Steelhead Anglers-Choosing a Spey Line

Choosing a Spey Line Updated 01 Dec 2005

I must honestly say that since I published this site years ago lines have come a long way. Only a few years ago the spey fisher had to build a line to get the kind of performance we all crave. Today lines from Airflo, SA, Rio, Wulff, Cortland, Hardy and JetStream meet the challenging needs of Speyfishers the world over. At most the angler need only cut off 12-15' and put some loops on to be able to switch to a sink tip and even these interchangeable lines are available from some manufacturers.

The first thing I have to say on this subject is that there are as many ideas about building/buying a line for a Spey rod as they are fishers of these rods. I am not trying to advocate one over the other but instead am attempting to place as much information as possible about as many different lines as possible in one place where fishers can inform themselves and eventually make an informed decision which works for them. There is nothing more annoying than spending the big $$ on a line only to find out it does not work for you. Please feel free to send articles, URLs, and emails to me with your experiences and opinions and I will check it out and add it to the site. I have been fly fishing for Steelhead with a Spey rod since 1988 and have tried a variety of lines, some work, some do not, and some work some of the time. It all depends on the rod, line, and the casting style used by the fisher.
The Spey line must be capable of delivering a fly up to the castable range of the rod and allow excellent line control at that distance. It would be nice if it was capable of fishing short as well but I find most lines do OK up close and at short range we have a lot of options as to how we use the rod and can correct most problems. It is when we get up to range, 60'-100', that things begin to fall apart quickly if the line is not correct for the rod.

Floating Line
The basic place to start with a Spey rod is the floating line. Figure a belly length of 4 or 5 times the rod length. A 14 foot rod would want a head of 55-70 feet. Attach a leader and you are ready to go. That is plenty of distance to find Steelhead or Salmon and will not present many of the advanced issues associated with longer lines. When it comes to choosing the line weight for your rod it is not as easy. One manufacturers 8/9 is another's 10/11. All rods have some perfect amount of weight load by design. Finding a line in that weight and it will cast well on that rod. If you don't know find someone who does and get the info you need. This will save you buying several lines and learning the hard way. The best advice is try it before you buy it. Personally I like a line with a long front taper. This is a characteristic found in lines like the XLT, Carron Jetstream, and Partridge Ian Gordon Spey. The latter has a front taper of over 40 feet. A long front taper means it will turn over, no matter what. Is is an error to conclude that lines with square fronts turn over better in the wind. What makes a line fail to turn in the wind is the wind catching the profile of the line and interrupting the flow of energy. It is DRAG. A line with a long front taper has a skinny profile and does not catch much wind which results in very positive turnover. It is important to match the butt section of the leader with the end of the fly line. If you hang 80# Maxima on the end of a Carron line it will not turn it over. Start with 25#. Nail knot it on and then test to see if the line flows evenly from the fly line to the butt section. Hold the lines in each hand and make a steering wheel motion. The loop in the line should be steady. If it hinges the butt section is wrong. A line with a fine taper also will not turn over very heavy flies with ease. If you want to use heavy flies on a line like this use a floating or intermediate poly leader and you can turn over anything.

Sunk Line
For years fished long belly lines with sink tips for sunk fly fishing. I caught a lot of fish using this technique and it served me well. The only downside is it is a lot of work and at the end of the day my back and arms are beat up. I still use this technique sometimes if it is really COLD out and my guides are icing up badly so I cannot shoot line well. For about 10 years I went to Sweden a lot on business and fished with friends while I was there. When fishing with them we used Spey Shooting Heads and full sinking heads and I tolerated this and went back home to my long belly lines. Now that I am growing up I am starting to see the value of the shooting head systems. First they are no effort to cast. A 30-40 foot head on a 14 foot rod is easy to cast all day long. Your body won't even know you've been out fishing. More importantly the fly is presented much better to the fish. With only 40 feet of line on the water the problems of dealing with 100 feet of floating line on the water are eliminated. The fly swings much more slowly through the swing with all that running line out of the water. Usin a full sinking head is the biggest advantage. Using a 15 foot sink tip you have to use lots of sink to get down. With a 40 foot sinking head much less sink is required as the sinking part of the line is 3 times longer. You just have to try one of these systems to feel the difference. And by the way, when buying Scandinavian heads be sure to buy them from a company where the designers fish these lines. These days everyone and their brother is offering a Scandi line.
For my hard earned $$ the only line to consider is the Guidelines Power Taper. These lines cast like a laser beam. Their running line is tiny, shoots a mile, never tangles and has no memory. They have 6 different sinking heads, density compensated, as well as floating and intermediate heads. They also offer an line called the DDC which is a customizable sinking belly. These lines come in length of about 14 meters. You cut them from the rear end to dial in the weight and length. Most of these lines are fished in lengths of 9-12 meters on rods of 12-16 feet. Often I go up one or two line weight so I can cut a lot off the rear and end up with a 25 foot belly which has the correct weight. With a super short head like this it is easy to fish around obstacles on rivers like the Skagit where you are often fishing in the trees or against the high bank. When I am back on the gravel bar I switch back to the 12 meter head which is easy to cast farther. All of these heads get a 9 or 12 foot poly leader on the end. The poly leader come in Float, Int, Sink, fast Sink, and Ultra Fast. This add one more layer of granularity to dialing in the sink you are looking for in a pool. At the end of all that the fly can be unweighted or a big Intruder or heavy tube pattern, as these heads can turn over anything, once again tailored to dial in the presentation. Using this sort of system the angler can fish any pool with ease and fish it effectively.

I used to list a lot of rods and the lines which work well on them. Now there are just too many rods and lines. Call or email me and I can probably tell you some perfect lines for your rod.