Skagit on the beach?

[btree]

Wow - just had my eyes opened to the awesome-ness of the skagit line on a two hander! Went out for some practice casting on the Nanaimo with my 13 footer and a 550grain skagit and a wallet of different tips and all my big nasty flies just to see what I could chuck, and I think I could literally toss a chicken

The river had almost no flow, but that didnt seem to matter. Single spey was simple, even with the biggest, heaviest weighted tube + dumbell fly in my box. I dont have any CT tips or t-17, just some poly tips and chunks of old 8wt full-sink lines, but man, what a difference from the old windcutter with the same flies and poly tips.

I messed around with clear floating and intermediate poly tips, and that got me to thinking - what about the beach! Being able to toss anchovy and herring sized flies to coho's at great length and with great ease sounded like a good idea to me - has anyone tried this? I really do not enjoy tossing some of my larger coho flies, especially the dumbell eyed ones like clousers, with my single hander 8wts, so I figured if the coho's are still around once the pinks get out of the way, I'll have to slash around with the big rod and the big flies.

I hear that coho's are notoriously line shy, and a 20' leader is often needed - but what about a 14' clear poly tip with another 6' of tippet and then the skagit to rocket the whole thing out there in one fell swoop, rather than 4+ false casts and plenty of wind knots with the single hander - not to mention the danger of a large and somewhat heavy hook flying past my head a couple hundred times in an morning. I think I'd prefer a lazy single spey with the same result...

or not? Am I out to lunch here?

[SalaR]

The Skagit is not a very good line for beach casting at all...Gravity sucks it down and crashes the loop...Scandi heads are good though for beach casting,,,the tapers are more friendly which is actually the key ...
Perhaps I will see you tomorrow ...
Have fun

[btree]

hmmm, yes, after a few casts with the new version of the "Tamar" and that Elixer, I can now feel the need for one of those skandi type lines (assuming that the Elixer can be classified as a skandi type line). You nearly didnt get your rod back it was so nice! Perhaps I'll have to consider putting my old rod up for sale and up grade one day.

What wt/grain Elixer would you put on that 8wt single hander of mine?

[SalaR]

I like the 295 with 8 wt rods...
BTW...fished the Little Q tonight on the way home and we nailed the timing perfectly...the fish we incoming in a big way..landed 3 big fish and lost another 3 in an hour or so...amazing site

[btree]

Gnarly looking fish you got there. I'll have to see about hitting that water once that water gets up a bit more.

Do you think the 295 would fit on the xsd780? I imagine it would be tight at best, so I can also put it on the trion1990 if I need more room since I'll be moving up to the xsd1112 soon

But I'll come by the shop thursday next week if you are in to chat about some other ideas that I've been having about gear... namely the new Diamond Spey, likely in that 12'6" 7/8. I assume it has the balls to chuck a chicken with a skagit, and the delicacy to lay out a traditional spey fly or a dry for summers at the end of either a 2D or the Elixer with minimal effort and has much more sensitivity for takes than that 1308. That rod of yours just felt "alive" in my hands.