Gunnar, You’re awesome. Thanks for the information on fly lines. I want to tell you something, I’m a smallie and LMB angler. Your pheasant tail bugger is the most popular fly among my closest fishing buddies. That fly catches more fish than anything else I’ve ever used. Keep doing what you do. Even this video on fly lines, I learnt a ton about tapers. I appreciate you. Have a wonderful day.
Great explanation for folks that don’t understand how their lines are classified and what it takes to load their rods, And then we go into underweighting/overweighting rods. I don’t even pay attention anymore to anything beyond grain weight and the taper/head length
Great video. Nordic manufacturers like Loop and Guideline have been giving the recommended head weight for their rods for a long time. Danish company Salmologic doesn’t even give any traditional AFTMA rating for their rods.
@@Gunnar_Brammer I must have missed it my friend but I promise you I’m looking for it now lol….. thanks for getting back to me, I know it is hard when we all stay busy this time of year. Pleasure meeting and spending time with you my friend! Keep this series up please, nowhere near enough information out there on this, Lead the Way!
excellent presentation and very useful information. for me when using a modern fast action fly rod w/a rio obs i use one size smaller line. I also like to aerial-ize more line ~35" and i use smaller baitfish patterns (3-5") for the fish i like to catch. lawn casting w/different grain weights and the fly pattern i like to use helps me identify whats best for that particular rod. When purchasing a new line i do take into account the grain wt. plus the head length derived from my lawn casting as well. Or, u can call the manufacture and ask for a recommendation but I like the discovery aspect of the game.
When I got into fly fishing, I had a great mentor and had been surrounded by amazing people. I'm all in with your mind thought. Now, my big question is, I have a 6 weight fastglass from epic (swift). Do you think 200 is to much for that glass rod?
Fly lines are getting better. Particularly the predator lines. Cortland, Rio, and SA are all making new lines geared toward Pike/Musky. Some of the new lines are incredible. Even with this being said, you still need multiple lines to cover all your needs. Experienced fly casters know this. It's the inexperienced fly casters that are looking for the one line that does it all, and have a hard time making a decision on what to buy.
All I need is the head weight and head length to know what works on my rods. Was informative, but don’t need to know how the sausage is made ! lol ! I zero in on the head weight and length when looking for a fly line , not so much what wt. it’s rated at. Some of my rods I’m throwing a fly line that’s 1 or 2 sizes up what it’s rated at. Rio Outbound short, SA Titan long , and a few of the Airflo lines - like the power taper are my favorites. I learned the head weights on lines when I started using Spey rods then slowly migrated that to my single handed rods. Just because it says 6wt doesn’t mean a 6wt fly line is the optimum line for that rod.
I listened to Kelly's reflection about Euro nymph fly fishing, is it fly fishing or not? Kelly does present the case to say that real competition fly fishing, if real competition fly fishing even existed. It would have to consist of competition anglers fishing against each other, who were more likely to do different things ( as happens in conventional tackle side of competition, rarely are all competitors doing exactly the same technique ).
What has that got to do with fly lines? When I thought about it, and what Kelly said, it led me to think of an aspect of it which Kelly missed. That what happened in fly fushing for two-handed rods and lines, did not happen on the single-handed rod fly fishing side. Yes, there is progression and evolution that occurs towards switch, trout spey, micro skagit or even micro, or ultra-light Scandi now. To move ideas started in two-handed fly fishing down to the four and five weight single-handed tackle. But that too just misses the point.
What the early to late 1990's revolution in two-handed fly fishing ( with the boxed and branded, non-garage workshop fly line tackle hitting retail circa 2003 to 2004 ), was really all about. It was about measuring weight, length, anchor points more accurately. For the first time ever mainstream anglers started to get serious about 'the line', or 'the cast'. On the under-handed or so-called Scandinavian shooting head side (which was a separate garage industry type of thing in Norway, Denmark, Sweden), those guys focused on 'line speed' increase, and treated anchors and casts a different way.
