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This whole rod-line weight thing has gotten silly


Rob G

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So on one of my favorite smallie fly rods which I built some time back, I've been using either a Rio Clouser 6 wt. line or a Scientific Anglers Head Start 6 weight line.  Because both lines perform decently on that rod but will be in need of replacement soon.  I measured them on my grain scale and sure enough both come in about 175 grains for the first 30 feet of line or about a 1/2 weight higher than AFTMA 6 wt. standards.  Now my rod is advertised as a fast 5 wt. rod but you couldn't get that thing to load with 5 wt. line unless you had the whole spool aerialized, hence why I over line it with a 6 wt. line, actually a 6 1/2 wt. line. 

 

Bear with me here, so now I begin looking at "bass" lines that I might purchase and looked at a SA Mastery Titan line which I was told is the latest and greatest bass taper and lo and behold, it is weighted 2 full line weights higher than standard for each weight, soooo if I were to use a 6 weight for my rod as I've always done, I would be over lining by 3 line weights or in other words would be using an 8 wt. line on a 5 wt. rod.  That's crazy !  Now the very same company's Frequency Magnum line which they also advertise for throwing large streamers for bass is only over weighted by a 1/2 line weight above standard.  Line weight and fly rod weight designation has become silly, why have standards if no one is going to abide by them.  So no longer can you say, just over line your rod by one and you'll be happy.   Even for people that are more knowledgeable, you have to do your due diligence but to a novice, they would have no clue.   

 

OK, I feel so much better now, thank you for your patience and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.     

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That Titan line is a shooting head with all the weight in the first 30'. Once you get up to 7 to 10wt rods a good long taper line will throw weighted flies but also can be cast to 40 to 60 ' without counting on shooting the line after the first backcast. SA Mastery expert distance is the old name for this line, 7wt. head72", 8wt. head 74". This line will perform well with larger lead eyed clousers at a wide range of distances from close in to 60+ feet.. My preference is for medium action or slower rods that make the casting easier but most rods these days are  fast to very fast. I like old Fisher , Orvis + Phiilipson glass but also like the 20 year old Sage RPL's & RPL+s.. Come to a Cast & Compare  in September, there will be all manner of rods & lines, it's a great learning opportunity. Despite my preference for cheap old gear I should say that any rod will perfom with the right line.  Line weights are only a suggestion for marketing purposes - don't you think they want you to buy 3 or 4 line weights to match that new rod?

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for what it is worth, I suggest you consider the line with the longeSt belly and cut off the front end of the taper.  bass LINES OFTEN HAVE SORTER BELLIES. YOU CAN AND DO AT TIMES CARRY LINE IN THE AIR.  THE LINE WITH A SHORTER BELLY IS HARDER TO CARRY.  TJT

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John, the head length in the Magnum is 35 ft for a 5 weight vs 33.5 for the Titan, only a 4% difference but the weight, is 150 grains vs. 185 grains, a 23% difference.  I can tell you which will have a greater impact on my fishing.    

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The fly line standards that we are using today were developed back in the split bamboo era and are out dated for modern graphite rods, especially the fast action rods.  I had been using SA Titan lines on all my streamer fact action rods and really like them.  As Rob said, they are 2 weights heavier than the designated AFTMA line weight.   So in this case, just match your fast action rod weight to the SA Titan line weight and you are set- 6wt rod to 6wt SA Titan line. SA also just came out with a new Titan Long which has longer handling section than the regular Titan.   If you are the type of caster that like to carry a lot of line in the air, the Titan Long may be the line for you.  The longer handling section also give you better line control in the water, mending.

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