Flylines You Are Happy With!

[brownonbow]

Okay so everybody has had a chance to put the hate on their least favorite line, now is there such a thing as a good line? Have you found one that casts the way you'd hoped? Maybe a floating line that will actually keep the tip from drowning.

 

Here is your chance to show some love.

 

I'll get this whole thing started. Now I don't have a huge arsenal of rods and lines and my target fish is trout here in Alberta. I own a Cortland peach with a sink tip that to this day I don't have a whole lot of experience with. I prefer a floating line as this gets the job done without the extra spools or rod to take along. The most recent line that I purchased is a 6 wt Airflo ridgeline that I like...lots. I'm thinking the next line that I try will probably be the Rio Grande.

 

And what is your experience? Any line that has cut the mustard for you?

[maxwell]

for me nymphing the bow/ hopper dropper and any single handed spey casting and overhand shooting line i love would be the loop opti stream and airflo 40+ my top two dryfly lines would be the loop opti stillwater and the rio gold! for streamers the only line i use in 3 different sink rates would be the loop pike booster!i find tips on floater sink if u dont take care of them.. on any line! if u dont seal the end water will seep into the core!! its not the lin emakers fault! even after a hour or two of fishin it will sink!

[duanec]

have been pleased with the rio coldwater versi tip i bought

[jksnijders]

 

Airflo 40 +. In the 8 Wt. variety.

[headscan]

Airflo 40+

Loop Opti Stream

SA GPX

Rio Gold

Airflo Compact Skagit

Airflo Compact Scandi

Rio AFS

Loop Multi

 

[cheeler]

Rio Gold for single handed 5wt

Airflo scandi lines

Beulah Tonic for a short skagit or switch rod line.

 

I have a 40+ 8wt for my xi2 8wt - it was a bit too heavy for my taste but the polyurethane coatings are easy to chop and weld.

 

 

[Garlicmarshmellow]

Bought an airflo delta orange flyline years ago. Dave at Fishtales told me it was similar to a Wulff triangluar taper which I was trying to find at the time. Hasn't cracked, throws well and roll casts and mends like a dream. Can't find it anymore on their website. Tried a couple of SA lines before the delta and they haven't moved since I bought this line. Sorry I can't remember the exact name. I think it was just called airflo delta back then.

[BruceKruk]

Bought an airflo delta orange flyline years ago. Dave at Fishtales told me it was similar to a Wulff triangluar taper which I was trying to find at the time. Hasn't cracked, throws well and roll casts and mends like a dream. Can't find it anymore on their website. Tried a couple of SA lines before the delta and they haven't moved since I bought this line. Sorry I can't remember the exact name. I think it was just called airflo delta back then.

 

 

 

Still exists under the name sixth sense. The newer coating make this line better than it ever was!

[scorpiondeathlock]

rio gold all the way. I find overlining it for the rod is great

[DutchDryfly]

In no particular order

 

Single

Cortland 444

Wulff TT

 

Double

Elixer

CND GPS

Scierra MWF

[126barnes]

Not that I would know any better but the Cortland Peach served me well along with the Wluff triangle taper.

[ÜberFly]

I like SA GPX on my 6 wt FLi (though I'm going to need to replace it this summer and was thinking of trying the Rio Grande).

 

I also like SA - Streamer Express (with 10' cut off the sink tip).

 

I also bought a Cortland 333 - 6 wt clear intermediate on sale a few years ago and I am very happy with it's durability. I use it on both my 5 wt and 6wt (mostly on my Redington CPX 5 wt swinging streamers at night).

 

Have my new 4 wt loaded up with both Rio Gold (haven't tried it yet) and Selective Trout II (used it for 1/2 an hour and it casted very nicely on the rod, but was early fall so never hooked up - wanted to try out the new rod so wasn't expecting much other then a test drive!) One of the reels I may be selling this summer...

 

P

[Teck71]

Have not been through a lot of lines but the SA GPX works the way I like

[jack]

I am a strong advocate of matching lines, not just to rods but also to casting styles. Not only for spey, but also to single-hand. Only makes sense to coordinate all 3 aspects of a cast.