The point that Kelly missed, is while all of that was happening on the two-handed fly fishing side, on the single-handed side we had nothing. Life just progressed as normal. And what you are witnessimg in what Kelly talks about, competitive ' Euro nymphing ' sport ( it does not warrant calling it ' fly fishing ' ), is the exact same fascination or obsession with science, weights, water flows, depths and presentation. That drove the two-handed fly fishing revolution in thefirst place. That is the point.
Here is the qualification to that. While Skagit and Scandi forced anglers to explore shorter heads, large floating line head diameters, all kinds of front-end density modifications and subtlety. And to wrap that all around with a new water-friction anchor idea. To cast all of that new rigging, flies and tackle. It forces both Skagit and Scandi guys to re-imagine ' the fly line'. What happened to single-handed fly rod anglers ( in competition ) ? Well the single handed fly rod guys instead of re-imagining the fly line, they made it vanish altogether. And we focused on two things primarily, which mattered for bait presentation. Tungsten weight on the hook, and fluorocarbon leader diameters ( now they're trying to get down to 7,5X tippet ).
What does 7,5 X tippet buy you? Well what it buys you is the ability to lob a weight invertebrate aquatic insect imitation out, have it achieve it's depth in no time, and the lighter grade tippets impart more life-like movement or action. The single-handed rod guys became obsessed on tippet diameter, in the same way as Skagit guys became obsessed with water-based anchors and skagit head line diameters ( more line head diameter equals more friction, more friction equals more rod-loading capability, equals more ability to add weight to sink tip, equals presentation of fly to depth in fast water current at colder temperature ).
Gunnar, You’re awesome. Thanks for the information on fly lines. I want to tell you something, I’m a smallie and LMB angler. Your pheasant tail bugger is the most popular fly among my closest fishing buddies. That fly catches more fish than anything else I’ve ever used. Keep doing what you do. Even this video on fly lines, I learnt a ton about tapers. I appreciate you. Have a wonderful day.
We need to rate rod by grain weights as well as head weights on lines to make selection easier. The two handed guys did this a while ago.
Great explanation for folks that don’t understand how their lines are classified and what it takes to load their rods, And then we go into underweighting/overweighting rods. I don’t even pay attention anymore to anything beyond grain weight and the taper/head length
Awesome info. Thanks for taking the time to do this.
Great video. Nordic manufacturers like Loop and Guideline have been giving the recommended head weight for their rods for a long time. Danish company Salmologic doesn’t even give any traditional AFTMA rating for their rods.
I appreciate your passion on the subject!😅. Great vid!
Great info. Thanks so much. I learned a lot in this and your previous video. Cheers.
You explained it perfectly! Thanks, it really cleared things up for me.
Dude, go Super Nerd, this is what the world of Fly Fishing Needs! I vote Gunner in charge
Hey Mike, did you ever get my email about the Echo Musky Fly Line pairings?
@@Gunnar_Brammer I must have missed it my friend but I promise you I’m looking for it now lol….. thanks for getting back to me, I know it is hard when we all stay busy this time of year. Pleasure meeting and spending time with you my friend! Keep this series up please, nowhere near enough information out there on this, Lead the Way!
excellent presentation and very useful information. for me when using a modern fast action fly rod w/a rio obs i use one size smaller line. I also like to aerial-ize more line ~35" and i use smaller baitfish patterns (3-5") for the fish i like to catch. lawn casting w/different grain weights and the fly pattern i like to use helps me identify whats best for that particular rod. When purchasing a new line i do take into account the grain wt. plus the head length derived from my lawn casting as well. Or, u can call the manufacture and ask for a recommendation but I like the discovery aspect of the game.
When I got into fly fishing, I had a great mentor and had been surrounded by amazing people. I'm all in with your mind thought. Now, my big question is, I have a 6 weight fastglass from epic (swift). Do you think 200 is to much for that glass rod?
Thanks Gunner, Spot on! Keep it up!
