Shooting Line

Kells...

Whats the difference between shooting line and normal line

davidk11811

Shooting line has a very heavy end while the rest of the line is thinner and much lighter. Professional casters use it to cast over 80 feet, pointless for Irish fly fisherman.

Kells...

Ok that clears it up a mate bought some off the web and i said he wouldnt be able to use it on his local river

coolwings

They are not just for rainbow fisheries and deep fishing for big piscivorous lake browns.

I use a shooting head on the river as my standard line.

It's half of a DT#5 floating Cortland, with shooting line behind the casting flyline.
the running line, or shooting line is a braid that floats and is about 15lbs bs.

When I am short range fishing, I'm fishing with a DT, but if I put more line out to make a long upstream cast, or cast across a wide river like the Liffey, the running line goes outside the tip ring and it becomes an ST.

I like the flexibility it provides and won't ever change back to a full DT. But I've never met another stream fisherman using a light ST.

But most people equate a shooting head with a heavy shooting head which as David said has no place on the river. Light STs are handy for rivers if you exploit them as above, the longer the head the better. So my river ST would be about 14-15 metres.

Slasher

So, is a shooting line the same as a weight forward line?

coolwings

Almost identical, a WF has thin shooting line behind the belly, but the thin line behind the "belly" of a shooting head can be anything, spinning line, or braid.
Being even lighter and thinner it shoots even better than the weight forward line.

The plus: more distance than WF
The minus: a "hinge" where the thin shooting/running line meets the back of the ST. WF lines have a hinge effect too, but it's less marked.
DT users hate that hinge effect since their lines don't have one and are a dream to cast neatly by comparison with both WF or ST.

SeaFields

Coolwings some of your posts on the technical stuff give me a headache.

coolwings

It's the fishing passion old chum! It can't be contained. :-)

ironbluedun

SeaFields wrote: »

Coolwings some of your posts on the technical stuff give me a headache.

disprin.............................:pac:

The problem is not to confuse shooting heads with weight forward lines....these things are a matter of personal preference for trout fishing most use DT (double taper) line (thin at both ends fat in middle) or WF (weight forward) line (fat at casting end and thin at reel end). It is possible to cast further with a WF because the heavy or weighted ‘fat’ section of the line is at the casting end so it goes out further. Shooting heads are loaded more to the front for even more distance.

coolwings

And a spinning line with a lead weight is loaded even more to the front!

Ease of casting comes with the lead being at the front. The farther back it is the more timing matters.

dody

what way do you join the shooting head to the 15lb braid for a smooth joint? I'd say the braid is as thin as 5lb mono.

coolwings

I use the older "open" braids so the braided line is the thickness of eg 20lbs mono, but at the same time very soft and floppy.
Then I tie or whip a large loop of about 4" to 5" length. The loop is big enough to pass a reel, spare spool or even a fly rod through! That way using the two loops connection I can swop lines with out re-tying.

It's explained a bit better here:Twin fly rod system with shooting heads

Those thicker backing type "old dacron style" braids are nicer for handling casting and figure of eight retrieve than the new ones which can cut wet skin quite easily.

blackstairsboy

I use a shooting line when night fishing for sea trout. I can cast my flies by just lifting the rod once and then casting. Avoids all this false casts that all but gurantee hooking weeds and the end result is a giant knot and no fishing. I dont use it at any other time though. I find I can get a good cast of about 16 yards or more in this way.