the 8wt. that often so I didn’t see the need for reels, spools and different weight lines. I went with the multi tip because they are 15’ instead of the 28’ or 30’.
I went with the 8wt, but I am not an overload kinda person. It has all I need with the floating, Intermediate, Type II and Type VI. I was also told that the Multi-tip was a better choice for all around fishing than the Shooting heads. I love it and as far as not using the dry line, I have had no worries there either, but again I start off short or close and work my way across the river so I don’t spook the fish.