Underlining heavyweight rods

[josko]

Got tired of blind-casting a 12 wt and switched to an 11 wt line on a 12 wt rod just to see what would happen. The results were so great I think I'll stick with this setup for stuff from heavy bass fishing to light tuna. I've been looking for the heaviest setup I can 'comfortably' throw, and this is definitely on the comfortable side.
The rod's a T&T Horizon 12 with Cortland 444SL 11 wt intermediate. I can false-cast 40+' with ease and got off the whole 112' line a couple of times. Yes, it's a bit hard to get the first 30' out, but a roll cast snap gets it right out. A single false cast to 60' and a second as far as you need to go. The setup will wang out Jay's cuda flies with wire tippets as far as you want. After a hookup, the line weight doesn't matter, and the rod makes short work of 4'-5' cudas or large jacks. Best of all, I can blind-cast it for hours.

Giver that striper fishing is all a distance game needing a stiff fighting rod, this setup seems perfect to me. I know it looks like overkill, but I'd suggest everyone try out an underlined rod for everything from rocky shore fishing to tuna.

If I'm still missing something here, somebody please let me know. Is there a downside I'm missing? It might be harder to cast if you're not comfortable with matched setups, but I had no problem with it.

[backman]

<FONT color=black face=Verdana,Geneva size=2>I found the same thing w/ a 7 wt line on a 9 wt rod this summer.&nbsp; I didn't think anything about it at the time, but it sure cast better than the same line in a 9 wt version.</FONT>

[ssully]

What about this reverse scenario, overlining a lighter rod?

The reason I ask is I have a RPLXi 9x9 and want to buy an intermediate line this year. All last year I tossed a QD325 no problem. But my concern is that I'm not a great caster and I'll lose considerable distance throwing a 9wt intermediate line on a fast rod. Should I go up to a 10wt?
Thanks in advance.

[josko]

I used to overline a 9 wt rod with a 10 wt line for nightime fishing, biut stopped doing it after I got used to laying out short casts with the 'right' line. I think overlining rods makes it more difficult to cast properly. Once you figure out the timing and loading with the appropriate line and a fast rod, it's easy to adjust the stroke for diffeent lines/rods.

I underlined the 12 wt since this gives me a stronger fish-fighting tool (than an 11 wt rod) and stepping down in line size made it possible for me to cast it for long periods.

[ssully]

Josko,

Thanks for the quick reply.

[Adam-Albino]

I've cast a 11wt line on my 15wt - and seems to work. On a side note, George Roberts can cast a 4wt line on a 10wt rod - the whole line. I think it become how much line outside the rod to properly load it.
<IMG align=baseline alt="" border=0 hspace=0 src="http://photos.netclubs.com/live/photos/v/9/t/2/t2c710a3839h31nr004cfcdhuo/flyman2.gif">