Yak Fly Line Managment?

Wondering what people are doing for line management when casting off their kayak, specifically sinking shooting heads and running lines? Also what kind of running line do you use? I was using slick shooter and didn't really have a problem but then my single hand shooting head casting sucks so if I could shoot 25-40ft of line I was happy. Handling of the slick shooter is pretty poor but it goes far. I hear people say they can fish out to 80-100ft on pontoons so that means shooting at least another 20+ft. and a much bigger pile of line.

I think I can just use the rod pod on the Trident as a stripping basket but that would only be stillwater not ocean. I've seen people attach a basket on the side which seems to make sense because then you could do longer strips easier. Have seen a towel draped over your lap and spikes on top of a rod pod too.

I am actually in the process of creating a small box that will fit between your legs to handle the line and keep from tangling.  It will have small cones in it. 

Once I have it perfected I will post a pic of it.  Hopefully have it done by Christmas.

I use the bottom insert of this (actually the previous generation):

http://www.sealevelflyfish.com/bucket-shooter/bucket-shooter/

I just place it in the cockpit in front of me and two-handed strip on top of it. I also like the SlickShooter for running line.

Mike

Excuse my ignorance, but what are the cones for?

Excuse my ignorance, but what are the cones for?

They keep the line from tangling with itself.  I strip out about 75 - 100 feet of line when fly fishing.  Just striping it on to your lap or a flat surface causes it to tangle.  We cast that out then strip the line back in and set it in between our legs when on a kayak, unlike conventional reels that keep the line on the reel, our line is only back on the reel at the end of the day.

I saw an inflatable drift boat the other day that had a dirty clothes basket with pool noodles zip tied onto the top secured to casting brace.  Nothing fancy or expensive, but looked liked it worked well enough.

Excuse my ignorance, but what are the cones for?

They keep the line from tangling with itself.  I strip out about 75 - 100 feet of line when fly fishing.  Just striping it on to your lap or a flat surface causes it to tangle.  We cast that out then strip the line back in and set it in between our legs when on a kayak, unlike conventional reels that keep the line on the reel, our line is only back on the reel at the end of the day.

Gotya. Ive never seen the cones on the drift boats I FF from, just the flat area in the front for stripping the line. Those baskets look like a good way to go.

Not that critical in driftboat since usually it's nymphing or if you're throwing streamers or dry flies you don't need to cast that far and shooting little if any line.

Switch to striper fishing in the Delta or a lake and you usually want to cast as far as you can. Non intergrated shooting heads like 30' of T type material or LC13 you can throw really far once you get your cast down. The problem is you have 50+ ft. of running line you have to put somewhere and it has to go out without tangling. Never really thought stillwater and throwing shooting heads was that fun until I started fishing stripers recently.

Hey Wizz, once the rains come we gotta go hit the Eel if you know some good runs for the inflatables. I'm putting new ends on all my big sink tips getting ready. Gonna try and learn that river better this year if it ever rains.

The south fork has good runs for most of its length below garberville, Ill have to check but I think theres nothing above class ll in the upper stretches by legget so its all doable. There is some class lll water somewhere up there, ill figure out where it is. Ill do some recon and ill talk to abking, he spends some time on the eel.

I made my own stripping basket based on Pelican's design.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=5870.30

Thanks for the link GB2, missed that one. I know some guys make their own stripping baskets for the surf out of cheap foam sleeping pads for camping. I have some velcro on top of my rod pod to hold flies but maybe I can just use it to secure something similar. I like the foam idea because it's light and can be packed down and shoved in a hatch, maybe will have to experimient.

I saw an inflatable drift boat the other day that had a dirty clothes basket with pool noodles zip tied onto the top secured to casting brace.  Nothing fancy or expensive, but looked liked it worked well enough.

When I go out in a boat, I use a 3 foot tall laundry basket.  We get the kind that has the holes in it so the wind blows right through.  Then we add a little water to the bottom which works great in keeping the line from tangling.

So far my solution is not to use any kind of device - just try to coil the line as neatly as possible as I retrieve it. Also casting the entire length out is helpful - getting that snap at the end of the cast helps to get the twists out.

I've tried little swivels but not sure if they helped.

Favorite running line at this point is Airflow Ridge. I find this one tangles less than anything - and as Ted pointed out, it's often the tangles in running line that really limits your cast length, not your casting ability. I'd agree with that.

Another thing I've kind of gotten to: I tend to use smaller flies these days. That also helps with cast length.

I'm probably launching at B&W on Monday 12/9 if anyone can get away.
Bill

Hey Bill, does Airflo make a Ridge Int. running line or are you just using the the floating? I have a spool of the floating orange 30lb. that I was going to use for my spey rods in winter but I ended up like the handling and shooting of their miracle braid better.

+1 on the smaller flies, they told me to tie up some smaller clousers like 3" for the forebay and they seemed to work well. Would love to hit the delta with you, I can work something out for during the week if that's when you're fishing.

I use the Airflo ridge intermediate 30lb line on both of my shooting head setups.  I like the line a lot better than RIO, RIO has turned to crap in the last couple of years in my opinion.