Building a Shooting Head Fly Line for Musky Fly Fishing (600gr Full Sink)

Custom Cut to Fit Shooting Head for 10' 12wt Two Hander Musky Rods!
Cortland Line: 50lb Waxed Braided Mono
Rio Fly Lines: In Touch 20T at 30ft Long (600gr)
Line Splicing Tools: 14 gauge Splicing Needle. 20 gauge Loop Splicing Needle
A Custom Cut to Fit Shooting Head starting at 600gr. at 30ft long. Runs 20 grains per foot and is easily cut back to fine tune for rod and line pairing. Can also use T17 (510gr at 30ft) and T14 (420gr at 30ft) from the RIO In Touch series to better match other rod weights.
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[@christiannilsson4071]

Im gonna be an a**hat - OPST did/does this and has solutions. Please argue with me.

[@Gunnar_Brammer]

The lines aren’t heavy enough, no full sink, and need to be finished with a tip section. Not suitable for dredging river holes with 12” flies. 30ft of 10ips is a whole different ball game. Better argument would be Cortlands 600gr 8ips full sink integrated line, but its not a shooting head, and its fun to experiment and make it yourself.

[@christiannilsson4071]

@@Gunnar_Brammer ok.

[@christiannilsson4071]

@@Gunnar_Brammer ok - opst does make what you need and then jerry F. has the rods - You can make it better and thats avesome..i love what you produce and show. Ive been around the sun for more than 40 times and seen things, and you absolutely makes me think. - Thanks again - we might not agre but i love where your mind is.

[@Gunnar_Brammer]

Hey Christian, my reply was lacking quit a bit, not sure why I sent it off without some more thought! Way back when, OPST had their lines distributed by Hareline Dubbin for a season, and I picked up a running line, head, and tip to build exactly this, a 400+ grain shooting head system for my 10wt for Pike and Musky Fishing. The problems that I ran into were the fact that the heads are floaters (excepts the commando....that came later), and in order to get the right grain pairing for overhead casting (head + tip section), the tip was never dense enough to sink the Musky flies. I later found RIO's Slick Shooter, Grip Shooter, and Metered Running Lines which I paired with RIO's Outbound Short Shooting Heads and would loop to loop them together. THIS was fairly epic, because the Head was full float (30ft), full Int (30ft) and Full Sink S6 (30ft)...but I never loved the Slick Shooter or Grip Shooter for Musky fishing and ended up moving solely to fully integrated lines (more expensive, less versatile, less distance, BUT easier to fish due to the seamless transitions). So, on the whole, I loved the "idea" of integrating the Skagit systems into the esox realm, but the need for tips and lack of sinking HEADS, put me off in the end. I do think the Commando Heads which are part Intermediate from OPST paired with a Tip could be an epic Stillwater shallow Shooting Head System! NOW, the industry does make some lines that fit the bill in a fully integrated line system.....but it's like 2 lines....not a big market. And the ability to cut to fit is mostly missing. East Coast guys have been DYI shooting heads for like 30 years or more, and although not perfect, they do get flies out and down to where they need to get. Hopefully the Line industry catches up to the Custom Rod industry soon, because this isn't a "Plan A" line....it's Plan B. Just waiting on everything to finally catch up!

[@jakefinn7905]

I learned about this from Dan Blantons web page. I made & use a 28' head of T-8 w/braided loops on both ends and use the same shooting line. I use it when the water gets cold and the fish are deep and sluggish. I'm intrigued w/the doh rod, I think this would be a benefit for river tarpon b/c ur doing a lot of blind casting. thx for the video.

[@christiannilsson4071]

it was in the year 1986 we found out about this.. Gudrun was the masters og providing @braided@ cores.Yes what you did to connect fly lines we did aswell without the extra steps / i/we gave up on it cause of visibility. Im trying to catch 20 lb fish - not haul in a halibut. - sorry that i had to comment and i respect your idea but in denmark me tried and tested it and found it faulty. - Kind Regards.

[@KristianBjering]

Hi. Great video. 😊 any suggestions on equivalent braided mono to the Cortland one? I live in Norway so expensive to order online from overseas.

[@Three_Rivers_Adventure]

That is absolutely ridiculous!!!! Like my jaw legit hit the floor and I said WTF!!! No way!!!

[@bugbiteflytying]

Awesome Gunnar!

[@Fungfumassa]

Dig it. Have you seen the calico syndicate rigs they were using back in the day

[@jeroldharter]

I have 3 Meiser 909 two handed overhead casting rods. I wish you would do some instructional videos on two handed casting. There are no really good instructional videos on two handed overhead casting that I can find, especially for covering line control and casting over opposite shoulder. If you like the Chippewa River rods, then check out Meiser which are very high quality and designed to cast heavy shooting heads.

