New spey line

[Hill loch gold]

Is there many salmon fishers on the forum?  I'm looking fur a new floating line fur ma 13ft 9# rod and was wondering if anybody had any recommendations? The majority of the rivers i fish aren't that wide, so the shorter the head length the better.  I've got a snowbee 1d 8/9 at the meenit but it feels really light on ma rod, think i'll need tae go fur a 9/10 or even a 10. I'm not after a shooting head as i've already got an afs shooting head kit.

Cheers
Alan 

[Allan Crawford]

Yes I do salmon fishing, if the snowbee feels light, you could try the Greys GRXi Spey Line size 9, 50ft head and some deals on them just now, I've been using an 8 & 9 on my Greys 13ft, the 9 was too heavy unless casting very short so I had to buy an 8

Offcourse the best and only way with spey lines is if you can borrow lines form others to try before you buy!

[Highlander]

They stick the tag Spey on a line & the price goes up accordingly. You say you fish "smaller rivers" so I reckon any standard floater of a suitable weight will do. I am sure one of Freds fly lines would be as good as any other. Bit of an over kill looking at the size 10 I would have thought for "small streams"
Tight Lines

[Allan Crawford]

On my old 13ft ( I say old cause I broke it last season and now have another which I havent used much yet), a Greys GRXi (the black one), lovely easy casting light rod, the 8wt GRXi spey was a great match ( and so it should be). This rod was bendy in comparison to a lot of the 13 ft rods currently on the market but I still needed a normal (trout) 10 weight WF line to get it spey casting.

I read on some Greys email fin and fly thing, that on the reservoirs some Hardys Greys rep was casting to the horizon with the same rod using a DT7 trout line  :shock:

I bought the rod before they made the lines and spent a few years trying all sorts of lines on it which never seemed to perform as good as I would have liked, then greys brought out the GRXi spey line and I thought I would try one (I should have went for the snowbee 1D), on advice from the Hardys guy at GAC I went for the 9 weight which was too heavy, so even with good advice I still got it wrong. After I went and again bought the  8 weight ( maybe this HArdys Rep wasn't stupid after all and it was me who was the stupid one), casting was a dream, really nice outfit for small rivers, only took me about 4 years to get to this point and now I've broke it 
After a few years with this rod I actually didnt like it and was thinking about buying another until I got the line to match it and then I fell in love with it for small spate rivers and must have used it for the last 6 or 7 seasons !

So last winter, guy in local tackle shop Inverness ( and these guys are good with spey rods), oh we will give you a good deal, (oh no I cant stop myself), so I bought the latest GRXi to replace it, I thought I have the line so what can go wrong Doesnt cast the 8 weight very well at all, maybe slightly better with the 9, I've got a feeling it will work well with a shooting head but yet to test this out  :?

So pissed off I went and bought the cheapest rod in Somers shop ABDN, who had told me before I bought the rod above that what I wanted was a Greys GS at £109( after he tried to sell me the dearest rod in the shop a 13.6ft sintrex at £xxxx ) and casts nicely with great presentation, a brief test and it works reasonably well with the spey 8 weight, hopefully get a chance next time home to see if I can bond with it.

Spey lines ? The above is probably of no interest to most, got carried away, better get back to work!

[Teither]

Is there many salmon fishers on the forum?  I'm looking fur a new floating line fur ma 13ft 9# rod and was wondering if anybody had any recommendations? The majority of the rivers i fish aren't that wide, so the shorter the head length the better.  I've got a snowbee 1d 8/9 at the meenit but it feels really light on ma rod, think i'll need tae go fur a 9/10 or even a 10. I'm not after a shooting head as i've already got an afs shooting head kit.

Cheers
Alan 

Alan,
        Assuming you've experimented with varying the amount of line outside the rod tip, and if you haven't done that you should, then I'd go with the snowbee 2D 9/10 weight. The preferences in these things do tend to be personal but I've found Snowbee lines to be excellent in every way. They are what I use on my various length rods.
        I sometimes use a line size down on my 14'8" Le Cie and it works well. Wind is a factor, of course, and can militate against going too light.  Remember that any rod should be capable of handling any line [ within reason and with intelligent adjustments] so I'd work a bit first with what you have to see if you can get to a happy outcome.
       Good luck.
T

[Hill loch gold]

Thanks fur the advice guys, everything will be taken on board. 

[Allan Crawford]

Does the AFS not cover all your needs for smaller rivers? Its probably the most popular line out there just now if you can afford one and presentation is good with its long front taper?
I could talk all day about spey rods & lines the above was only the tip of the iceberg  :lol:
Goodluck

[Hill loch gold]

Aye the afs is a good line but i just don't like using a shooting head all the time, thats all.