July 2006 • San Francisco ULLETIN http://www.ggacc.org B Golden Gate Angling & Casting Club • Anglers Lodge • Golden Gate Park HARNESSING THE MAGIC OF SKAGIT SPEY LINES By Bob Pauli, Ray Christensen, Tom Keelin Like a solar fl are Rio Products’ Skagit Spey lines exploded on the steelhead scene in 2005, capturing a signifi cant share of the Spey line market in a brief GGACC OFFICERS time unprecedented in the fl y fi shing President industry. An unscientifi c poll taken in Matthew Huey the world’s leading Spey casting web site: Vice President & Casting speypages.com showed half of steelhead Chair John C. Till fi shermen responding used a Skagit line in 2005; remarkable for a product that Secretary & Chair Director Larry G. Watanabe became available early that year. For the coauthors, it was uncommon last year Bob Pauli with a 22 pound Kispiox Buck Treasurer Timothy Reilly to meet an on-stream steelhead angler who did not have a Skagit line installed on at least one rod. GGACC DIRECTORS Jay Clark Why did the Skagit line rocket to acceptance? Simple—the line enables all Spey Chair Director style fi shermen to cast heavy sink tips and large fl ies with near-eff ortless strokes. Bob Porter How is it possible? Th e answer lies in the manufacturing genius of Jim Vincent Bert Rances collaborating with Mike McCune and Scott O’Donnell. Mike and Scott are Pacifi c Michelle Shin Northwest fi shing guides who, among others, have spent nearly twenty years Ex Offi cio Bill Ward cutting, splicing and refi ning lines to make sink tip Spey casting easy to learn and eff ortless to execute. First, let us defi ne a Skagit Spey line. It is a short, heavy fl oating head to which is looped a sinking tip which can vary from, say, 40 grains and 3-feet long at the low end to 500 grains and 24-feet long as a common maximum. A central belief of the authors is that use of Rio’s Skagit Spey lines does not imply a need to cast in today’s [2005/2006] narrowly defi ned Skagit style, in which practitioners cast a modest bit, Harnessing the Magic say, up to ten feet, of T-14. We believe an enormous spectrum of opportunity awaits of Skagit Spey Lines those willing to explore beyond such a limited use of these hugely powerful tools. is the second of two inter-related articles. In a prior article the authors described the results of a year’s testing of Skagit lines in See the fi rst article, the steelhead waters of the Pacifi c Northwest and on the ponds of the Golden Gate Skagit Magic, in the Angling & Casting Club in San Francisco. Th e results were startling, breathtaking for June Bulletin. some, and extremely positive—casting sink tips had become easier, much easier! Ed. Harnessing the Magic continued on page 2 1 1 Th e Genesis of Skagit Magic Th e space available for publication of the prior article did not allow for a discussion and Harnessing the Magic of all the fi ne points, three of which are presented here. Th ose points are directed at In early 2005 Spey-addicted understanding the proper length of a Skagit head, and use of “cheaters” to achieve steelhead fi shermen Bob Pauli, that length. Ray Christensen and Tom Keelin total head length: the rule of . to . discovered Rio Products’ new Skagit lines and believed the To enjoy the magic of a Skagit line’s near eff ortless delivery of a heavy tip and large Spey rod fi shing world would fl y one should honor the Rule of 3.0 to 3.5: which states, the total length of a Skagit be changed forever. No longer head, consisting of fl oating body plus tip, should fall into a range of three to three and would heavy tips require beefy one-half times the Spey rod length. A head length ratio less than three causes frequent rods and the ease of learning to “tearing out” [tip jumping rearward] of anchors and a ratio greater than three and one- cast formerly daunting sink tips half demands a more vigorous forward stroke than with a proper total head length. was astonishing. Table 1 indicates Skagit TABLE 1 On March 6, 2005, in the Head Total Length vs. Spey SKAGIT HEAD TOTAL LENGTH vs. SPEY ROD LENGTH GGACC’s pond 3 they began Rod Length for a numerical a sink tip test program that array of minimum and spanned more than a year and TOTAL HEAD LENGTH, Incl SINK TIP, feet maximum head lengths for MINIMUM MAXIMUM evaluated sixteen rods from a variety of rod lengths. ROD LENGTH, feet. ROD L * 3.0 ROD L * 3.5 seven manufacturers. Every rod was cast with each of the four Th is is not nuclear science. 