Jottings from a Speybum Note Book

Note from Marlow Bumpus on his Skagit Style Spey Lines

Recently I enquired of Marlow Bumpus the following: I have started working on a customer line page for my web site. I would like your impute and formulas. Please also give us a short history about how you got started and why.

Marlow replied: I don’t mind sharing my thoughts on heads but as we all seem to have specific preferences and because there are so many different ways for each individual to come up with the "perfect shooting head". I’ll limit my comments to my preferred lines. Not that mine are the best, they are just what I prefer. I have cast other heads that work very well but they are generally longer than mine. The heads I make for my own use are a bit under three times the rod length but a longer off-the shelf line I would like is about the same weight as my shorter lines. I would recommend that for someone making his first line, they should shoot for three to three and one half times the rod length the line is to be used on.

I started making shooting heads for my two handed rods in the early 90’s because there weren’t any shooting heads on the market to my liking. Most of my friends were using two handers before I did, and some were making shooting heads for them. I had used only shooting heads for my 9’ 6" 8 wt. Sage for some time and was able to reach the same distance I could with the WF lines I started out with, with less back cast room. I found the shorter the head, the heavier the line to load the rod, consequently requiring even less back cast room. As I remember, 20’ was the limit.

I finally got a 14’ two handed rod when I had way too much pain in my right shoulder and elbow from spey casting the single hander. Of course, as I didn’t know anything about casting the dammed thing, the pain just got worse. I did eventually get on to casting the long rod and the pain subsided. I’m mot sure if it helped the pain but my wife had been stuffing me with Glucosomine (sp). Now I’m afraid to quit the stuff.

At first I copied a friends line for my new 14’ 9wt. but soon realized it could be improved on by adding weight. I found some discontinued 13 wt. WF Fenwick lines in Spokane for $9.99 each. I would use portions from two lines, cutting and splicing and including a 15 ft. of type six 8-wt sinking to make up a head of 42 ft, Jimmy Green gave me a short length of very heavy floating line that I eventually spliced in to get better performance. That’s about the time I started weighing my lines. I used an Eastman Kodak photochemical scale. My father bought the scale used in 1932 to use in his silver mine in North Idaho and I used it to balance engine parts in my youth. I still use it to weigh lines on occasions but now I mostly use a digital scale. No math errors. Then I discovered that Cortland made a salt water shooting head in 14 and 15 wt that had a great taper, in 30 and 40 ft.lengths. I found I could use the largest 27 ft. of the 30 ft. line or select 27 ft. of the 40ft. and add a 9-wt sink tip, always paying attention to the total weight of the line. Without all the spicing to create a taper, my lines no longer looked like a patchwork quilt.

After a lot of experimenting with the length and weight my various rods worked best with, I came up with what worked best for me, taking into consideration where I did most of my fishing. I, to this day, carry some short "cheater" lines with me but only use them now for adapting a head to a different rod or sink tip.

Thought I prefer a head with no rear taper, most people find the like a bit of rear taper, 3 to 6’, on their head, it becomes easier to cast and requires less critical timing. With the majority of the head weight closer to the rod tip, I find I don’t need as big a D loop which is critical in some of the places I find steelhead. On occasion, I will turn the head around, placing the taper to the rear, in order to launch a length of T-14 and a large, heavily weighted fly.

Some of the manufacturers are currently developing shorter heads. Loop may already have a decent one on the market. There may be others out there but not having access to them, I don’t know of one I could recommend. The custom line stock Rio has run to your specs is an excellent choice for any one inclined to experiment. You are the only person I know of that sells the material to make these lines without cutting up some very expensive lines. Any taper made by splicing level line together is actually a series of steps and not a true taper. This was never a problem for me, they cast just fine. This is the way Ed Ward makes most of his lines, with great success. Unfortunately, the Courtland lines I referred to are no longer on the market.

As for head weights for sink tip heads, I find the following to work well for me. Although I can replace the sink tip with a dry tip if it is 5’ longer, I find that some off-the-shelf dry lines work best for me.

Rod wt. Head weight in grains, inc. sink tip.

6

7

8

9

10

By changing my cast, these line weights can very as much as 100 gr. from what I have listed. This tells me that casting style dictates head weight to some extent.

I can’t comment on lines for rod weights I haven’t listed as I only have the rods listed.

You will find comparable line weights in much longer off-the shelf heads. If I am to use 11’ of T-14 on a 13’6" 9 wt., the head will be about 38’, including the tip, and will weigh 670 gr. Some better casters than I, prefer lighter and some, heavier heads. Ed Ward will increase these weights up to 100 gr. Mike Kinney’s will be lighter and shorter, I believe. Brian Simonseth makes some excellent heads but I’m not familiar with their weights.

When making a line, irrespective of a rear taper, I always step down in gr. Wt.-Per-ft. toward the tip, regardless of diameter, including the sink tip. If I am to use a T-14 sink tip, the end it attaches it to will be no lighter than 14 or 15 gr. per ft. Some 11 wt. works but some is too light, depending on the manufacturer.

As for the design you ask for, I would be happy do that but having used a factory taper for several years, I would have to find some old notes that seam to have misfiled themselves. I’m sure I wouldn’t misfile anything. It may be easier to redesign them.

Because all manufacturers lines tend to very in weight within one line, I weigh a long length and divide by the length of the line I weighed. 10 ft. is enough. That coil of Rio line I got from you is better than most.

I would start with about 12’ of line that weighed 17 to 20 gr. Per ft. and taper in equaled lengths of progressively lighter line progressing toward the tip to achieve the length head you are looking for, keeping track of total weight. This can be done to create a "design" before you cut anything. If the total weight turns out wrong in the design stage, you can shorten or lengthen the belly or make more or less drastic steps. I said I don’t use a rear taper but I do cast with the head as much as 5’ outside the rod tip. Some guy I know cast with the rear taper inside the tip part of the time. This seems defeating to me. Besides, I hate the sound of the loop ripping through the guides and friction effects distance.

Marlow

750 – 800 625 - 675 550 - 600 475 - 525 400 - 450

River Run Anglers 2004