Nordic Skagit Heads – new Skagit fly lines by Skagitanglers.com

Nordic Skagit Heads – new Skagit fly lines by Skagitanglers.com

Nordic Skagit Heads is a brand new series of short fly lines designed and developed by the Danish web shop Skagitanglers.com – the new lines will cover all sorts of situations while fishing for seatrout (sea run brown) and salmon. The lines are floating and comes in 9 variations in the 160- 480 grains (10,4-31,1 g) range with length from 4,6 to 6,0 m. Actual line weight is printed each line for easy identification. The lines are short but not ultra-short! We – and many others – have realized that Skagit fly lines actually can be too short to be able fish delicate waters and spooky fish with success. Check out the conditions for ordering at www.skagitanglers.com

It’s fair to say that there’s plenty of fly lines out there already. Why another Skagit line you may ask? We simply feel committed to bring all the first hand experiences with Skagit lines we have gained over the years to the test. We know Nordic fly fishing very well and we’ve taken the best from the existing lines and added our own Nordic touch and ideas. The result is Nordic Skagit Heads – Skagit heads for Nordic waters design and developed by a bunch of hard core Nordic fly anglers.

The actual length/weight range of our new Nordic Skagit Heads is adapted to most Nordic conditions. You rarely need very long lines and super-heavy T-tips. Neither do you need at ultra-short line which turn over too aggressively and land too hard on the water. What you need is a line that presents the fly with ease and a light touch and can handle a wide range of tips from monofilament, polyleaders and T-tips up to 12’ T17. We believe that our Nordic Skagit Heads do just that.

 

As a special feature we’ve designed the heads with a longer front taper than usual on other Skagit heads. The back end taper is short and steep which gives a lot of turn-over power. In essence you have a Skagit line which combines the best from both worlds. Light presentation and power to shoot through the wind and deliver a weighted fly deep down in “the zone” with a fairly heavy T-tip without splashing too much around.

If you pick the right Nordic Skagit Head you’ll have a line that fishes extremely well on both single hand, switch and two-hand spey rods. No one line can do it all but with only a few of our heads in your arsenal you can cover the entire range of waters from the smallest stream up to big fast flowing rivers.

In the 160-280 gr range you’ll find your new favorite for single hand skagit casting and also for the very popular light switch rods. If you like to fish with waking flies for big seatrout in the dark (and who doesn’t) look no further.  The lines are all 4,6 m which is a perfect length for shorter 9-11’ rods.

If you fish for seatrout/salmon both in spring, summer and fall with your favorite switch or spey rod (#7-9) you will be very pleased to cast the Nordic Skagit Heads in the 320-480 gr range. The lines are all 5,5 m except for our 6,0 m long 480 grains version. These lines do very well both on waters with tight casting conditions as well as more open space free flowing rivers. When you have enough room for your casting try a longer and lighter tip (perhaps a 15’ T8 or T11) than on those small overgrown steams where a short 10’ MOW tips which often is the key to success.

We’ve spent countless hours designing and field testing the Nordic Skagit Heads and fell very confident with the result to release them to the market. These lines are easy to cast for novices and expects alike and we’re sure they fill in the gap for a Skagit line with power and a light presentation that many of our customers have been looking for. It’s here now.

Line, rod and T-tip recommendations

Weight (grains)	Weight (gram)	Length (m)	Single Hand #	Switch/Spey rod #	Maxium T-tip load
160	10,4	4,6	3-4	3-4	10’ T8 /7’ T11
200	13,0	4,6	4-5(6)	3-4	10’ T11
240	15,6	4,6	5-6(7)	4	11’ T11
280	18,1	4,6	7-8	4-5	12’ T11 / 10’ T14
320	20,7	5,5		5-6	12’ T14 /10’ T17
360	23,3	5,5		6	12’ T17
400	25,9	5,5		6-7	13’ T17 / 9’ T20
440	28,5	5,5		7	13’ T17 / 10’ T20
480	31,1	6		7-8	15’ T17 / 12’ T20

The recommended line weight and T-tips for any given rod is shown in the diagram above and are based on many years of Skagit fly fishing in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We define Skagit fly fishing as a technique using a number of different types of fly cast all incorporation the “sustained anchor”, 10-15’ T-tips and a weighted fly.

If you fish with the Scandinavian “touch-and-go” casting style you will also be very pleased to fish our lines. Just take off “2 steps” or 80 grains from our recommendations and fish the line with confidence using your favorite polyleader or long monofilament leader.  You’ll have much more power than a Scandi-line and still be able to present your fly with ease and delicacy. 

To help you pick the right T-tips to match your new Nordic Skagit Head we added recommended maximum loads on each of the 9 lines. There are personal preferences and also different levels of casting skills but as a rough estimate we fell that this information can be helpful. Short/lighter T-tips, polyleaders than stated in the table will all perform just fine.

Contact us on info@skagitanglers.com with any questions you might have regarding our new Nordic Skagit Heads. We will happily help you pick the right line for your rod and preferred fishing situations. Just get a hold on us…if we don’t reply fast enough chances are we’re out swinging a fly.