Here is a great post from Spey Pages anyone from the Skagit defence force should digest.
Cheers
Rainbow
Scandinavian Myths
Great posts.
This is a subject that interests me greatly. I take a long, hard look at the similarities and differences between Skagit and Scandi lines in Atlantic Salmon Magic. I also work closely with a prominent line manufacturer here in North America displaying an exceptionally strong presence in Skagit lines. We discuss this stuff a lot.
The vast majority of sales for Scandi lines in North America are floating heads (Airflo Scandi Compact, Rio AFS and Rio Steelhead Scandi) destined for summer steelhead fishing. A few of these lines make their way to the Canadian Maritimes (Quebec and New Brunswick mostly) for Atlantic salmon. These lines generally fish best with a 10-foot polyleader and 4 to 6 feet of level tippet OR a monofilament leader of around 15 feet. Loop head to running line and away you go.
The set-up described above, however, would be foreign to many Scandinavian salmon fishermen. Here a few thoughts:
1. The vast majority of Scandinavians I've fished with (with the exception of Henrik Mortensen) DO NOT use polyleaders. I'd say the most popular line for summer salmon in Norway is a Float/Sink 1 (F/S1) shooting head with monofilament leaders of varying lengths (depending on the height and clarity of the water). In my experience, polyleaders are o.k. with a full floating head when you're trying to prevent a fly from waking in the surface. If you need to get down much deeper, it's more efficient to switch to a different density shooting head and a monofilament leader.
2. Full-sinking Scandinavian shooting heads fish deeper than Skagit heads with a floating belly and typical lengths of T-14. Yes, you read that right. If I'm fishing hard shoulder water for big, early-season June salmon (if you're a west-coast fisherman, think Chinook-size salmon), a full-sinking Scandi shooting head like the Guideline 3D Sink2/Sink4/Sink6 slices through all the fast surface currents more effectively than a Skagit line with a floating belly.
It is physically possible to get a fly to the appropriate depth with a Skagit head, but to do so requires a lot of upstream mending and set-up time. Lots of upstream mending generally slows the swing, which is the opposite of what we want in most Atlantic salmon fishing. A snappy swing is good.
The recent trend in Intermediate Skagit lines (eliminating or reducing the floating belly) is much closer in concept to a full-sinking Scandinavian shooting head. Skagit lines with a floating belly have their place in Atlantic salmon fishing (fishing pots on the Kola Peninsula during the early season), but Pacific steelhead and Atlantic salmon often select different holding lies, requiring different lines and tactics.
Leader length is short with fast-sinking Scandinavian shooting heads (3 to 5 feet). As these heads are cut-to-length, I simply dial in more line for the anchor in the absence of a longer leader. Long leaders with ALL Scandi heads is a myth.
3. Full-sinking Scandi heads can chuck enormous flies, every bit as big as a weighted Intruder (and larger). I regularly fish unweighted Sunrays of 5-inch overall length on an Airflo Scandi Compact. Monster Templedogs with tungsten coneheads fly a long way on a 15-foot rod and 40- to 42-gram (617 to 648 grains) full-sinking Scandi shooting heads. The perception that Scandi lines are for small flies reflects the sale of floating shooting heads (primarily the Airflo Scandi Compact and the Rio Steelhead Scandi) to the west coast of the U.S. and Canada.
4. Most great Scandi-style rods are NOT fast. Ask Goran Andersson, Henrik Mortensen or Leif Stavmo. Personally, I look for a medium-fast rod with a progressive taper and a pronounced "sling-shot" effect. This action pulls sinking lines to the surface with greater ease (for me, anyway) than a true smoke pole, and is far more relaxing to fish for a full day.
The best Scandi-style rods I've cast and fished are select models within the families of rods by Burkheimer, Meiser, G. Loomis (the original GLX, particularly the 13- and 15-foot models), Sage (the entire VT2 series and the Z-Axis 7136-4), Loop, Guideline, and Zpey. Yes, the smoke poles cast great, but, I would submit (and it's a personal opinion) that the medium-fast rods FISH better.