 

Single:

SA Single-hand Sharkskin(various WF configurations, Trout Taper, Steelhead Taper and Magnum)

Jim Teeny Invisitip for sight fishing the shoals

 

Spey:

Airflo Compact

SA Skagit

Partridge Ian Gordon Shorthead

j

 

[Tungsten]

Cortland 444 clear camo.I think its 5 years old and still casts nice.

[BBBrownie]

Cortland 444 peach

Teeny T-300

Airflo Delta

Rio Skagit Flight

 

These are lines that I like.

 

I have a SA steelhead taper line (not of the sharkskin variety)on a reel at home for the single hand rod that I have yet to cast. Anyone have experience with this line?

[Ricinus]

Cortland 444 Peach. Tried others but keep going back to it. I haven't tried a Sharkskin, but hear mostly good things - damned expensive though.

 

Regards Mike

[Brunsie]

I'm pretty hard on lines so durability is also a factor.

dry lines:

Airflo Ridge in all of the configurations (nymph.distance, presentation)

Rio Gold (I don't care for my Rio nymph)

 

I've had very good luck with the 444 clear intermediate sink as well.

My sink tips and full sink lines are so old that I can't remember what they are

 

 

[Flyfisher]

Just about any SA line I've had has been good so I've pretty much stuck with SA. The one exception was the original Stillwater or slimeline, it had bad memory problems. I replaced it with a Cortland Camo and am pleased with it.

 

I've used the Rio Gold for one season in a 4 wt. for streams and so far no complaints. I'm curious to see if it will hold up in durability as well as the GPX's have.

 

A Wulff triangle taper I had proved to be a good line to.

 

There's a lot of good quality stuff out there and for the most part I'm grateful for that. However along with it comes a great deal of marketing hype and product redundancy. I guess that is to be expected as long established companies compete for market share and fledgling ones try to break into it. Perhaps the biggest hype going today is matching gear to individual preference and image. Sooner or later one may come to a simple understanding: it ain't so much about gear (given what you have is already pretty good) as it is about who is using it.

[SilverDoctor]

Peach 444 is very nice, I also like the Rio lines. My very favorite are silk lines by Terenzio, and Hardy and a few other makers. have a Hardy Silk form the 1920's that beats anything else I have. They do take some maintenance but incredible lines.

[darrinhurst]

I like my Cortland 444 Classic SL on my 5wt and love the Rio Gold on my 3wt.

 

I am thinking I may go with one of those on my new Launch 6wt. Still shopping though.

[Bigtoad]

Slightly off topic but it does have to do with recommended lines:

 

My lovely wife got me a 4pc 4wt 7'9" finesse TFO rod for Xmas. I fish Stauffer and Prairie quite a bit, do some backpacking to lakes (yeah 4pc!) and do several cuttie streams west of Nordegg. About half the time I fish smallish dries and the other half I like rubber legged foam stuff. What line would you recommend for this rod and these conditions? I'm not sure about overlining it when I think it will be a pretty soft rod to begin with? Thoughts?

 

Oh yeah, and reasonably priced is always nice.

[DutchDryfly]

Slightly off topic but it does have to do with recommended lines:

 

My lovely wife got me a 4pc 4wt 7'9" finesse TFO rod for Xmas. I fish Stauffer and Prairie quite a bit, do some backpacking to lakes (yeah 4pc!) and do several cuttie streams west of Nordegg. About half the time I fish smallish dries and the other half I like rubber legged foam stuff. What line would you recommend for this rod and these conditions? I'm not sure about overlining it when I think it will be a pretty soft rod to begin with? Thoughts?

 

Oh yeah, and reasonably priced is always nice.

 

 

Cortland Peach would be my choice

[Ricinus]

Cortland Peach would be my choice

 

 

x1 on the Peach

 

Regards Mike

[danhunt]

The Rio Gold is the best all around line I use, but for chroni fishing or big dries the Rio Grande still gets the nod.