Backing for shooting head events

[James9118]

A couple of weeks ago I was practicing the ST27 in tough conditions - the kind of day when the line crumpled and crashed a lot. I seemed to have a distance that I just couldn't exceed and the turnover was very poor, often with the fluff landing behind the front of the fly line.

In my casting bag I have a spare spool of thick nylon to try in such a situation (my standard backing is 0.35mm stuff that's the minimum under WC rules). Attaching the same shooting head to this backing meant that the back end of the fly line was held back considerably (due to the extra weight and friction of the thicker, ~0.6mm, nylon). The result was that the turnover was now good, as was the overall layout. However the distance was perhaps a little bit less than the flying spaghetti of the previous casts.

So I guess the question to the comp casters is: do you use different backing according to the conditions and, if so, what are your findings?

Cheers, James

[John Waters]

HiJames,

3 for 38 gram and 120 gram events, 2 for 27 gram and 55 gram events but I am looking at 3 for lighter lines also.

John

[Lasse Karlsson]

Just one for 27 gram, and one for 55 gram. Also just one for 15 and 18 spey, my findings are that there is better ways to get good turnover than fiddling with my bits of tackle, but others might find different results. I don't like flying spaghetti, and I fish shootingheads 99% of my fishing time

Cheers
Lasse