Shooting Heads

[RobG]

Please assist the ignorant here.

I have been fishing with a full fly line for years and after reading a lot about Shooting Heads, I am itching to give it a try.

Bearing in mind I live in George, my access to a shop that stocks Shooting Heads is non existent.

So, from what I understand, the 'fly line' portion of the Shooting Head is the fat part of a weight forward fly line. The books mention using either braid or flattened mono for the shooting line.

Please enlighten me on this. What braid/mono is used?
Can you buy them already made up?
What stops the shooting line from forming a nice rats nest while casting?

Thanks,
Rob

[firephish]

Bearing in mind I live in George, my access to a shop that stocks Shooting Heads is non existent.

You can easily (and cheaply) make your own from an old/cheap line (start with a DT 2 weights higher than the rod you want to user)

Please enlighten me on this. What braid/mono is used?

can use either braid or mono ... i'd recommend braid (tangles less)

Can you buy them already made up?

yes (same price as a standard flyline more-or-less)

What stops the shooting line from forming a nice rats nest while casting?

For the shop bought ones the running line is more or less just thin fly line (easy to handle). For the mono/braid ones, nothing ... probably why more people don't use them!

[Ko7Ad]

Stream X used to stock T14 & T17 Rio Heads, may be worth a shot to find out if they still have some.

I use a Rio Leviathan as a one line solution and so far it has been great except for the running line section being somewhat prone to tangles. I know Rio have a coldwater shooting line that the guys in the states use for stripper fishing since you stay in George. If you have the money it may be a better option as you dont have to worry about line connections causing problems.

What wieght rod do you want to kit out and are you looking at a sinking or floating system? That may help in giving a bit more advice.

[RobG]

Howzit,

Thanks for the replies and advice.

I am a bit of a tackle slut and over the year, when a fishin shop closes or stops selling fly fishing gear (this happens often in George). I cash in on the sale. I have many spare lines, reels and rods. It may not be the best gear but I do have lots spare.

My thought was to take an old floating and or intermediate line, cut it down and use that as a start. Just to get a feel for it. Would casting braid work as a running line for the time being?

It would be a 9 wt saltwater/estuary setup.

[firephish]

Sure, standard braid will be fine (make sure its higher breaking strain that the flyline though & check your knots)

If you want a 9wt shooting head, then:

1. Take a DT 11 wt line
2. Cut it in half
3. attach braid, and try casting. Note at which point the cut section of DT starts loading the rod and trim it down to this. (there are also more scientific means of doing this based on grain wt etc)
4. Done

[Ko7Ad]

Here is some additional reading giving you all the options on running lines

http://globalflyfisher.com/fishbetter/shooting-lines/

But it is really as simple as Firephish pointed out and since you have spare gear, give it a bash!