Skagit question

Newly From The Sea · Mar 15, 2011

Hi I posted this in another thread without an answer so decided to start a new thread and see if I get a better response.. so my apologies for duplicating.

I was thinking of using a skagit on my older 14' redington red fly rated #9 for those early spring and late autumn days.
I assume the through action of this rod would be suitable for skagit casts? and as I do not know the gramm rating for my rod would I use the 550gm Skagit 9 or the lighter 450gm Skagit 8 from Rio.
Lastly, could I use the 15' tips that came with my #9 loop quattro (the old white one)
Many thanks

pond.olive · Mar 15, 2011

I would expect the information you require to be more readily forthcoming if you were to post the question on the American Spey Clave site. It may also be useful to ask the guys at Redington.

Springer · Mar 15, 2011

Newly From The Sea said:
Hi I posted this in another thread without an answer so decided to start a new thread and see if I get a better response.. so my apologies for duplicating.

I was thinking of using a skagit on my older 14' redington red fly rated #9 for those early spring and late autumn days.
I assume the through action of this rod would be suitable for skagit casts? and as I do not know the gramm rating for my rod would I use the 550gm Skagit 9 or the lighter 450gm Skagit 8 from Rio.
Lastly, could I use the 15' tips that came with my #9 loop quattro (the old white one)
Many thanks

450gr will be way to light, I even think 550 will be on the light side for that rod, I would go 600gr.

IMHO the best skagit lines on the market are the Airflo ones, they come in 600gr, I have used up to 660 on a 14' rod before without problems but your Redington I think will go well at 600.

Yes you could use the Loop tips in sink3 and sink7, I dont really see the point of skagit if your using the clear inter tip but give it a try if you want.

beanieboy · Mar 15, 2011

I use the 660g Airflo Compact on my Orvis Trident 14' #9 - perfect match.

finuge · Mar 15, 2011

Newly From The Sea said:
Hi I posted this in another thread without an answer so decided to start a new thread and see if I get a better response.. so my apologies for duplicating.

I was thinking of using a skagit on my older 14' redington red fly rated #9 for those early spring and late autumn days.
I assume the through action of this rod would be suitable for skagit casts? and as I do not know the gramm rating for my rod would I use the 550gm Skagit 9 or the lighter 450gm Skagit 8 from Rio.
Lastly, could I use the 15' tips that came with my #9 loop quattro (the old white one)
Many thanks

RIO DO A 600gr SKAGIT JUST GOT ONE TODAY FROM AMERICA PM ME IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE TO GET IT.

Newly From The Sea · Mar 16, 2011

Many thanks.

Brilliant guys, thank you all,
because of my passion for light lines over the years I wondered if the 600 would be too heavy for my 14 footer but when you think of it.. the extra weight is needed to load the rod with such a short head.

Springer
I will have a look at the Airflo lines as it always good have a recomendation.
I am pleased I can recycle the Loop tips and I agree only the sinkers are worth using

Springer · Mar 16, 2011

I prefer the Airflo skagit lines for two primary reasons.

1. They cast very nicely.

2. There are stand alone heads so that means I dont need a dedicated reel to put it on. I can carry a skagit and tips and change from shooting head to skagit if the conditions dictate.

I think Rio are losing a lot of business by making their Skagit lines with integrated running line, this makes them far less versatile IMHO. The fact that an Airflo skagit head only costs £29.99 as opposed to a much more expensive Rio product is also a good thing.

minitube · Mar 16, 2011

pond.olive said:
I would expect the information you require to be more readily forthcoming if you were to post the question on the American Spey Clave site. It may also be useful to ask the guys at Redington.

Would respectfully have to disagree with you there Richard. There has been, and indeed there is a wealth of information available on Skagit set ups on this site also, or for the asking here, especially from Springer. I have used it as a resource myself.

Newly From The Sea · Mar 16, 2011

Update on skagits.

After reading Springers advice I looked for an Airflo 600g skagit on ebay and found a 630g one for sale @ £19.95 boxed and brand new.. this is real bargain thinks I... so googled again and found this link on a steelhead forum.
www.flyfishingresearch.net/goodsetups/pairinglineswithrods.html
This is well worth reading and is very illuminating regarding Skagit weights
this along with the excellent advice from Springer made up my mind and I have bought the above line, after all what can you lose at that price..

I will post an update when I have tried it.
Stuart

beanieboy · Mar 16, 2011

Have to agree with the above post from Minitube, the breath of knowledge available from this forum never ceases to amaze me - Minitube himself being one of those who, to put is mildly, 'knows his onions'.

