SA SharkSkin….Who has Casted It?
- This topic has 25 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated Sep 21, 2007 at 3:20 pm by
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Has anyone heard of the new “Shark Skin” line that Scientific Anglers will be releasing at the Denver Fly Fishing Show in the next week or so?
You also have to wear a glove or some protection on your stripping finger when casting because it will file through your finger after a few casts.
Guide wear over time?
I guess we will find out this weekend. Im with SA on Sunday morning so we shall give it a run.
I would think given Bruce Richards is behind it he would take into account things like guide/finger wear.But funnier things have happened.
Apparently there was some screwup at SA on the release of this line. Its not due to ship until October 3 But since Bruce Richards is going to be at the Southern Conclave in Mountain Home that weekend the line should be available for demos and We are hoping to get some stock in for the event.
At the very least Ill try to have a demo back in the store on Wednesday.
Cheeers
SteveYou also have to wear a glove or some protection on your stripping finger when casting because it will file through your finger after a few casts.
Guide wear over time?
I was thinking the same thing, however, your line rarely goes through the same place in your guides every time.
I’ve worn out guides by just using dirty lines. The shooting heads and the style of fishing most commonly associated with them is extremely hard on guides. This is one of the reasons I build my own rods and use ceramic guides. I wish I had taken a pic of the Tip top I had to recently replace on a factory 8wt. It was almost cut into.
As for the sharkskin I just can’t see how it can be $50 better then other lines. ::)
Mike,
Out of curiosity, what combination of head, running line, guides, water, etc., are you having that cuts through guides, and how fast?
Asking solely from trying to understand what is weak link in system, and whether it is actual gear, or fishing conditions (some huge silt load in water, coating line and abrading guides).
Thanks
Buzz
I agree with you Zach, I’ll pay that kind of money for a line if it’s awesome and lives up to the marketing.
SA makes good product IMO, their lines are great.
(try a ‘Redfish’ on a Sage TCR6 to see what I mean)I’ve asked the Australian Importer for one of the new Sharkskin lines to do a review..
www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
Tim wrote:
I was thinking the same thing, however, your line rarely goes through the same place in your guides every time.
Except when you are playing fish. And as Mike indicated there’s the rub.
Hi All;
I just joined, saw this post and couldn’t resist replying. I hadn’t heard about this new SA line, but I’m not surprised. Apparrently Airflo’s new Ridgeline has been selling like hotcakes. So–a little history and theory about fly lines with uneven surfaces: Until a couple of years ago, the longest cast with a fly rod and line was made quite a long time ago with a bamboo spey rod and a silk line. I don’t remember exactly, but it was over 200 feet. This record held for decades and was only recently beaten with rod and line of modern, synthetic materials. If you’ve ever cast a silk line, I’m sure you noticed the sort of buzzing hiss when the line was shooting out through the guides. Being woven, it had an uneven surface. The smooth surfaced PVC covered lines that we’re all so used to cause excess friction by being uniformly in contact with the guides all the way out. As well, the uneven surface probably reduces the friction while traveling through the air. You know those dimples on a golf ball? They disrupt the air flowing over that ball in such a way as to reduce the friction. A smooth ball simply won’t travel as far. Some years ago, Fenwick produced and sold some lines with a seemingly rough (at least it was uneven) surface to reduce friction. Unfortunately, as near as I can tell, they forgot to promote this feature and it seems to have flopped. I have a couple of these lines and nowhere on the package or materials does it seem to mention this feature and it’s purpose. I think folks thought it was just a crummy line.
If one will go to the Airflo site and read about their ridgelines, they state that the ridges actually cause the line to shed dirt more readily than smooth ones. Don’t know but I haven’t heard anyone arguing the point. An uneven line is no more likely to wear a guide than a smooth one. In fact it may be less likely to do so because it’s in contact with the guide less. What really causes wear is abrasion by material that is of equal or greater hardness than the guide–in other words, grit in dirt. A very clean line will cause next-to-no wear.
I’m a little puzzled by the apparent high price of this new SA line. The fact that they say it will last much longer than other lines must mean that the materials that it is made of are different and, presumably, more durable. Has anyone heard? The Airflo lines have a polypropylene coating and are gauranteed against cracking but aren’t significantly more expensive than other premium lines. Has anyone had experience with these?Happy flogging,
J. Marcus
http://www.flyrodjewelry.com/homeTim
your line rarely goes through the same place in your guides every time.Several years ago while fooling around at the Flyfishing Masters one of the truly good casters from Arkansas told me about someone who practiced casting in some sort of factory that had abrasive dust everywhere. It was said his guides all wore out at about the 8:00 position (with the rod in the normal, guides-down position)
That is the reason you see some competition casters have their rods assembled with the guides off-set clock-wise a bit.
Works for me! 😉Mike,
Out of curiosity, what combination of head, running line, guides, water, etc., are you having that cuts through guides, and how fast?
Asking solely from trying to understand what is weak link in system, and whether it is actual gear, or fishing conditions (some huge silt load in water, coating line and abrading guides).
Thanks
Buzz
I fish 250 to 500 and sometimes 600 grain integrated Orvis lines. I cast out and strip back
I know what Mike is talking about and really got an education in it yesterday, I had the pleasure of fishing with Mike. He fishes for Stripers with a big rods and lines. I have a 10 wt Scott STS, which I am pretty attached to and yesterday had a new SA 350 grain line on it. When the sink tip portion of the line hit the guides it sounded like a file running through the guides (tungsten filled). I learned something else that many of you may know, a 500 grain line is not a bad thing to cast if proprerly mated with a rod. Mike’s 10 wt rod with the 500 grain line required less effort to shoot than my 350 grain because it loaded the rod easily. You didn’t have to haul as hard or muscle the rod as much. That is another matter though, back to the lines. As a kid (30 yrs ago now!) I used to fish the 5 acre pond on our farm daily. There were rods with wire guides that would have grooves cut in them in as little as 2 weeks, with mono. Ceramics never had this problem, nor did the old tungsten carbide guides. The TC guides were not very slick though, and would abraid the mono in front of the lure quickly, ceramics didn’t do this either. I noticed as well that the same streamer stripped back easier with Milke’s rod and the ceramic guides had to be the difference.
Lastly if you think throwing a 6wt with streamers is work, try the 10wt with and 8″ long shad imitation, the the six weight will feel like a feather wand!
Best,
JohnJon Marcus made a number of good points.
First, for history’s sake, the caster was Alexander Grant, and I believe the cast was over 60 yards and was made in 1895.
OK Zach. You have roused me from my laziness. I did a bit of research on Alexander Grant (Thanks–I couldn’t remember his name.) and found an illuminating article in “Fish and Fly.” It may be found at: http://www.fishandfly.com/articles/20060902_10
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