1. Troutnut Forum
›
2. Fly Fishing Beginners
›
3. line memory

I am begineer at fly fishing and am still learning to cast, I have been told my line has memory and tries to coil all the time.
What is the best way of removing memory from the line ?
It has been suggested to put in a bucket of hot ish water or to lay the hole line out straight and leave it for a day or so
Any suggestions would be welcome

thanks
kriss

I have never heard that in over fifty years of flyfishing. Some fly lines get stiffish when it is cold out but they don't get memory coils line monofilament or nylon. I use floating fly lines 95% of the time and if I strip off a bunch of line onto the grass or in the bottom of my drift boat there are very loose coils about 5" - 6" in diameter but as soon as I false cast the coils disappear.

Lines with a mono core will coil up sometimes. If you pull it off the reel and stretch it out as you go, it should eliminate most the coils.

Kyle has a good comment here. A fly line with a mono core could tend to have some memory when on the reel for a couple of days r in cooler weather. Do as suggested and you should have no more issues.

Same with your leader and tippet. Just stretch it out a bit.

thanks for the info I will pull the line of the reel and stretch it a bit, the line stays on the reel for a few weeks at a time as i cannot go fishing as much as I like, also it is fairly cold here now so that may not be helping

thanks Kriss

Yes, cold weather will contribute to stiffening of your fly line and the resultant memory. But fly line will lose that memory very easily if you grab about three feet between you left, and right, arms and pull it, and hold it for about five seconds. You should see a lot of improvement.

Kriss,

They may have meant your leader is coiling...I have seen some folks on the river making casts and the leader looks like a slinky...Do you know what a slinky is over there in the UK? :)

Every time I get to the river I step a couple feet into the river, string up my rod, and as I'm checking the river out for rises or flies dancing about, I stretch out sections of my leader from the end of the fly line all the way down...This includes the permanent butt section.

The leader materials now have a little stretch and by giving it a steady strong tug in say two/three feet sections, you can see the material go limp after the stretch in a straight line. It actually bows a bit...

During this short process you may see some kinks or bad sections in the leader...I think you should check out your leader every night after fishing, but I know we get lazy. :) If the material no longer has that little stretch to it, time for a new leader.

After I figure out whats going on, I then decide which fraud to tie to the terminal end...:)

Those folks that I've seen that don't straighten out their leader may spook, or at least, miss some fish when they set the hook.

Now, on-the-other-hand, I have seen some coiled leader material that is used for nymphing, and this is done on purpose...a practice of those heathens of that dark art...Say, like my friend Bruce...:)

Leader or fly-line -stretch it straight before you fish. Pretty important with leaders. With fly-lines it can happen, as you've found, when they sit awhile and in the cold. Easy remedy.