Springer · Mar 16, 2011

Newly From The Sea said:
After reading Springers advice I looked for an Airflo 600g skagit on ebay and found a 630g one for sale @ £19.95 boxed and brand new.. this is real bargain thinks I... so googled again and found this link on a steelhead forum.
www.flyfishingresearch.net/goodsetups/pairinglineswithrods.html
This is well worth reading and is very illuminating regarding Skagit weights
this along with the excellent advice from Springer made up my mind and I have bought the above line, after all what can you lose at that price..

I will post an update when I have tried it.
Stuart

I would urge anyone thinking of reading that article not to bother. It is very misleading, at times inaccurate and ultimately quite pointless IMHO. I cant see any point in writing all those words to ultimately say what it does which I honestly believe would be a hindrance to anyone considering trying a skagit set-up.

Not everything that is written on the internet is always useful or accurate.

Newly From The Sea · Mar 16, 2011

Sorry guys, even an old dog can be caught out.

Springer · Mar 16, 2011

Newly From The Sea said:
Sorry guys, even an old dog can be caught out.

You were not to know

Just remember though, old dogs can learn new tricks

ibm59 · Mar 16, 2011

Newly From The Sea said:
14' redington red fly rated #9.

would I use the 550gm Skagit 9 or the lighter 450gm Skagit 8 from Rio.

I use the Rio 650 grain Skagit head on my 13' #9 Loop Adventure without any overload issues.

Wuff Wuff.

Fruin · Mar 16, 2011

ibm59 said:
I use the Rio 650 grain Skagit head on my 13' #9 Loop Adventure without any overload issues.

Wuff Wuff.

You've gone Skagit - good god man, what's got into you?

ibm59 · Mar 16, 2011

Fruin said:
You've gone Skagit - good god man, what's got into you?

Wuff Wuff Wuffity Wuff Wuff.

Just another string to the very old bow , Gary.
Doesn't come out very often , but it's a godsend in the right situation.

Bargany on the Girvan last October was a perfect situation for the Skagit head.

Fruin · Mar 16, 2011

Skagit heads, you'll be upgrading your rods to fibre glass soon at this rate

highlander gus · Mar 16, 2011

Fruin said:
Skagit heads, you'll be upgrading your rods to fibre glass soon at this rate

No he will be going back to green hearts

highlander gus · Mar 16, 2011

ibm59 said:
Wuff Wuff Wuffity Wuff Wuff.

Just another string to the very old bow , Gary.
Doesn't come out very often , but it's a godsend in the right situation.

Bargany on the Girvan last October was a perfect situation for the Skagit head.

Is that near the sea

the girvans no that wide

ibm59 · Mar 16, 2011

highlander gus said:
the girvans no that wide

Exactly , Gus

A Skagit's no' that long

highlander gus · Mar 17, 2011

ibm59 said:
Exactly , Gus
A Skagit's no' that long

Would yer shooting heads no do just as good

or have you floged them all to make way for the skagit

ibm59 · Mar 17, 2011

highlander gus said:
Would yer shooting heads no do just as good ?

Not really , Gus.

One particular pool sticks in my mind.
No possibiity of wading , fast deep water , overhead and bankside vegitation within 10' of water , and the lie on the far side of a very varied , and fast , current.

I wanted to get the fly down and fishing the moment it hit the water , keep the fly down , and also be able to mend the line to keep the fly on the far side of the current.

With the skagit + 2' cheater + 15' superdooper fast sinking tip from the Monty Sunk line multi tip , I was able to do all of this with only 3' of running line outside the rodtip.

Worked a treat.

Scanny · Mar 17, 2011

I used a 660 Compact on the 13'2 and it went very nicely. Spent an hour with a forum member casting into a stiff Tay upstream breeze at a meet, it easily justified having it in the bag

Edenfisher · Mar 17, 2011

So if you buy an Airflo Skagit head for around £3ish you can use just about any fast sinking tip from a normal multitip you may already have have such as the the Loop,Windcutter etc, there would be no need to spend another £20 or so on the custom tips made by Airflo. Would normal 10 foot polyleders work as well on this head without the aid of a cheater, because as I understand it the head needs to be 3.5 times the length of your rod to give you an anchor?

Springer · Mar 17, 2011

Edenfisher said:
So if you buy an Airflo Skagit head for around £3ish you can use just about any fast sinking tip from a normal multitip you may already have have such as the the Loop,Windcutter etc, there would be no need to spend another £20 or so on the custom tips made by Airflo. Would normal 10 foot polyleders work as well on this head without the aid of a cheater, because as I understand it the head needs to be 3.5 times the length of your rod to give you an anchor?

Airflo polys = useless

Other 15' tips from multi-tip lines = OK

330gr Custon Cut tips from Airflo = the proper joby for deep fishing.

3x length of rod = just as good.

Skagit question

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