Review: These shorter heads used on single hand rods gives me more of a reason not to use my switch rods. It's so much lighter and more pleasurable to cast and fish with all day. I can fish it any way I like in almost all situations that I encounter. I'm not an advanced caster but distance wise, I was comfortably spey casting 60-70ft with my 9ft 6wt on the 250g, and 80-90ft with my 10ft 8wt on the 300g. In my opinion, it's more than enough distance to find fish in larger river systems here in the Midwest. The only downside like with all shooting heads, you have to strip in to recast. Not a deal breaker, especially if you fish larger rivers with no back cast room. The advantage is that you can reach distances you normally can't with a regular WFF line. Also, like with all skagit heads, you will need tips. The 10ft light MOW tips or polyleaders work well, at least on my setups. In addition, you'll also need a shooting line. If you don't use a shooting line and just use it with a regular fly line (say a 4wt WFF line), you won't be able to cast as far as you would with a shooting line. You can expect about a 30-40% loss of distance. The only upside to using it with a regular fly line is that you can mend easier and that it's easier to handle. Great for close quarter fishing or indicator fishing. In any case, I highly recommend these shorter shooting heads.
