G. Loomis Spey Rods

The Evolution of Fly Line Size Designation
The evolution of fly lines has determined, to a large degree, the shifting design characteristics of fly rods and changing styles in fly casting. Early fly fishers used horsehair (from the tail of the horse) for both line and leader.  Braiding the line to a tapered shape improve casting performance. In 1870's an American Fredric Halford, developed and patented one of the first solid woven tapered silk fly lines. For the next 80 years oiled silk lines were very popular and were made in many sizes to fit all sizes of fly rods.  Letters were used to designate the approximate diameters of  these lines.  Most lines during this era were braided in double taper configuration.  An HDH line corresponds roughly to what we now call a DT5.  HCH=DT6, etc.  During the later development of silk lines weight forward taper designs started to become popular. 

Because silk is heavier than water it will sink unless it is greased.  The care of these lines was labor intensive and because silk is biodegradable it had to be cleaned, dried and stored carefully.  There was room for improvement.

Shortly after World War II, synthetic materials replaced silk. Now most fly lines are now made of polymers surrounding a braided core of Dacron or Polyester.  The core provides the tensile strength and the coating provides the weight and taper.  Many materials can be mixed with the polymer and many different specialized fly lines emerged..  Lines of the same diameter can now vary greatly in both density and weight.

The letter designations use for silk lines only reflected the lines' external size.  As new materials emerged varying densities and taper/belly lengths caused large weight differences within lines of the same diameter, eliminating the possibility of using old standards to match a modern line to a given fly rod. 

Standard Line Weights
Modern Fly Line Standards were developed to help fly fishing tackle manufacturers create a system that would match fly line weight to fly rod performance. This system uses the weight in grains (a very small weight measure) of the first 30 feet of fly line as a standard and gives it a number designation. The table below shows fly line weight designations and their grain weight. The system also established a tolerance level that is acceptable.
 

In Search Of Common Language

From 1880 to 1980, a span of one hundred years, nearly all lines for two-hand fly rods were in the Double Taper configuration.  About 25 years ago shooting head type lines started gaining popularity with some Scandinavian salmon fishermen.  In 1990 Trey Comb's great work "Steelhead Fly Fishing" described several weight-forward "Spey" lines.  This book sparked an explosion of interest in two-hand rods with West Coast steelhead anglers.  In the last 15-years the development of  lines for two hand rods has gone through many phases and is still rapidly evolving.  Weight-forward lines are now more popular than double tapers.  These weight-forward lines come in many styles and configurations. Matching lines to rods can be quite confusing.  New systems are evolving to cope with this problem.
 
The other day a rod rep told me on the phone that a certain manufacturer was contemplating changing the way they designated the line weights on their two-hand fly rods. They were changing categories from 6/7/8-9/10/11 to simply listing in grain weights, the line weights each model was designed to load with to get optimum performance; in other words the head-weight of the line.  A rod might then be listed as a 14'-550gr.  Inwardly I thought, "Why mess with a system that has been in place since WWII".  Most educated fly anglers are able cope with the current system.  We can speak a common language.  Heck every one knows that if you buy a 7/8/9 rod you simply buy a 7/8/9 line to put on it.  Problem is, what is a 7/8/9 line?  With a little research you find out that one manufactures 7/8/9 line hasn't always weighed the same as another's 7/8/9.  Head weights can vary from model to model from the same manufacturer. 

This point was driven home this afternoon while trying a brand new 13' 9" rod rated for 7/8/9 line.  I asked one of my shop guys, who had actually designed this rod while working for this manufacturer which size Rio Skagit Spey line to use.  He said, "8/9. Add a 5' Skagit Cheater".  Bill Krueger, long time friend and client was first to try it.  It worked smooth and easy for him.  A while later I took a couple of shots and easily sent the 15' sink tip and bulky fly to the 90' mark.  Bill fished this outfit the rest of the day and commented several times how much he liked it.  I tried it again at the end of the day and could easily reach the 90'+ mark in a stiff breeze.  That's the 47' head and 45'-50' of shooting line pasted the rod tip.  With this line the rod loaded deeply to where the "big power" lies.  However managing 45'-50' of shooting line is a bit much when you are wading.  The long loops trail far enough down stream that you can hook them with the fly while casting.  Then I thought, "If the head of the line were longer, I won't have to shoot so much line".  The 8/9 Skagit Spey was replaced with an 8/9/10 WindCutter which has a 54' head.  Theoretically I should now have to shoot 7' less line to reach the same water.  I have used WindCutters a lot.  The change should have been easy.  It wasn't.  It was a dog.  I could barely reach 80'.  Then it was time to leave for the take-out.  The incident left me wondering why these lines from the same manufacturer should offer such radically different performances from the same rod.  Part of the answer became clear when Rio's line chart was examined.  The heads of the two lines (as I used them) were radically different weights.  According to the chart the 8/9 Skagit with a 5' Cheater and 15' 9-weight tip weighs a total of 747 grains.  The head of a WindCutter 8/9/10 weighs 585 grains.  That's 162 grains or nearly 22% different.  The 8/9 Skagit (as it was rigged) compares to the 10/11/12 WindCutter which weighs 750 grains.

