The system is made up of several parts. It is basically a shooting head system with a mono running line. The head is a Billfish Shooting Head, which has a 550-grain, 30-foot head. It is connected to an 80-foot section of 50-pound, hi-vis mono, which terminates at the new 2 Tone Gel Spun Backing. The mono acts a shock absorber—it will stretch 20 feet before the 20-pound tippet breaks.
Fly rods for billfish need to be stout, such as Sage’s SALT series in 13- or 16-weight flavors. The Sage SALT 16-weight is the preferred rod weight by most billfish fly anglers. Why a 16-weight for an 80- to 120-pound sailfish? It is all about being able to put the heat on the fish if they go deep; sailfish can be a bear if they go deep. The more pressure you can put on a sailfish with a 20-pound tippet the more it will jump—and the quicker the angler can land it. This is better for both the angler, and the fish.