[@clee5653]

Can I use normal braided backing for this? I guess it's not gonna be as clean but it might work.

[@KristianBjering]

Nice video 😊 any suggestion on where to get that braided mono line online?

[@springteen3743]

I believe that experience fly fisherman design our own flies , we also should design our own lines as much as possible so the industry should make it easier for us to do so. Cause I can’t never find the perfect line. We are not spinning gear enthusiasts, as we know spinning gear system is so perfect that is nothing to improve. If I could even build my own rod I should will. This is the fly fishing dilemma. 😂

[@tlfu6836]

You finished the splice exactly how many people will finish an FG knot for connecting braided line to a monofilament or fluorocarbon leader. A series of half-hitches, followed by a Rizutto finish. Pretty much the same concept as the FG knot; Chinese finger trap weave that grips harder the more you pull on it, followed by some locking knots to keep things from unraveling.

[@jesseerickson5346]

The way you were explaining while casting is you would'nt want to strip set with the braided mono due to it being ruff on your hands. Would'nt that make this setup useless for a musky guy?

[@aa-ron.]

Does the braided mono hold water after sinking? I have a feeling it will.

[@academicmailbox7798]

The point is, is that at certain times and for certain types of lure retrieve (lure retrieves that necessitate one to work the fly in the water more), then one is talking about throwing away some advantages that a slick, narrower diameter running line provides one with. And one opts for three to four weight full floating fly line as the running line.

[@academicmailbox7798]

Each time you improve handling on the running line side, the advantages on the casting or throwing side are reduced. Or visa versa. I've experimented with the proprietary monofilament slick shooters and grip shooters. None of those really get over thirty pound BS type of mono. They are an option for some waters. There is the whole thing of using intermediate or hover density fly line in small enough diameter as a running line. Heck, I've even tried using thicker braided line as a running line. The worst from a handling perspective, but still it works.

[@academicmailbox7798]

You can use a Switch fly rod turned upside down and put a baitcasting reel on it. And then put some of that RIO In Touch level taper in front of stout braid. The baitcasting reel will pick up the braided line fairly efficiently for you over a long distance. And you can still do something that is part gear angling, or part fly angling (really the only difference being, you've got one hundred percent home-made baits, as opposed to what Bass Pro Shops deems to offer to you on their shelves or from their warehouse stockroom). And your weight to the same lure is in the line. Not in the bait.

[@academicmailbox7798]

Why is that significant? Because fly lures in larger dimensions as suggested, twelve-inch hollow flies etc. One can carry them, a modest selection. And have ' the weight ' to throw the same built into the RIO In Touch head. Not into the lure. So now the swimbait or glide bait, or 'big wood' angler can become more lightweight and more mobile. Whereas at present the angler who throws big wood is confined to boats. The RIO In Touch is one to two ounces of weight. And honestly, I've seen saltwater shoreline anglers cast big jerkbaits that were fairly heavy. Over an ounce I think.

[@academicmailbox7798]

The Switch fly rod turned upside down (to use it like a baitcaster rod), of ten or eleven feet. Makes a pretty awesome jerkbait style rod too. To manipulate the larger lure fly with (if you've got a high bank or shoreline that will enable you to point the Switch rod, point down. And use in conjunction with braided line as a running line and a baitcasting reel. So your running line doesn't become a tangled mess at your feet. Is it fly fishing or gear fishing? Probably more like the latter. What you get though is the ability to fish your saltwater flies in places where you never thought possible.

[@academicmailbox7798]

A good option if you like is to acquire beat up old tatty fourteen foot double handed rods that no one uses. Chop some of the lower rod section out. And re-invent the fly rod as a ten or eleven foot length baitcaster. When you turn the rings upward. It's very weird, but it is a good platform from which you can throw larger fly lures a long distance. Getting thd lures out there, and seeing what they can do over such distance. The problem being with custom swimbaits is bulk, weight, expense and un-certainty of supply (demand for large swimbaits of the right kind exceeds the supply).

[@sandflyx]

been doing that setup since 1970's for musky ,pike and shad.

[@sandflyx]

only have to go in 6" with that for the splice.

[@elffirrdesign2063]

That braided mono is going to be a little tough on the fingers and hands as a running line.

[@fosterkemp8314]

i think it’s waxed but it still would be rough

[@JohnJonelis]

Nice t-shirt

[@andreasworldinwaders]

If you want an even smoother connection, you just make a couple of nail knots instead. Much better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHvQhouCiLlgjLM