When to not use a shooting head line

speedbird

Life of the Party
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This winter I added a Coastal Quickshooter intermediate to my arsenal and I like it a lot. My good casts are much further, and my bad casts straighten out better than they do on a standard WF. I'm considering swapping my other two fly lines for a shooting head as well. Yes gear type will never beat for improving casts, but I must admit that doing less casting for more distance just makes getting out there more enjoyable. I imagine a shooting head line would be just as nice to have for stillwater, but what about rivers? Does the heavier fly line affect drifts and make them less natural by any chance? A shooting head float line for my 6 and 8wt would give me a Sea Run Cutthroat/Coho topwater setup, and combined with a polyleader a well casting streamer or wet fly setup.
 

Pink Nighty

Life of the Party
This winter I added a Coastal Quickshooter intermediate to my arsenal and I like it a lot. My good casts are much further, and my bad casts straighten out better than they do on a standard WF. I'm considering swapping my other two fly lines for a shooting head as well. Yes gear type will never beat for improving casts, but I must admit that doing less casting for more distance just makes getting out there more enjoyable. I imagine a shooting head line would be just as nice to have for stillwater, but what about rivers? Does the heavier fly line affect drifts and make them less natural by any chance? A shooting head float line for my 6 and 8wt would give me a Sea Run Cutthroat/Coho topwater setup, and combined with a polyleader a well casting streamer or wet fly setup.
I personally dont love shooting heads for a dead drift presentation. It's not impossible, but yes the reasons you listed cause problems in maintaining a drag free drift in all but the most laminar of flows.
 

Grandpa Jim

Steelhead
From saltwater beaches, when I switched to a sinking line (Coastal Quickshooter) from a floating line (Outbound Short F) my coho catch rate went up dramatically. When I later switched to a full intermediate (OBS I) with some use of a faster sinking line (OBS S3/S5) my catch rate improved some more. The Coastal Quickshooter has a floating running line while the full intermediate OBS I has an intermediate running line and seems to sink more. The OBS I has held up well while the OBS S3/S5 has not. The OBS S3/S5 tip section cracked after 2 months of heavy use (I repaired it using a braided loop). The material used in the OBS intermediate portion is different than the coated material in the S3 and above lines. Multiple people on this forum have complained about that problem with the OBS.

I like casting the OBS lines so I will put up with repairing the cracked sinking lines until I find something better. I can pick the OBS up easily off the water and shoot them quickly. The Coastal Quickshooter head is a little longer than the OBS (I think 34' vs 30').

I use 2-hand rods with sink tips on rivers to swing flies so can't comment on SH. I have used polyleaders swinging flies but they give me just a slightly sub-surface presentation. A sink tip gets the fly down much better. Sink tips are much thinner than floating heads. Floating heads are thick and catch a lot of water. You can get intermediate heads that will drop below the faster surface currents during a swing. You can also get sink tips in the same grain weight but with a different sink level from OPST. I like that feature if I want to swing a shallow tail out after swinging the deeper run...just change out the tip and still have the same grain weight so my casting is not affected. I think OPST also makes SH sink tips.
 

Dustin Chromers

Life of the Party
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When you're trying to be quiet or have lots of control over the business end of line there is less advantage to the shooting head. When you're after max distance with minimal false casting and not really trying to control but rather strip or swing your way into fish a shooting head can be an advantage. There are exceptions but that's the rules of thumb most of the time.
 

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
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About the only time I don't use shooting heads is for dry fly fishing for trout. That's it....I guess that's the exact question you had, so there it is....for me.

What about patriot nymphing?

I'm a big fan of shooting heads, but they don't mend for shit. They're the worst type of line that you can use, for anything that requires a dead drift.
 

clarkman

average member
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What about patriot nymphing?

I'm a big fan of shooting heads, but they don't mend for shit. They're the worst type of line that you can use, for anything that requires a dead drift.
Why not? Works great for me. Then again I can also be a little contrarian, plus I use one that has a 20' "handling" section, plus I'm pretty good at the line lift mend....if you've ever swung a fly, I'm sure you've used it.

Actually works very well & I seem to catch my fair share. 🤷‍♂️
 

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
Forum Supporter
Would wet fly swinging for sea runs or salmon not work well with a shooting head then?

That's exactly what they're meant to be used for, in addition to stripping streamers and such.

They're not meant to be used for dead drifting flies, be it dries or nymphs. You can do it, but it is not optimal. Look up triangle taper lines, if you're interested in seeing what the complete opposite of a shooting head is.

Keep in mind that, in modern times, the lines (hah) on all this are a bit blurred. For example, there are short head triangle taper lines that are basically a shooting head. That's essentially what a Skagit line is. Yet, for most folks, "triangle taper" refers to a line that is supposed to be used for delicate presentations and mending at distance.
 
