Luv2flyfish
02-06-2006, 11:06 AM
I picked up the new version of the XLT a couple weeks ago and FINALLY got out for a few hours this morning to give it a test cast. So here is my 2 pennies on it. This is a 7wt XLT on a 7141. I cast it on still water with absolutely zero wind.
The head is a bit shorter (since we all fought for the AFTMA spey line standard). To get the weight within the standard the head got shortened. (this has also caused some hard feelings with the new XLT). The new version does shoot better than the old. I am not sure exactly what Way Yin did to the front taper but it turns over sweet. I put on my regular 15foot leader and it was turning over very nicely. I did notice that the turn over would loose some of its authority when shooting alot of line. This became more and more noticable the longer line you shot. I was wondering with the shorter head length if you had to treat this line like its shorter head bretheren and strip it all back in to cast it again.....I didnt really have to. I was picking it back up with up to 10 feet or so of running line out of the tip and it was casting fine and still shooting. BUT, with that......BIIIIIIG, powerful D-Loops were needed and you really had to throw some juice into them. This didnt work very well without the use of continuous load. It does seem like it likes a little higher line speed. I spent 3 hours working with it this morning. I am pleased with it, but it is a bit different than the original XLT. Some like the redesign, some dont. For me, it will still be a joy to fish with. I certainly enjoyed casting it for the little bit today. Now I am going to have to figure out where to cut it and see if the new version likes sink tips as the old one did. This is all just my opinion, which means absolutely nothing. I just thought I would share the experience. Tight lines.
The head is a bit shorter (since we all fought for the AFTMA spey line standard). To get the weight within the standard the head got shortened. (this has also caused some hard feelings with the new XLT). The new version does shoot better than the old. I am not sure exactly what Way Yin did to the front taper but it turns over sweet. I put on my regular 15foot leader and it was turning over very nicely. I did notice that the turn over would loose some of its authority when shooting alot of line. This became more and more noticable the longer line you shot. I was wondering with the shorter head length if you had to treat this line like its shorter head bretheren and strip it all back in to cast it again.....I didnt really have to. I was picking it back up with up to 10 feet or so of running line out of the tip and it was casting fine and still shooting. BUT, with that......BIIIIIIG, powerful D-Loops were needed and you really had to throw some juice into them. This didnt work very well without the use of continuous load. It does seem like it likes a little higher line speed. I spent 3 hours working with it this morning. I am pleased with it, but it is a bit different than the original XLT. Some like the redesign, some dont. For me, it will still be a joy to fish with. I certainly enjoyed casting it for the little bit today. Now I am going to have to figure out where to cut it and see if the new version likes sink tips as the old one did. This is all just my opinion, which means absolutely nothing. I just thought I would share the experience. Tight lines.