Great posts.
This is a subject that interests me greatly. I take a long, hard look at the similarities and differences between Skagit and Scandi lines in Atlantic Salmon Magic. I also work closely with a prominent line manufacturer here in North America displaying an exceptionally strong presence in Skagit lines. We discuss this stuff a lot.
The vast majority of sales for Scandi lines in North America are floating heads (Airflo Scandi Compact, Rio AFS and Rio Steelhead Scandi) destined for summer steelhead fishing. A few of these lines make their way to the Canadian Maritimes (Quebec and New Brunswick mostly) for Atlantic salmon. These lines generally fish best with a 10-foot polyleader and 4 to 6 feet of level tippet OR a monofilament leader of around 15 feet. Loop head to running line and away you go.
The set-up described above, however, would be foreign to many Scandinavian salmon fishermen. Here a few thoughts:
1. The vast majority of Scandinavians I've fished with (with the exception of Henrik Mortensen) DO NOT use polyleaders. I'd say the most popular line for summer salmon in Norway is a Float/Sink 1 (F/S1) shooting head with monofilament leaders of varying lengths (depending on the height and clarity of the water). In my experience, polyleaders are o.k. with a full floating head when you're trying to prevent a fly from waking in the surface. If you need to get down much deeper, it's more efficient to switch to a different density shooting head and a monofilament leader.
2. Full-sinking Scandinavian shooting heads fish deeper than Skagit heads with a floating belly and typical lengths of T-14. Yes, you read that right. If I'm fishing hard shoulder water for big, early-season June salmon (if you're a west-coast fisherman, think Chinook-size salmon), a full-sinking Scandi shooting head like the Guideline 3D Sink2/Sink4/Sink6 slices through all the fast surface currents more effectively than a Skagit line with a floating belly.
It is physically possible to get a fly to the appropriate depth with a Skagit head, but to do so requires a lot of upstream mending and set-up time. Lots of upstream mending generally slows the swing, which is the opposite of what we want in most Atlantic salmon fishing. A snappy swing is good.
The recent trend in Intermediate Skagit lines (eliminating or reducing the floating belly) is much closer in concept to a full-sinking Scandinavian shooting head. Skagit lines with a floating belly have their place in Atlantic salmon fishing (fishing pots on the Kola Peninsula during the early season), but Pacific steelhead and Atlantic salmon often select different holding lies, requiring different lines and tactics.
Leader length is short with fast-sinking Scandinavian shooting heads (3 to 5 feet). As these heads are cut-to-length, I simply dial in more line for the anchor in the absence of a longer leader. Long leaders with ALL Scandi heads is a myth.
3. Full-sinking Scandi heads can chuck enormous flies, every bit as big as a weighted Intruder (and larger). I regularly fish unweighted Sunrays of 5-inch overall length on an Airflo Scandi Compact. Monster Templedogs with tungsten coneheads fly a long way on a 15-foot rod and 40- to 42-gram (617 to 648 grains) full-sinking Scandi shooting heads. The perception that Scandi lines are for small flies reflects the sale of floating shooting heads (primarily the Airflo Scandi Compact and the Rio Steelhead Scandi) to the west coast of the U.S. and Canada.
4. Most great Scandi-style rods are NOT fast. Ask Goran Andersson, Henrik Mortensen or Leif Stavmo. Personally, I look for a medium-fast rod with a progressive taper and a pronounced "sling-shot" effect. This action pulls sinking lines to the surface with greater ease (for me, anyway) than a true smoke pole, and is far more relaxing to fish for a full day.
The best Scandi-style rods I've cast and fished are select models within the families of rods by Burkheimer, Meiser, G. Loomis (the original GLX, particularly the 13- and 15-foot models), Sage (the entire VT2 series and the Z-Axis 7136-4), Loop, Guideline, and Zpey. Yes, the smoke poles cast great, but, I would submit (and it's a personal opinion) that the medium-fast rods FISH better.