[Mike Barrio]

Hi folks

Fly lines currently under development for the 2013 season include light Spey lines for Switch rods, Spey lines for Salmon rods and a DH15 tournament head for casting competitions.

So I have lots of prototype toys to play with at the moment .... Great fun and all coming along nicely

[Sieger Devries]

Great Mike... 

[Mike Barrio]

Thanks Sieger

We are playing with new coatings and cores all the time, plus lots of other things ..... all great fun! We should have some really interesting toys for the new year

[Hamish Young]

Hmmmmm...... toys........ hmmmmmm 

H 

[Rob Brownfield]

Could you please look into a predator line please. The ones available just now are at least £50 and I can see a UK produced predator line doing well thanks to the huge increase in this form of fishing.

Just a thought....Something along the lines of an Outbound maybe (at £70 they are a high cost).

[Euan Innes]

Could you please look into a predator line please.

That would be a line that is invisible, targets prey, only fishes when it's hot and is one ugly motherf#@ker! 
So how do you cut these lines when they are on a long coil?
Wait for it.....







GET TO THE CHOPPA!
 

(Sorry, friday night and wine  )

 

[Sieger Devries]

Could you please look into a predator line please. The ones available just now are at least £50 and I can see a UK produced predator line doing well thanks to the huge increase in this form of fishing.

Just a thought....Something along the lines of an Outbound maybe (at £70 they are a high cost).

Me likes too..... 

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Rob / Sieger

I will play with some ideas for a predator type profile and see what I can come up with

[Rob Brownfield]

 

[Mike Barrio]

Having fun testing a prototype #7 light Spey line for Switch rods today

[Mike Barrio]

New addition to the range - Barrio SLX WF3F - this will be a great line on the river!

The olive headed version should be available on the website in a couple of day's time and the orange head version will follow over the next couple of weeks.

[flyfisher666]

What specs are you considering for the DH15 tournament head?
 Or put another way...Will it be for speycomps or overhead casting. Usually there is a weight regulation for OH and, for me atleast, a difference in taper.

//Joakim

[Mike Barrio]

Hi Joakim

The DH15 will be a Spey tournament head like the DH18 ... see http://www.flylineshop.com/barrio-competition-fly-lines.html

We may possibly look at an overhead casting design for competitions like the Sea Trout distance in the future. Would this be of interest?

[flyfisher666]

Yes! New lines are always interesting 
My ideas for a seatrout distance head would include a long fronttaper(6-7m) to a thin tip, a backtaper about 1.5-2m and a total length of about 17m

[Mike Barrio]

Yes! New lines are always interesting 
My ideas for a seatrout distance head would include a long fronttaper(6-7m) to a thin tip, a backtaper about 1.5-2m and a total length of about 17m

Interesting thoughts Joakim ... So the belly on your head would be about 8m? And this head would be for overhead casting.

Have you used something like this before? Why do you think this would be a good profile?

[flyfisher666]

I'm using something along those ideas already. The one iv'e got is a prototype from ?loop?. It is good,but could be better I think (a bit short (16m) and a bit to much backtaper (2-3m)).
 Being a compline it doesn't need much weight in the front (no fly to turn over and either no wind or tailwind as thats how the lanes "should" be oriented).
 I think the fronttaper helps to keep the loop "alive" (decreasing mass - heavier line turning over lighter line)
 Backtaper just to smooth out overhang effects.
 Length is a personal preference - some wants longer heads, some shorter. With the elevation I mostly use, I don't  want the head to be more then 17m.

//Joakim

[Ben Dixon]

Hi Joakim,

I thought most of you guys were using heads chopped from GT140's for sea trout distance, this has the opposite profile to what you are describing here, i.e most of the weight at the front with a long rear taper? I'm confused 

The prototype DH15 head has given me some truly awesome distances on my MacKenzie DTX G2 15'er.  I haven't even tried to overhead cast it but it would be over the weight limit at a sensible length for overhead work.  The cut I have just now is 63.6 grams at 74' and the production line should allow sufficient adjustment for most 15' rods used in the Spey comps.



Really pleased with the way this one is flying 


Cheers

Ben

[Peter McCallum]

The prototype DH15 head has given me some truly awesome distances on my MacKenzie DTX G2 15'er.  



Really pleased with the way this one is flying 


Cheers

Ben

Certainly was flying on Sunday Ben 

[flyfisher666]

 Hi Ben!

Some guys use chopped GT140's, some chopped MED #7-8's, mill end DT's and Zpey make a comphead for seatrout dist.
 I haven't tried Zpey's line as it seems a bit too long for me.
 The gt140 is a great line unchopped, but without the mass in the runningline I have trouble keeping the loop "alive" -> it collapses.
 I think the idea with "frontheavy" longbellies (MED and others) originally was to counter the mass of the runningline and prolong the loops "lifetime". When the runningline is replaced with mono shootingline (much lighter) one ends up with the opposite reaction -> the loop ?stalls?   
 But perhaps a reversible head is worth exploring?

In Salmon distance (15' OH) I'm using a homemade head. Currently it contains bits from at least tree different lines...
 The taper is similar to that I proposed for seatrout distance, only longer and heavier. It is ok to spey with, a bit on the light side though and for spey I would put more of the weight in the rear.

In the 15' spey event i'm using a nextcast champ cut back to approx. 72ft. Really good line when there is no or little waves and a good tailwind. When there are waves about I borrow a friends line (TSD spey by Tellis Katsogiannis) cut back to about 70ft. The TSD is much easier to lift when it's a bit wavy.

//Joakim

[Mike Barrio]

Interesting stuff Joakim

[Ben Dixon]

 The gt140 is a great line unchopped, but without the mass in the runningline I have trouble keeping the loop "alive" -> it collapses.

I have the same problem, it flies better reversed for me when it is cut but, when reversed the loop propagates too quick and it dumps but this could be my technique, hauling through rsp1 etc.  Although I fish with them, heads are not my thing really.

In the 15' spey event i'm using a nextcast champ cut back to approx. 72ft. Really good line when there is no or little waves and a good tailwind. When there are waves about I borrow a friends line (TSD spey by Tellis Katsogiannis) cut back to about 70ft. The TSD is much easier to lift when it's a bit wavy.

Know what you mean about pulling a long head out of the waves, I take it there is more weight at the back of the TSD than there is at the nack of the Nextcast?  I think you'll like the DH15, should be out well before but I will have one at the Pitea open in June.

Cheers

Ben

[flyfisher666]

... I take it there is more weight at the back of the TSD than there is at the nack of the Nextcast?  ....

That could be a part of it. The other part being the density of the lines. I think TSD floats higher.

[Mike Barrio]

"But perhaps a reversible head is worth exploring?" Interesting idea Joakim, I've played with that in the past

How do the popular head lengths vary over there? From - to? Which lengths are better in which conditions?

I have my own ideas on this obviously, but it is always good to know what other folk are thinking and the problem with these heads is that everybody seems to want something different?

[flyfisher666]

Shortest I've seen used in a comp was about 15m, longest roughly 21m. But I think most use heads that are 16-19m.

 Longer heads when no or very little wind.

People seem to use shorter heads the harder it blows. I guess partly because a longer head is harder to turn over in the backcast when there is a strong tailwind. For me it is mostly because a long head restricts the higher elevation(low BC/high FC) I want to use then.


//Joakim 

[Mike Barrio]

Good feedback and ideas thanks

I will continue to put more thought into this over the next few weeks