shooting heads

[madkeen]

Thinking of buying a couple of dt lines to make shooting heads what line rating would i be best with on my B+w 16ft 9/10.
cheers alan.

[acw]

Go high end for Over head casting ,dont often use them but had to on the Golden Grove bit of the Towi many moons ago .
IE a #12 head would maybe do the biss #13 might be better ,for spey casting I cant help alot !
BTW that occaisinon I had SWMBO pack the reel bag ,never again!!
BTW Mullarkeys are a good bet to play with as they are dead cheap

[Lohi]

Hi,
Don't know about your particular rod, but for my 7 years old 15´10/11 Norway, 11/12 Guideline Power Taper about 10.7 m long and 43g weight works extremely well, at least in the hover sink line type, and a underhand cast style. Also for a new 9/10 Norway, the same line shoots as hell. For my older 9/10 Norway, it works also, but one must absolutely not use any excessive power in the cast, otherwise it goes in to a big bloody mess of a loop.

For a 16 ft rod, a longer (12- 14 m) head might be a better choice. Try before you chop it into pieces. Always weigh and measure the length of the line before doing any deeper surgery, just to make sure that you have the line marked in the box (would not be the first time one is mis-marked).

[rennie]

Alan,go for a DT 11 look to start with about 17yds and cut back if you need to,Dt 12 will be ok but reduce the head length accordingly,forget the underhand cast go for a good old fashioned overhead thump,tip here before you chop the line,cut off some of the front taper keep a bit tho. don't use a braided loop strip the coating and form a loop in the dacron core.Mullarkys will be fine to source lines from.Norris have some U.F.S. lines which are useful. Pedro.

[Fruin]

Would agree with rennie about line weights and lengths, and also Mullarkeys being a good source for DT's.
However, I like to cut the lines to suit an underhand or spey style.
My advice would be to take your favourite casting line for a particular rod and weigh the head. After this cut various AFTM ratings of DT lines and cut them all for this weight as a starting point. This will give you shooting heads of various lengths that should load your rod like your favourite line. The loading will vary slightly with the different length of heads, and these can then be further refined by cutting them back if needed.
Also agree with the point about cutting back some of the front taper, as the Mullarkey lines thin out to much to turn over heavier flies.

[Fruin]

Also, if you are specifically wanting overhead lines, then make them lighter as a full line arielised will load the rod more than a D Loop. There will be a bit of trial and error in this

Hope this helps.