How much is too much?

[TieFlier]

I was watching some youtube videos and I came across this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0mVjC9MrnQ

Its mostly an advertisement for sage a rio, but if you look at 37 seconds it shows what line he is casting in the top of the screen. I looked on rio's website a they recommend using a 500-550 grain skagit head for this rod but he is chucking a 750 grain head.

I am still fairly new to skagit casting as a style. I am trying to understand what upper limits exist in terms of matching lines to a rod. When does it become too much? I know that casting style and preference can dictate what weight of line you use but when does the point turn up when you have just way overloaded your rod? I would have thought that the 750 shown in the video would have done this as it is 200 grains heavier than line recommendations I have seen.

What are your impressions on this?

[DOC]

Depends on how good you are and also how good the rod is--the grain window for my Meiser MKS seies rod is from 530 to 830 grains--the best grain to use is the one you cast the best-as far as I can see with this rod have difficulty at the top and at the bottom.As you know RIO has on it's site likely the very best rod/line matches bar none.For my ACR and Meiser rods hve also obtained info from the makers of the rod .suggest www.riolines.com

[fredaevans]

One thing to keep in mind is the shorter the 'head' of the line the more grains your going to need. Skagit's are generally used with sink tips/sunk sustained anchor. There you need 'umph' to get that up out of the water and airborne. Scandi (same rod) will be 50 - 75'ish grains lighter as even with "T something or other as a sink tip" you'e got a touch and go anchor. Full on floaters will usually be a tad lighter with a given rod.

[Len]

I run a 750 rio on my Scott ARC 9wt

[Woody]

I fish a Z-Axis 8134. I've tried Skagits from 550-650 grains, and I like the 600 Flight best. If I really want to chuck long, heavy tips with big flies, I use the 650. That 8134 also casts a longer belly line pretty well, too (Airflo Long Delta 8/9).

Cheers! KW