The comparison puzzled me until I realized that the Skagit is sold without tips or attachments and the WindCutter is sold as a complete package. So when you add a Cheater and a 9-weight tip the weight goes up. If you add up the weight of parts of each line you come up with the figures below.

If the rod had been designated to throw a 750 grain line there wouldn't have been as much confusion.  Of course now that I am thinking within those parameters things could get easier. 

Every rod will deflect a predictable amount when loaded with a specific weight of line.  This is how the rod stores energy for the cast.  The rod becomes a spring that is bent. Some rods are very sensitive to line weight, others maybe not so much. 

Last winter Ed Ward showed me one of his innovations.  It was a set of 1-foot long pieces of fly line belly looped at each end.  The weight of each piece had been memorized.  Pieces could be added or subtracted from experimental lines until they matched a specific rod perfectly.

Seems it would be easier to design each rod for a specific load...or how many grains it took to load it properly.  Some manufacturers are thinking that way.  I'm hearing rumors. 

Spey Standards
Currently the spey standard has four separate categories. One for shooting heads, one for short head spey line (like the WindCutter), one for mid length spey line (MidSpey type) and one for long belly lines (GrandSpey type). The standards recommend that the lines are split into four groups and the line will be called quite simply:

1) H, for shooting heads (measured at 40 ft)
2) S, for short head spey lines (measured at 55 ft)
3) M, for mid length spey lines (measured at 65 ft)
4) L, for long belly spey lines (measured at 75 ft)

The weights are as follows:                                                          

The proposed tolerances were +/- 30 grains.
Thus any WindCutter type line weighing 580 grains would simply be called S9. Any GrandSpey line of 700 grains would be L8 and so on.
The new standard was approved by AFFTA (American Fly Fishing Trade Association) at their annual meeting during Fly Fishing Retailer show in Denver in September 2004. The standard was intended to be a ‘working’ standard, but was approved and adopted by a majority at the meeting. The committee formed to make the initial recommendations were: Andy Murray (Hardys), Tim Rajeff (Airflo and Echo), Steve Rajeff (Loomis), Al Buhr (Sage and Scientific Anglers), Simon Gawesworth and Jim Vincent (Rio).

We will camp on prime water and we will have walking and boat access to miles 
of steelhead runs that will present a divers array of angling problems to be solved.
Classes will be held mid-day.  You will fish with a guide each morning and evening.
Brunch and dinner will be served at times to give you the best fishing periods.
This will give you the best advantage for hooking as many steelhead 
as possible during your stay with us.
Nothing teaches you more about fishing than being where 
fish are being hooked and landed.

You will learn all aspects of spey rod fishing with both floating and sinking-tip lines. 
Learn how to locate steelhead water and how to approach it. 
Watch an expert guide as he fishes and discloses the secrets
 and proven methods that put fish on the beach.  
Get a lot of hands on help so that you too can be productive.
Save yourself years of experimenting on your own.
 
You will be pampered!
You will stay in a very comfortable tent camp on the water.
A Camp Person will be available at all times to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
All cooking and eating will be done in a spacious screen-house.
Comfortable sleeping cots and pads are supplied in double occupancy tents. 
All food & non-alcoholic beverages are included.

Bring your own sleeping bag, clothing, toiletries,
waders, rain gear, rods, reels, flies & tackle.

Price does not include Deschutes Boaters Pass or Oregon Fishing License.
Meet at The Fly Fishing Shop at 5:30am arrive back at 6:30pm.
Dates: August 29, 30, 31 and September 1, 2005 
6 students only !
First come, first served.