1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing Gear
›
3. Best dry fly line out there?, Page 2

I noticed you had moved...But you are forever a part of Au Sable history. :) You and your Pop.

Yes...The infamous "Spencer Low-Pressure Center"...As soon as I cross the Crawford Co line the skies begin to darken...A couple days before I went up for the opener the damn water temps took a plunge! In the 90's guys would wait and see when I had booked and sign up for the following week!

I don't want to scare you or anything, but I'll be fishing the Manistee Saturday...One day only, so I won't screw with your whole week. I''ll try to stay west of town.

Mike C has been up there now for weeks. We roomed next door to each other for ten days. Josh had us all the way down at the end...Keep us away from the normal folk at the Lodge...Don't want us to scare anyone. I tried to explain to him that our rowdy days are behind us...I'm north of 60 now...Who am I gonna hurt?! ;)

Have fun! I want to wish you the best in Oregon. I hear it is beautiful out there.

You will have to do me a favor. Mess with Matt in the kitchen a bit...Either directly through him or Emily ask him about the "Spencer Special". He's pissed at me because after all these years he finally adds some nice vegetarian seletions and I order a jazzed up cheese sandwich. :)

Safe trip!

Spence

The history is just beginning. I promise you that. Oregon is likely a temporary thing, and I'll always find time to get back to the Au Sable.



I hate to break it to you Spence, but Josh is more worried about keeping the snorers isolated from the rest of us who are trying to get sleep than he is about who is rowdy. It's a very difficult job when so many of your guest are amateur lumberjacks who like to saw while they sleep.



It really is amazing out here. I have mixed feelings about Portland, but I'm loving Oregon. Within a couple hours I have the Pacific, mountains, desert, and more.



Maybe I'll order a "Spencer Special" hold the cheese. Matt gave me the chance to have a sandwich named after me, and I blew it. I'm not much of a sandwich guy, and I told him that. I should have faked it to get my name on the menu.

---------

As for dry fly lines. I'll be fishing my Rio Perception in 5 and 6 during my trip. I also have Rio Golds in those sizes (glow in the dark) and an Airflo Superdri Elite that I got a deal on. I'll report back on any preferences.

Here you go..."Matt. Emily. Can I get a Spencer Special with some real meat on it...Screw that damn old vegetarian hippie Spence! Sounds like a great sandwich if you added some protein to it! Isn't he always mumbling in German? Add some damn Bavarian ham on that bad boy!" :)

I'll owe you a couple beers.

I have been fishing with Rio lines lately myself. I have a Gold on one reel. I interchange a Grand and a Rio Outbound on my smallie streamer tossing reel. So far no complaints...I have used Cortland and SA in the past and didn't have any problems with them either though.

I use to use floating double taper for the dry fly stuff. I have been playing around with some weight forward floating stuff of late. Truth be known, and don't pass this on to my wife, I probably have too many reels...They all have different line manufacturers on them. :)

I was very fond of Cortland lines. My wife's father's family is from Cortland NY. Her mother went to school there before it was SUNY at Cortland. It was a NORMAL Teacher's College.

Through my wife's uncle I had an invite to get casting lessons from Leon Chandler, Cortland Lines casting rep, but could never pull it off. One of the big time regrets of my life! Leon was from Homer which is the next town over from Cortland. When I visit family there and need a fishing license I purchase it in Homer...A nod to the old-school!

I think I experimented with SA and Rio at the suggestion of fly shop owners I've known for years. I believe in supporting the shops, since we have lost so many over my fishing life! Guys who are located on the river and are pros have a great deal of experience. It's not always sale motivated. When you have known some of these guys for decades and they pull a line down and say, "Try this one and let me know." I tend to say ok...If it don't work out, I know they'll take it back.

I have a friend that was a bit on the cheap side and he fished with nothing but the old Cortland 333. Saved himself a small bundle I think. :)

Spence

Spence, I'm not sure our diets overlap much. You don't eat meat, and I don't drink.

I'm not sure if you know this, but I went to school with Jason at Cornell. I spent a ton of time fishing in the Cortland area. Most of my fishing was in Cayuga Lake tributaries, but I occasionally went up near Cortland (usually on the way to the Salmon River). The TU Chapter in that area is named after Leon Chandler. If you get back over there, I can draw you some maps. I had some seriously good fishing in my years up there.

Oddly enough, I haven't fished a Cortland line in damn near 20 years. They're what I started on, but I moved on to Orvis and Scientific Anglers shortly thereafter. Lately, I've been on Rio kick and I'm starting to fish some Airflo lines (having a steelhead guide who designs lines for them doesn't give you much choice).

Lines are still a confusing topic for me (and I think that I know more than most about them). There's no doubt that a brand new line casts way better than even a slightly used line. I can feel the differences in tapers when it comes to casting, mending, and roll casting. I notice how well my lines float, how much they stretch, and how much they coil/kink. I feel the coatings and textures and like some better than others. But how the heck do you really compare lines?

You can go to your local fly shop and cast a bunch of rods, but you generally can't take a rod and cast a bunch of lines. I now have enough lines in the same weights that I can start to do some comparisons, but you have to wonder how much age will play into it. My Airflo WF5 is new in the box. My Rio Perception WF5 has a solid year of fishing on it. My WF5 Rio Gold has a few days of fishing on it. I keep buying expensive lines because I think it matters, but I'm not really sure.

Maybe I'll learn a little more about lines in the next 10 days--though I have a good feeling that a lot of my fishing will be with my glow in the dark lines at very short ranges.

