Fly Line Advice
In the last twenty years the fly line industry has seen massive technological improvements. The improvement in the quality of the fly line core, the coatings, the colours and the ability to create various tapers has seen the humble fly line become a very vital - sometimes the most vital - piece of kit in our armoury. However, all these changes and variables mean that there are now a huge amount of different weights, tapers, profiles and densities on the market, and it can be hard for a beginner or even more experienced angler to know how to choose their lines.
The very first consideration to make when buying a fly line is its weight. Every rod made now has an AFTM (Association of Fishing Tackle Manufacturers) line rating on its blank near the handle, usually next to a "#" -eg 5# or sometimes 5/6#. Each of these numbers corresponds to a weight of fly line under guidelines set out by the AFTM rating. The guideline weight of the fly line is concerned with only the first thirty feet of the line moving back from the fly end of the line, so any weight beyond the first thirty feet is not taken in to account by the line manufacturer, this is important to remember. Recently, as fly rods have become stiffer fly line manufacturers have taken to pushing the boundaries of the AFTM guidelines. Many AFTM 6# fly lines now weigh in real terms 6.5# - this enables a caster to flex a stiffer rod more easily.
In reality many of the choices we have to make regarding fly lines come down to trying lots out and finding a personal preference. It is useful if one is educated in the main variable in fly lines, the profiles.Traditionally there are three different kinds of fly line profile, double taper, weight forward and shooting head. Development of modern lines has seen the difference between these profiles blurred slightly.
Double Taper lines (DT) are a long length of thciker level line with a taper at each end, hence the name.
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Weight Forward lines (WF) are a long length of thin running line leading up to what is called the head, positioned towards the fly end of the line.
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Shooting Head (SH) lines are a radical version of a weight forward, with even thinner, longer running line and a shorter head.
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As we can see from these diagrams the fly line is of varying thicknesses throughout its length and it is through understanding why these variations exist that we can go forward and choose the right fly line for our own application. The transitions between these variances of thickness are called the tapers. Essentially there are only three taper areas on a fly line, the rear taper, the belly and the front taper. This is true even on a DT line, it's just that the belly is eighty feet long! Understanding what role each of these tapers performs gives us a good grounding for choosing a fly line.
Rear Taper: The rear taper can be considered the "rudder" of a fly line. From reading the rear taper information on the box we can learn about how stable a fly line is in the air and how quickly we can expect it to turn over. When looking at the rear taper, look out for its length and gradient of its taper. If a rear taper is very short with a steep gradient then we can expect this line to try to "turn over" very quickly and aggressively and try to shoot a long way. If the taper is longer and more gradual then this fly line is going to be very stable in the air, turn over more slowly and land more gently, not ideal for distance casters.
Belly: The (usually) level length of line between the rear taper and the front taper, the belly can again tell us how a line is likely to behave before we've even cast it. Remembering that the belly is where most of the weight of the line is we can deduce that a shorter, more compressed belly weight is going to be easier to cast further than a much longer, lighter amount of the same weight. So a short belly is great for casting distance, a longer belly for stability and delicacy.
Front Taper: The front taper is the section of line that is going to turn over your leader, tippet and fly, and as such is vital. A shorter front taper is going to be a very very efficient transmitter of power, but because of this it will turn over quickly and land heavily. A longer, more graduated taper will seek to dissipate energy and turn over gently to ensure your leader and fly lands as softly as possible.
Using these three different pieces of information we can now look at a fly line box and know exactly what it is for. Here are a few examples:
Medium rear taper - long belly - long front taper: This is a classic presentation fly line for turning over light leaders and small flies delicately. The rear taper provides stability, the long belly is going to turn over slowly and the front taper is going to provide light presentation.
Short front taper - short belly - short head: This is an out and out distance line for turning over heavy leaders and big flies. It's going to fly like a bumble bee and land heavily but shoot a long long way.
Medium rear taper - medium belly - short front taper: This profile makes up a large amount of modern weight forward lines. The medium rear taper aids stability for all standards of caster, the medium belly doesn't turn over too fast but the short front taper helps everything turn over positively - if a little aggressively!
So armed with this knowledge we know that the traditional opinions on fly lines, the ones that say WF lines land too heavily and DT lines are always the best at presenting lines can be wrong as often as they are right!
Density
There are now on the market a huge number of different fly densities available to the fly angler, from floating lines to those that sink at nearly a foot every second it is in the water! A river angler in the UK will almost never need anything other than a floating line. A small stillwater angler may like to have an intermediate and a slow sinker. A reservoir boat competition angler may have fifteen lines in his bag from floaters and midge tips right down to Di8 bottom dredgers and everything in between, and they can all get used during a days fishing too! Speak to the other anglers at your fishery and find out which lines they do and don't use the most often and make your collection from there.
Salt Water
There are now a fantastic range of saltwater lines available to the adventurous angler. They all have salt water resistant coatings and tapers designed for casting larger, heavier flies in to strong winds. The lines one purchases for heavier saltwater species such as tarpon, GTs and sailfish all have far stronger core strengths than your average fly line, this enables the angler to fish with very strong leaders without fear of snapping the fly line whilst playing a fish. There are also various densities available, and these are specific to salt water. Remember because of the saline content of salt water things sink more slowly than they do in fresh water!
Guide by Farlows expert Andy Buckley