Greys' Fly Rods - Got One?

[Foghorn]

I thought I read some place that the rods were made by the same company. The old "Sierra Trading Post" has had them on sale recently. 

[mic]

9 hours ago, tjm said:

 A "Long Belly" WF line works fine too. Warm water fishing where the fish are not leader shy I most often use an SA AirCel Level line L7F because that lack of front taper gets the rod loaded just that little bit quicker.

Is this the one you recommend.  For $40, I'll try it.  https://www.scientificanglers.com/product/aircel/

[tjm]

This is the  https://www.scientificanglers.com/product/aircel/  in WF

Note that the "head ends at ~40' and that from that point on the line is reduced to "running line" which will not support the  head in a roll cast, it is said that "mass moves mass"  and running/shooting line has very little mass. It will roll cast the entire head to 40' (probably similar to what you have currently)

On that same page scrolling down to the level line, the line diameter is the same for the full length

This is the line I use for stream bass fishing, it roll casts to as far as the line is long because the mass is uniform, but it has no front taper meaning that it makes more water disturbance when it hits the water than a tapered line. Trout can be put down by that disturbance.  If you can find these lines on Amazon they are usually ~$25

This is SA Frequency DT, https://www.scientificanglers.com/product/frequency-double-taper/

Note that it has the same front taper that the WF has but has the extended body that ends only where the other front taper begins. Roll casts up to ~80' if the user is capable of it, my mentor in the 1970s regularly single hand spey cast to about 70' of line, and I've seen him use the full line, I never got quite that good. The Dt has another advantage  in that if you are like me and damage the front of the line by stepping on it or something like that the line can easily be reversed and you have essentially a brand new line.

SA about tapers- https://www.scientificanglers.com/understanding-fly-line-tapers/

This is the line I use for most of my trout fishing and some bass fishing, my go to lines for about 20 years- https://www.cortlandline.com/products/444-peach-double-taper-freshwater-fly-line

I  have over the past couple years been trying out cheap fly lines and have been surprised at well the China lines cast,  I don't know how long they last yet, but, for adding lines to try various weights on rods they fish nicely. A more economical DT  that I've used this year Verum DT

And another cheapy that has gotten some good reviews Max Catch DT

Now after all that, unless you plan to spey cast most of the time and you are looking for spey distance, the line you have now is likely just fine, unless it is one of the "aggressive" WF/shooting-head  specialty lines. An ordinary rope or a 50' extension cord roll pretty well and demonstrate that the fancy designs are more for marketing than for angler need.  Fly line technology really hasn't changed much since the '70s, it's basically plastic coated braid, but for marketing purposes the companies have to change something every year to keep sales up. New names for old products is common. One line tester a few years ago,  reviewed many lines and determined that the only difference in some line models was as simple as 6" cut off the front taper or the color of the plastic. Try roll casting  what ever line you have in #5 or #6,  just to see if it helps to have more mass in your D loop, I think it will.

And it may just be a matter of getting familiar with the new rod and the timing required for it.  I recall as a new flyrodder being concerned that my line or rod wasn't quite as good as needed because my ~40' roll casts always came up short of where the fish were in the pond, and asking old Jean if he would give my rig a test cast to see if I needed to change something, so, he wiggles my St Croix around a bit and pulled a lot of SA Supreme line off the reel and whips the rod right, left, right and popped off a nice spey cast to just beyond the trout . When I looked at the reel the line was taut and there was two turns left on the reel. He then retrieved some line and made another long spey cast that took the backing knot almost to the tiptop, hooked a trout, reeled it in, put the fish in his creel, then handed me back my rod and said to me "There's nothing wrong with your rod, you just need to learn how to cast." Kinda stuck with me and over the almost 50 years since then it's come to mind every time I have trouble with an unfamiliar rig. Every rod and line combo that I've ever  tried would work, if I just learned how to cast that combo, of course some combos worked better than others and some were much easier to learn. Jean's been gone many years now and I'm still trying to learn how to get that last 20' or so of line out. about 65-70' seems to be my limit and I don't usually try for more than 45' anymore, distance isn't needed in the creeks like it is in ponds that are chest deep in three steps.

Oh, and I was just guessing that the shop owner meant DT, because it's what I use and I've never heard of "diamond" lines. You really should ask him what line he was recommending. He knows the rod and can coach you better than I, because you are both there and I'm not.