:) You fish and that's all that matters! Have a great time!

I may be heading back to Cortland within the year. My wife wants to visit some family...I'll let you know.

Spence

Time to get this thread back on track (I'll post a fishing report for Spence in another thread).

At this point I'm pretty sure that the Rio Perception is the best dry fly taper that I've ever cast. I've cast it head to head against the Rio Gold on both my Orvis Helios 2 905 (mid-flex) and my Scott Radian 906, and it handles better--especially as you extend to longer casts.

The other day I cast the WF5 Perception against the WF5 Airflo SuperDri Elite, and I was amazed at how bad the Airflo taper feels. In their marketing materials, they refer to this line as a "300 pound dog with big teeth and hairy nipples." It's definitely a dog. Maybe it's the materials and not the taper, but my loops weren't as tight and my distance suffered when I had the Airflo strung up. I wanted to stop casting it and go back to the Perception immediately.

The big downside that I see with the Rio lines is their durability. They scuff up, get dirty, and even cut more easily than other lines I've used. I didn't really think about this until I started talking to a couple guide friends who were complaining about the durability issues. Then I realized that I've damaged quite a few Rio lines in strange ways. I'm guessing Airlo has Rio beat here, but it doesn't really matter if their lines cast like crap.

good morning all
i'm a newbie to fly fishing from illinois
heard about a company out of bozeman selling fly line
i googled them and contacted them
they were very helpful
and have great reviews for all over the country
great prices that i was looking for
also on amazon
bozemanflyworks.com

On the smaller to medium steams I frequent and given my choice of rods (older, slower graphite) and my casting style (I don't really have one. I put the fly where I need to put it and really can't explain how I do it...), I think the best taper I ever used was the original Wulff TT. It was also one of the least durable lines I've ever owned. Mine lasted about 100 hours of fishing time before it was checked and cracked to the point where it was no longer usable.

The best small/medium stream line I ever used and the best compromise between durability and performance was the old peach Cortland 444's. I often got a season and a half out of them which was pretty good for what I put them through.

When I was fishing the Wisconsin Driftless or if I was back home in PA on bigger water and had to make a lot of casts in excess of 40-50 feet, I usually fished the mid-market SA lines, whatever they happened to be calling them at the time (Air Cel Supreme, Supra or I guess they are called "Frequency" now...), and they were acceptable as was the old Cortland 444SL (although the SL wasn't very durable). I've even gone through a couple of the low end Aquanova (Canadian) lines in the WF trout sizes. They have a nice taper, cast well and are very inexpensive. My thinking is that within reason, you can make any $25 fly line perform like a $50 line with enough silicone Mucilin.

While I generally never spend that much money on a fly line on my own initiative, I've had two Rio Golds given to me. The first was awful and disintegrated after about 50-75 hours use. The second was an excellent line that cast like a dream and lasted almost two full seasons. Research continues, jury remains out, etc.

Finally, I bought a WF9F Airflo Velocity to use for my Pike line. Less then $50 and I have been very pleased with its performance and durability so far. I may get one in WF5F and see how it does on the trout streams.

There are a ton of good fly lines available on the market today. Forty years ago all you had was Cortland and Scientific Anglers.

Rio has dozens of fly lines for every imaginable purpose. Orvis too has many fly lines. Since you are a new fly fisher I would not recommend getting the best fly line on the market nor would I suggest a low end either. Rio, and other line companies, offer mid priced lines in the $40 - $60 price range.

Remember the line you buy must match that of the line weight that is recommended by the fly rod maker. You can find that information on the butt of the fly rod down near the cork handle.

If the rod is marked (for example) 9' #5 then you buy a #5 line. I would recommend you to buy a WFF line. That means "weight forward floating".

I'd agree with Matt. A good mid-range line would be just right to get started with. I like the SA textured lines, but primarily because on bigger waters they give me a bit more distance. However, 80-90% of my fishing is done at much closer range where their features aren't needed.

The best line is the one that works the best with your rod, your casting ability, and your purpose.

Hi Artie,

How have you been doing? Getting any monster pike through the ice? If you get any I'm sure our Troutnut friends would like to see some pictures even if they aren't fly caught.

Love the topic...and new to the site.

Been fly fishing for a while...nothing too fancy, just trout fishing. Although my buddy catches more fish than I do while nymphing, I like the simplicity of just casting a dry fly. It's fun to watch it float and when I get a strike, I think it's the best thing ever.

A while back I bought an outfit from Redington...rod, reel, line and such. It worked fine for catching fish, but it didn't cast that well. I tried my friend's rod and line and it was much better. I couldn't tell if it was the rod, the line or both.

I don't have a lot of money to spend on a new combo, so I did some research on fly lines. There sure are a lot of choices. I found a video that made sense to me and tried a new line that sure casts better than what came with my Redington fly rod. It wasn't from a company I heard about before, but it had a guarantee on the sale, so I tried it.

For what it's worth, it makes casting very easy and makes me happy...again, I'm no expert.

Here's where I found it: http://www.lelandfly.com/In-Stock/Rod-Reel-and-Line_2/Lelands-Pliny-Fly-Line-The-best-fly-line-available-.html

Thanks again to this sight for good information.

Hi Theo, I've seen the Leland claims, but believe that learning to cast effectively is more due to good instruction and practice than to finding a miracle line. By the way, you wouldn't be an employee or good friend of someone at Leland, would you? I'm hoping we hear more from you, or we just might have our suspicions. But perhaps I'm just too cynical. Prove me wrong.