12 36 42 available Rio Skagit lines looped Th e “Rule” is based on an 13 39 46 to as many as fourteen tips, a assumption of distance 14 42 49 total of almost nine hundred from the rod’s tip-top guide rod-line-tip combinations. to the water’s surface, for an 15 45 53 average height fisherman 16 48 56 Bob Pauli is a Mechanical wading shallow water. If one is tall, fi shing from a Engineer fascinated by the The Skagit rule of 3.0 to 3.5 states that a minimum head length of 3.0 times rod mechanics of fi shing with Spey boat or bank, or both, a length is necessary to avoid "tearing out" anchors. And a maximum head Skagit head length longer length of 3.5 times rod length preserves the effortless forward stroke that is a rods. He became a serious fl y design goal of the originators. fi sherman in 1980 and is now than shown in Table 1 is dedicated to the twin mistresses appropriate. Conversely, copyright 2005 Pauli, Christensen, Keelin. All rights reserved. of stalking spring creek trout and situations where the rod pursuing steelhead with Spey tip distance to water is decreased, such as persons wading deeply, or those forced rods. by streamside vegetation to cast with a low rod tip, are best served by heads shorter than shown in Table 1. Using the rule as a starting point, however, will save money Ray Christensen has fl y fi shed and days of experimentation. since 1970 pursuing trout, cheaters steelhead, salmon and tarpon Th e overwhelming advantage of a Skagit Spey line is its ability to cast any sink tip, from worldwide. short and light to long and heavy. Within reason, it doesn’t matter what sink tip one puts on a Skagit line—they all work, provided the Rule of 3.0 to 3.5 is honored. Tom Keelin is a systems engineer with a strong interest To properly set up a Skagit outfi t, “cheaters” are used. A cheater is a piece of fl y line in fl y fi shing research. He was between the body and the tip used as an adjusting mechanism to bring total head one of the early spey casters in length into the 3.0 to 3.5 range. Pacifi c Northwest steelheading, See Table 2, Cheater Design Chart-A Helper for Matching Cheaters to Sink Tips for having been converted by recommended cheater lengths with a variety of rod and sink tip lengths. Factory- Scottish anglers on the Kola made cheaters are packaged in groups of four by Rio Products, namely two fl oating Peninsula in the early ‘90s. He cheaters, 5 feet and 10 feet long, and two intermediate rate sinking cheaters, 5 feet and also thrives on single-handed- 10 feet long. Some fi shermen custom cut cheaters to exact lengths and splice them rod fl y fi shing for trout, bonefi sh, to matching sinking tips. permit, tarpon, and corbina. 1 2 TABLE 2 CHEATER DESIGN CHART--A HELPER FOR MATCHING CHEATERS TO SINK TIPS All dimensions in feet USING RULE OF 3.0 TO 3.5 CHEATER LENGTH NEEDED SKAGIT HEAD TOTAL LENGTH SKAGIT HEAD TO ACHIEVE TO ACHIEVE SUGGESTED CHEATER SPEY ROD Min [3.0] Max [3.5] MEASURED SINK TIP Min [3.0] Max [3.5] Note: Rio Cheaters are pre-cut 5' & 10'. LENGTH [B*3.0] [B*3.5] BODY LENGTH LENGTH [F+E-C] [F+E-D] Custom cheaters are cut to length and often spliced to tip. 12 36 42 26 5 5 11 For a 5' tip, use a 5' or 10' cheater, 10 0 6 For a 10' tip, use no cheater or a 5' cheater. 15 (5) 1 For 15' and longer tips, use no cheater. 20 (10)(4) ditto 24 (14)(8) ditto 13 39 46 26 5 8 15 For a 5' tip, use a 10' cheater. 10 3 10 For a 10' tip, use a 5' cheater 15 (2) 5 For 15' and longer tips, use no cheater. 20 (7)(1) ditto 24 (11)(5) ditto 14 42 49 26 5 11 18 For a 5' tip, use a 10' or a 15' [10+5] cheater. 10 6 13 For a 10' tip, use a 10 or a 15' cheater. 15 1 8 For a 15' tip, use a 5' cheater. 20 (4) 3 For 20' and longer tips, use no cheater 24 (8)(1) ditto 15 45 53 26 5 14 22 For a 5' tip, use a 15' [10+5] cheater 10 9 17 For a 10' tip, use a 10 or 15' cheater.