The perfect shooting head

Almost every coastal fly fisher has been through a handful of lines before finding the hidden gem that suits their personal casting style. Short shooting heads, long belly heads, bullet tapers—all different lines with their benefits and cons.

Most traditional coastal shooting heads have an aggressive taper design, with the main weight closest to your rod tip and a fairly long front taper. This has been the standard for many years, but where does this taper design come from? When shooting heads became publicly accessible in stores in the early '90s, the lines mostly came from the USA and England. At that time, there was not much experience in coastal shooting heads. Most people made their own homemade shooting heads from double taper (DT) lines, which gave them a form of Spey taper. This Spey taper with a long front taper is what we still see in the traditional coastal shooting heads of today.

Different Shooting Head Designs Have Their Pros and Cons

Short heads load quicker but have poor presentation and lack distance. The thicker coating adds more resistance during the cast.
Long heads offer good stability but tend to require more blind casts.
Long front tapers speed up casting but negatively impact tracking, often leading to tailing loops and casting errors.

After many years of development, we launched what we believe is the best taper design for a coastal shooting head—the Advance Shooting Heads. By pushing the main weight toward the last 8 meters of the head, we created a design that is easy to load, stable on long casts, and presents like no other. We tested many prototypes, adjusting weight distribution and taper design, and once we found the final prototype, there was no doubt—this was the right one!

Presentation Is Key—in All Conditions

Good presentation on every cast leads to more fish! With the Advance Shooting Heads, you fish more effectively. The longer head and stable taper design feature a slower turnover, giving the caster more time for better, more controlled casts. This extra time reduces the hassle of poor timing and tracking, resulting in smoother presentations with fewer casting errors, tailing loops, and other issues.

See illustration below.

Traditional Coastal Shooting Heads

Traditional coastal shooting heads are often heavier, thicker, and more aggressive in taper design, causing quicker turnover and faster energy transfer. This is problematic on long casts, where slack in the presentation becomes noticeable.

Heavier heads demand more power and effort from the caster, which can affect tracking and control. A heavier head generates more downforce from gravity, which the caster must compensate for.

Why Advance Shooting Heads Stand Out

Long casts with great presentation rely on straight loops, perfect timing, and precise tracking—key elements that the Advance Shooting Heads help you master.

The taper design allows more time for precise casting, reducing errors in timing and tracking, which are crucial for long casts and effective presentations. Even when casting heavier flies, these heads ensure smooth presentations at distance. The 2-meter rear taper stabilizes the cast before turnover, ensuring consistent performance. When the main weight is moved further from the rod tip, the line feels heavier and loads the rod easier with less total weight. This means less weight, less coating, and less resistance.

With this kind of shooting head, you need to slow down your last back cast and let the head turn over before your final front cast.

Illustration Comparison

The illustration above shows a traditional shooting head with a Spey-like taper compared to a SEARUN Advance shooting head. The traditional head is thicker, more compact, and more aggressive in mass and tapering.

The SEARUN ADVANCE series has redefined what’s possible in coastal fly fishing. Even for newcomers, they add distance, improve presentation, and reduce casting errors. Coming from a traditional shooting head, it often takes a few hours on the water to get used to it, but it is worth it. Just keep one thing in mind when starting with these shooting heads: the head needs more time to unfold (turn over) in your last back cast compared to a traditional taper design.

These heads are designed to help you fish smarter by ensuring longer casts and better presentations.

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