Fly Fishing Tech Tips: Making our own heads from scrap fly lines

[@wvlongshooter3912]

Just the video I needed. I’m going to try to make a shooting head out if one of my heavier lines. Going back to watch your welding videos. Thanks a bunch!!

[@scottlysle]

That was fascinating; it made me to think about the old casting competitions featuring folk like Joan Wulff where fly lines were custom made to create a profile suitable for distance casting. I never knew exactly how they did it but I think it was largely done with silk lines and I knew they'd weigh out different materials and sort of weave them together to construct a workable line. It seems you could do something similar based on what you've demonstrated here. Anyway, another great video.

[@chazdrumzalot]

Hi Peter, your welding videos gave me the confidence to start making my own lines a little while ago and glad to see that I hit on the same basic principles as what you described. Last year I was considering purchasing the Airflo streamer max short but the $130 price tag was a little high for me at the time since I wasn’t sure if I honestly needed this line for my fishing or not. As a way of testing the principle I decided to sacrifice a Rio 6wt full sink line which I didn’t like to use because it cast poorly, and I had a bunch of SA textured spey tips in different sink rates to use for the butt. I ended up welding 7’ of an intermediate sink tip to 15’ of the Rio full sink line for a fair approximation of the dimensions of the airflo line, and it casts great. I manage to turn over long leaders and decent sized streamers in the sound at good distance. And like you said, it adds an extra level of satisfaction catching fish on a fly you tied, on a line you welded, and a rod you built.

[@hooked4lifeca]

Funny you should mention the Airflo Streamer Max Short. Back in 2009 I had a web page on fishing with shooting heads and one of the articles I posted in it had a line that I had welded up for use on my two handers. It had 15' of T8 welded to 15' of intermediate belly, followed by a floating running line with the colours dark grey/ice blue/orange respectively. A couple of years or so later Airflo produced the same style of line using exactly the same colour scheme of dark grey/ice blue/orange. The only difference, it was shorter for use on single hand rods. Coincidence? I wasn't with Airflo at the time so no way to know if this was a copycat case or parallel development.

[@steelhead6368]

Interesting that you could do this with fly lines which I did not know. But at the same time, too complicated for me. You really got to know what you're doing I guess. For now I will just buy the line type I need.

[@oldsmugglerflyfishing]

Great information

[@LouisianaSpey]

I have a 10wt spey rod, how affective would a standard 5wt fly line attached to a skagit shooting line. I strip fish and dont like the mono for stripping and i also dont want to by a intergrated line.

[@hooked4lifeca]

The 5 wt. could be made to work, but we're better off with a proper coated running line, if you don't like mono. The problem with the 5 wt. is the low strength core, usually 20lb. sometimes only 15 lb. If we snagged up badly, the 5 wt. could be the first component to break. A true 30 lb. coated running line, like the Airflo Ridge line, would be a much better choice.

[@LouisianaSpey]

@hooked4lifeca thanks, that makes sense, and it is a concern of mine. I would hate to break off and lose my shooting head and sink tip.

[@321Phinney]

Peter, great videos. I have a few questions: 1. How do you know what length head is ideal for a single hand rod (say 3wt, 6wt, etc)? Could a 5-7’ head work? 2. How do you determine the target grain weight for a given rod? 3. Is it possible to weld a Rio slickshooter running line to a head? 4. Is there an advantage to using a 10’ sink tip over a 5-7’ sink tip on a typical 3’-7’ deep trout creek when using a single hand rod? Thank you!!

[@hooked4lifeca]

1: The minimum length of head would be roughly a little less than double the rod length. Any shorter and the D-Loop becomes too inefficient and the casts get clunky. So for example, around 15' for a 9' rod. 2: Two line weights over the AFTMA recommendation, so 6 wt. at 160 would use around 210-220 which is an 8 wt. ballpark. 3. Nope, the mono loses all of its strength when it melts. 4: For any given sink rate, a longer tip gets the fly deeper. Shorter tips are easier to cast on a single hander, so it's a toss up.