Fly Line

[asap52]

What kind or brand, weight, etc do you guys like best? I'm talking floating line.

[Zach Bearden]

I <3 Rio and AirFlo. Both are grand companies. Others are of course going to have preferences. What weight is your rod?

[asap52]

I <3 Rio and AirFlo. Both are grand companies. Others are of course going to have preferences. What weight is your rod?

5 weight

[Zach Bearden]

Okay, so you'll need a 5wt. line then.

There are two basic types of line that I can think of for general purpose trout fishing. Double Taper and Weight Forward. Weight forward is more of a casting line for if you need distance. If I were going to fish a streamer or a large dry I would use a line like this. Double taper is a level line. I would use this if I needed to make mends with an indicator rig or if I wanted to keep it close and not worry about distance. Also, when you wear out one end of this line you can just turn it around and it has the same taper and casts exactly the same as the other end

[OKFlyFisher44]

I love Rio lines myself but I did buy a Scientific Anglers GPX line for my 8 weight and it casts like a dream. Its also a $70 line though.

For the $$$, I think the Rio Mainstream and Cortland 333+ are really hard to beat! Both lines are under $40. I have the Rio Mainstream in a sink-tip line for my 8 weight and have the 333+ line on my "loaner" 5-weight rod. LOVE both lines for the $$$....

[Spiritwolf]

I had been useing Orvis wonderline on my 5wt and 7wt.I bought the 7wt to use when I float tube the Blackfeet Reservation up in north west Montana if the wind gets to strong for the 5wt.There are some real huge rainbows in the lakes up there.I have hooked several huge trout and have had more than one take out most of my backing before breaking me off.Still waiting to land a Duck Lake monster rainbow.Had a guy next to me land a 18 pounder.Well back to fly line now.I just decided to try out Airflo's ridge line for my 5wt.Seems people on the net either hate it or love it.Cabelas said I could try it out then if I decided I did not like it I could send it back.It just came in and have only had the chance to yard cast it a few times,it seems to shoot well.I had hoped to get to hit the river and try it out this morning but woke up not feeling well so will try again in the morning if there not running water.I live near highway 10 just a short ways from the upper river and man it is full.Lots of water flowing into Tenkiller.Will let you know how the Ridge line performs when I get it on the water.

[asap52]

Thank you. Let us know.

[Spiritwolf]

I saw that they were going to be shutting the release down yesterday evening so decided to go give the line a try.Got to the river just as they blew the horns.Well the line was not as bad as some on the net said.Seems most that hated it said it had the worst memory of any line they evey fished.Otheres said it had no memory at all and laid perfectly straight and flat right out of the box.It did have some memory but I did not get the chance to stretch the line so that might take care of that.It seems to shoot very well.I think it is going to take a little getting used to since I have been useing Orvis wonderline for years.The Airflo loads the rod up different than the wonderline.The rod I use most is a 5wt 3 piece Gloomis Slate custom built rod.I have a 2 piece St.croix Ultimate Legend 5wt rod I think I am going to test it out on.I am glad I went yesterday,woke up feeling bad again so did not get to go this morning.If there not running water on tuesday may try to go if feeling up to it.Oh and the fish were biting great,caught lots of fish.

[DoveTail]

Most of the new lines have welded loops on the ends, so I suggest that regardless of the brand. A few that do not have welded loops are 000wt, 00wt and 0wt lines. What I don't like about the older style that do not have welded loops is the inner core can absorb water and make your line sink.

The welded loops make it very fast to connect a leader.

You may want to consider getting a furled leader with a steel ring in the end to attach your tippet to. Traditional leaders you have to do surgeons knots and each time you make a new one...it gets shorter. With a furled leader and a steel ring your leader stays the SAME and never changes. You can do a quick Orvis knot or Davy knot and you are fishing again. I have had one for 4 years and going strong. I don't think it will ever wear out. It is on a 5wt rod and I can float a #26 dry, so they are not an issue on sinking tiny dries.

What I can tell on expensive lines is they usually have less memory vs a cheap line. With that in mind, Cabela's Prestige lines are on sale for $29 and they have a cheaper line that is normally $29. Those will last for years. Unless you are dragging through a parking lot and don't wipe it down, they should last.

The Shark Skin line by 3M is really sweet and cast great. A GPX series is actually a 1/2 wt heavier but they hide that (same for all mfgs) since some faster action rods are harder to load...so a 5wt line is actually a 5 1/2wt line to load a 5wt rod. Some will even go a full 1wt heavier so put a 6wt line on a 5wt rod. Definitely never go lighter on your line than the rod. Again, all rods have different speeds so it is hard to say what the best line is for that rod.

Dual tapers are easier to roll cast vs a WF line is more difficult to roll cast. So if you have trees in your back cast a lot, you may want to consider that option. Or if your reel has extra spools, consider 2 lines for options on the streams.

[Gavin]

I use the SA XXD tapers on my 9' 5-8wt rods....They seem to do just about everything well...overhead cast, roll cast, mend...the longer head length on the XXD taper helps with the roll casting & mending......I usually go with a DT or a Triangle Tapers on my 2-4wts, and a few of my short 5wts. Its hard to go wrong with anything from SA or Rio, but I've heard good stuff about Snowbee lines...havent found one to try though. Cheers.