Though Orvis has made some interesting and valuable contributions to the technology of getting a pattern to a gamefish, I admit that when I'm snooping around for fly lines, I don't immediately reach for the Orvis catalog. The thrust of Orvis' advertising over the past few years has been directed at rods and reels, so maybe that's why fly rodders often look elsewhere for other items. Still, I have to admit that I've been pleasantly surprised by several Orvis products that I've more or less stumbled upon.

I glanced through the Orvis 1998 Fishing and Outdoor catalog when it arrived, overlooking a listing under the Shooting Head category for catalog number J958T-60 -- a 38-foot Clear Shooting Head. Almost all other Shooting Heads are 30 feet.

It was Don Avondolio who brought it to my attention several weeks ago, and it was one of Don's spring class fly fishing students, Peter Sepessy, who made him aware of the Shooting Taper.

Don readily admits, "I'm not a shooting head man." He prefers full fly lines, but he loaded one of these 38-footers on his three-piece Sage RPL-X and was so impressed that he soon had me calling Mike Sfakianos at The Camp-Site Sport Shop, asking for a J958T-60..

Orvis packages its heads with a braided loop installed on the butt end, and a short, permanent, heavy mono length of butt leader with a Perfection Loop on the tip. It's attached with one of best-tied Nail Knots I've ever seen. Of course, you'll still need a shooting line (braided mono) with loops on either end, and a loop in your backing to attach the shooting head system. Manhattan Custom Tackle has step-by-step instructions posted on the Internet at fishdoc.com/fly101/fly101.htm.

Standard Operating Procedure is to go up two line weights for a shooting head, so I would normally use a 12-weight on the two-piece Sage RPL-X 10-weight rod that I use most often. But Don's stiffer three-piece 10-weight loaded fine with an 11-weight head. I suspected that the extra length equaled more line mass, and so, more of a line load. Lou Tabory confirmed my suspicions when I spoke with him at the Salty Fly Rodders' North Fork conclave. Lou is on the Orvis Advisory Team, so he's had the opportunity to put some time in with the 38-foot head. "Right," Lou said. "One line weight up because of the extra length. You will get more distance out of the 38-foot head, but it's also a little more work."

The more work part comes mainly on the back cast. Even experienced shooting head casters will probably need to practice with the 38 to adjust their timing. It's a matter of only a second or so, but you must give that extra 8 feet time to straighten behind you, and you have to put more Oomph! into the back cast to keep it high. For these reasons, I don't recommend this shooting head for novice casters, or for those who aren't accustomed to casting shooting heads. It isn't a Magic Bullet that will automatically give you another 20 feet on a cast, but with practice, you could see a noticeable improvement.

I also don't recommend it for those who do a lot of deep wading. After a couple of casting sessions, I got the hang of the 38, getting admirable distances even in windy conditions, but when I waded deep enough for my stripping basket to float fairly high, I got more than my share of those frustrating water whacks behind me.

By deep-wading, you're shutting that back cast window at least half way, and you have to be extremely aware about keeping the back cast high. A 38-foot head can add difficulty.

The head is available only in a standard Intermediate sink rate of 1.5 to 2 inches per second, but it seemed to me that I was bumping shallow bottom more than with a standard 30-foot Intermediate head. Again, this may have to do with that extra 8 feet. It's not a real problem.

Whether or not the clear line coating gives you an advantage in our style of Nor'east Saltwater fishing is debatable, but it can't hurt.

The Orvis 38-Foot Clear Shooting Head is available in line weights 6 through 12 at The Camp-Site Sport Shop in Huntington, and the new Orvis shop in Greenvale, located just north of Northern Boulevard on Glen Cove Road. The Orvis Internet website is located at www.orvis.com.