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3. Is Cortland less popular now?

I see so much about Orvis, Rio, Scientific Angler etc. and rarely see Cortland stuff mentioned. I thought Cortland was pretty popular 20 or so years ago. Is this a misconception or have these other companies passed them up? Reminder, I haven't done tons of fly fishing in my life, this is just my limited perception.

Cortland (along with Sci Angler) was the industry standard in fly lines for many, many years. My sense is that this changed in the 1990's, give or take. They were never a very big company to begin with and then changed hands at least once maybe a decade or two ago. During the uncertainty portion of this period, they were outcompeted in terms of product offerings and market placement by Rio, SA and to some extent, Sue Burgess/Air Flo.

So, once they reorganized, they had a tougher road to get back into a position of some strength. Gradually, over the past 10 years or so, they have been working their way back. But they lost a lot of dealers and haven't got them all back as of yet.

You can find the higher end Cortland products through the usual sources if you look for them. I'm older and remember all that the company did for the sport in the 60's and 70's and have a soft spot for Cortland. So, I tend to seek their stuff out so long as it fits my needs. Long and short of it is, I think you can trust Cortland's stuff, at least at the higher end
(not their Wal-Mart line of stuff) to be as good as anybody's.

This may be a less than perfect summary. That's another thing about getting along a bit. The clear grasp of timelines and events can get a little foggy...:)

Thanks RleeP! That's about the time I last fly fished fairly regularly so your timeline makes sense. Even though I was never a hardcore fly fisherman, I tend to gravitate back to what I remember. I was a bit frazzled when I simply didn't see their name mentioned much. Good to know that their higher end stuff is up to par. I might be needing a new line soon and was looking at their "Big Shot" line for bass. Glad to know this wouldn't be a subpar choice.

I once had a lovely little 7-foot 3-weight made by Cortland, and my buddy Todd still has one (broke mine sadly). No reel seat, just a pair of slip[ rings on a cork handle, and a nice little rod for the smaller bodies of water. i've got some old cortland lines that are still in good shape, found them buried in the bottom of an old tackle box in my folks' basement during my christmas visit downstate. you don't hear much about them these days though, but they are still out there.

jonathon

Back in the mid 1960's when fly fishing was becoming more popular Cortland brought out a series of bamboo rods. They were THE fly line company for decades. I still like the peach colored 444 DT line for some of my lighter dry fly rods.

I agree with Matt on the Classic 444 Peach lines. They are fantastic lines for traditional trout rods, and they are excellent lines for bamboo. In fact, that's all I use on my bamboo rods.

Cortland has been silent for a long time, and you know what they say about sleeping giants? Well, they are back and they have new products out now. Their spey casting lines from what I have heard from a fly shop north of me, who are the only ones around that sell Cortland 444, told me they are right up there with other spey lines out there. But they have also revamped some of their other lines too, and have new packaging. Right now they have 82 different lines on the market, yes, 82, I just counted them. Who else has that many different lines. They even have a double tapered sylk line. I have never heard of a double tapered sylk line before.

Give them time and I bet you'll be seeing them in more places than what you do now.

Their competition nymphing rod is getting popular from what I have read on other forums. And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the Syndicate rod made by Cortland? Because that rod is really getting some attention.

Glad to hear all of this! When I move forward with a bass setup I'll definitely be using their line and maybe rod as well. Thanks