Fly lines are getting better. Particularly the predator lines. Cortland, Rio, and SA are all making new lines geared toward Pike/Musky. Some of the new lines are incredible. Even with this being said, you still need multiple lines to cover all your needs. Experienced fly casters know this. It's the inexperienced fly casters that are looking for the one line that does it all, and have a hard time making a decision on what to buy.
This is the nerdiest thing ive ever seen and i love it thanks bro
I was told there would be no math 😂
Please do another video on tapers.
All I need is the head weight and head length to know what works on my rods. Was informative, but don’t need to know how the sausage is made ! lol ! I zero in on the head weight and length when looking for a fly line , not so much what wt. it’s rated at. Some of my rods I’m throwing a fly line that’s 1 or 2 sizes up what it’s rated at. Rio Outbound short, SA Titan long , and a few of the Airflo lines - like the power taper are my favorites. I learned the head weights on lines when I started using Spey rods then slowly migrated that to my single handed rods. Just because it says 6wt doesn’t mean a 6wt fly line is the optimum line for that rod.
Makes sense!
I listened to Kelly's reflection about Euro nymph fly fishing, is it fly fishing or not? Kelly does present the case to say that real competition fly fishing, if real competition fly fishing even existed. It would have to consist of competition anglers fishing against each other, who were more likely to do different things ( as happens in conventional tackle side of competition, rarely are all competitors doing exactly the same technique ).
What has that got to do with fly lines? When I thought about it, and what Kelly said, it led me to think of an aspect of it which Kelly missed. That what happened in fly fushing for two-handed rods and lines, did not happen on the single-handed rod fly fishing side. Yes, there is progression and evolution that occurs towards switch, trout spey, micro skagit or even micro, or ultra-light Scandi now. To move ideas started in two-handed fly fishing down to the four and five weight single-handed tackle. But that too just misses the point.
What the early to late 1990's revolution in two-handed fly fishing ( with the boxed and branded, non-garage workshop fly line tackle hitting retail circa 2003 to 2004 ), was really all about. It was about measuring weight, length, anchor points more accurately. For the first time ever mainstream anglers started to get serious about 'the line', or 'the cast'. On the under-handed or so-called Scandinavian shooting head side (which was a separate garage industry type of thing in Norway, Denmark, Sweden), those guys focused on 'line speed' increase, and treated anchors and casts a different way.
The point that Kelly missed, is while all of that was happening on the two-handed fly fishing side, on the single-handed side we had nothing. Life just progressed as normal. And what you are witnessimg in what Kelly talks about, competitive ' Euro nymphing ' sport ( it does not warrant calling it ' fly fishing ' ), is the exact same fascination or obsession with science, weights, water flows, depths and presentation. That drove the two-handed fly fishing revolution in thefirst place. That is the point.
Here is the qualification to that. While Skagit and Scandi forced anglers to explore shorter heads, large floating line head diameters, all kinds of front-end density modifications and subtlety. And to wrap that all around with a new water-friction anchor idea. To cast all of that new rigging, flies and tackle. It forces both Skagit and Scandi guys to re-imagine ' the fly line'. What happened to single-handed fly rod anglers ( in competition ) ? Well the single handed fly rod guys instead of re-imagining the fly line, they made it vanish altogether. And we focused on two things primarily, which mattered for bait presentation. Tungsten weight on the hook, and fluorocarbon leader diameters ( now they're trying to get down to 7,5X tippet ).
What does 7,5 X tippet buy you? Well what it buys you is the ability to lob a weight invertebrate aquatic insect imitation out, have it achieve it's depth in no time, and the lighter grade tippets impart more life-like movement or action. The single-handed rod guys became obsessed on tippet diameter, in the same way as Skagit guys became obsessed with water-based anchors and skagit head line diameters ( more line head diameter equals more friction, more friction equals more rod-loading capability, equals more ability to add weight to sink tip, equals presentation of fly to depth in fast water current at colder temperature ).
Not sure why single hander guys are so hung up on this, spey fisherman have been matching rods to lines with grains forever
My head hurts….