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speedbird

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That's exactly what they're meant to be used for, in addition to stripping streamers and such.

They're not meant to be used for dead drifting flies, be it dries or nymphs. You can do it, but it is not optimal. Look up triangle taper lines, if you're interested in seeing what the complete opposite of a shooting head is.

Keep in mind that, in modern times, the lines (hah) on all this are a bit blurred. For example, there are short head triangle taper lines that are basically a shooting head. That's essentially what a Skagit line is. Yet, for most folks, "triangle taper" refers to a line that is supposed to be used for delicate presentations and mending at distance.
I see, I’ve been fly fishing for a while but I’m still not totally caught up on terminology. How difficult would it be for me to make myself a sink tip shooting head line? I’ve looked at the skagit set ups and kind of understand how they work, but I’m still happily single hand casting at moment and I’m unsure if they’d work well on a single hand rod.

I’m guessing if I don’t want to splice stuff together my options are polyleader or one of those variable sink rate full sink lines right? I searched around and didn’t find any sink tip shooting heads
 

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
Forum Supporter
I see, I’ve been fly fishing for a while but I’m still not totally caught up on terminology. How difficult would it be for me to make myself a sink tip shooting head line? I’ve looked at the skagit set ups and kind of understand how they work, but I’m still happily single hand casting at moment and I’m unsure if they’d work well on a single hand rod.

I’m guessing if I don’t want to splice stuff together my options are polyleader or one of those variable sink rate full sink lines right? I searched around and didn’t find any sink tip shooting heads

With all the lines that are out there now, I can't imagine there is any reason to make one.

What are you actually trying to do? I think starting there will yield much better results.

Dries/Nymphs - General floating line
Swinging - Skagit or Spey line
Streamers - Streamer Max style line

There's all kinds of edge cases, but the above covers basically everything the average person will do on a river.

Saltwater and lake fishing aren't my forte, so I'll have to leave them for someone else.
 
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Grandpa Jim

Steelhead
I see, I’ve been fly fishing for a while but I’m still not totally caught up on terminology. How difficult would it be for me to make myself a sink tip shooting head line? I’ve looked at the skagit set ups and kind of understand how they work, but I’m still happily single hand casting at moment and I’m unsure if they’d work well on a single hand rod.

I’m guessing if I don’t want to splice stuff together my options are polyleader or one of those variable sink rate full sink lines right? I searched around and didn’t find any sink tip shooting heads
Check out OPST videos on single hand spey. Water borne casting rather than airborne casting technique. Using various sink tips on head to anchor the line so you can load your rod and cast. Can work with either a 2 hand or single hand rod. My experience is with a 2 hand rod.

Jaredconnor above has great point: How do you plan to fish? Once you answer that, then pick the best tools (rod, line, maybe a tip, tippet, fly) and techniques (casting style, presentation) to do the job and have fun at it.
 

_WW_

Geriatric Skagit Swinger
Forum Supporter
Try this with a cheap line in case you don't like it. Go up in line weight two over your rod rating. Cut off the first 15' and attach a braided loop. Loop your sink tip to this. It's how we did it in the old days if we didn't want to get into splicing.
 

jaredoconnor

Peabrain Chub
Forum Supporter
Try this with a cheap line in case you don't like it. Go up in line weight two over your rod rating. Cut off the first 15' and attach a braided loop. Loop your sink tip to this. It's how we did it in the old days if we didn't want to get into splicing.

I've wanted to try this, for a while. Intermediate heads don't seem to exist, in ultra light weights (eg. 150gr).

If you're not using tips and are just connecting a short leader directly to the head, how long do you think the head should be? I would be using this with a 10ft single hand rod.

Sorry for the thread hijack.
 

_WW_

Geriatric Skagit Swinger
Forum Supporter
I've wanted to try this, for a while. Intermediate heads don't seem to exist, in ultra light weights (eg. 150gr).

If you're not using tips and are just connecting a short leader directly to the head, how long do you think the head should be? I would be using this with a 10ft single hand rod.

Sorry for the thread hijack.
Hmmm. SA makes a short belly taper. Maybe that's what you need? Or a Teeny line.
 

speedbird

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
With all the lines that are out there now, I can't imagine there is any reason to make one.

What are you actually trying to do? I think starting there will yield much better results.

Dries/Nymphs - General floating line
Swinging - Skagit or Spey line
Streamers - Streamer Max style line

There's all kinds of edge cases, but the above covers basically everything the average person will do on a river.

Saltwater and lake fishing aren't my forte, so I'll have to leave them for someone else.
Swinging and stripping flies for salmon bull trout and steelhead in rivers using a single hand rod. Wanting a shooting head isn’t about casting super far in this case, it’s about making it a little more pleasant to cast some of those really heavy weighted flies
 
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