Anyone spey rodding out there ?

[chum77]

JUst wondering if anyone is busting out the t-14 yet and swing some half chickens yet ? and if so are you producing anything ? I have not swung any flies yet but i will soon, so its always fun to hear that people are landing em on flies when you are about to head out to the local creek. Got a coil of t-14 to make a few sink tips and im off to try my luck, little early for winter runs i think but you just never know really.

[Juan de Fuca]

Yes. Accidentally (in the mouth,not foul hooked) hooked a few bright coho while fishing for other things and found out the coho are great for casting practice and letting the neighbors know you have a smoker.

Your zone has steelhead year round. Start fishing before you hear of reports, then you can be the report.

Yep, I just spent a king's ransom on sink tip material. T14 and T17. I've been thinking long and hard about how to improve loop connections and over the past few months I have come to a solution in my head. Soon I will tinker with the new technique and see if what I'm thinking will actually pan out. If it does, it will be sweet.

FYI- I think the MOW tips are dumb, but a good marketing scheme.

I think I am going to change my hair color every week this winter to see if I can get some cover shots.

[chum77]

hahaha ya the rio MOW tips kinda looked a little weird to me, to me they are just for people too lazy to make loop to loop connections. Never used t-17 be for i just stick with t-11 and t-14 most of the time but that's just me though. Never used the spey for salmon be for, i guess ill try for silvers next year cuz it sounds like a blast. Gonna tie up some MOAL patterns and large BH buggers and some intruders. Have to go down to cabelas today and get some more loop connections for my t-14 tips i forgot the coil only comes with 3 hahaha oh well and excuse to go to cabelas i guess.  i also think that rio flight sucks too, they keep trying to make the skagit fly like a scandi line its just not going to work, the airflo compact skagit is the best its going to get in my opinion. only thing i like from rio is there original skagit line and there slick shooter line.

[Juan de Fuca]

 I have been experimenting with using 12lb Power Pro braid as my leader between my fly and sink tip (eliminated the need for mono). I have been tying 80lb PP w/ an Albright knot to sink tip, then creating a loop that I loop my 12lb PP to. All knots touched up w/ a little super glue. It takes a little practice to get the Albright knot just right so it doesn't cut through the core of the sink tip.

Why?
1. Durability/simplicity. I don't have to change my leader every time I bang a rock on accident. (I did loose two fish last winter on really hard takes, and it was just after "tapping" a rock w/ a bad cast. I am usually very anal about changing my leaders and make sure they are fresh, but I blew it twice last year. ((Ironically enough I found one of those flies I broke off on a fish 4 miles downstream two weeks later, yes I am absolutely sure it was the exact fly I lost, I still cant wrap my head around the chances of that situation, it was weird at the least.))
2. 12lb PP sinks and has way less drag than 15lb Maxima (what I used to use).

Issues?
1. Casts fine, which I wasn't sure about, but after testing it is a non-issue.
2. What if the fish see it? I don't think it matters when swinging big flys in colored water (Hooking fish hasn't been an issue so far)
3. I still change the leader if it looks damaged, but a lot less often now.