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.
