Superabundance of fly lines: A rant

[PA Dave]

I tend towards the minimalist school of thought, but I think the incredible variety of fly lines is great! I'll never need or use most of them, but part of the beauty of fly fishing is that we can make it as simple or as complicated, as narrow or varied, as we want. For some people having only a few basic choices would suck some of the joy out of it, and no one wants that. Personally, I just find a line geared towards the majority of my fishing and stick with it. All told, I probably like Cortland 444 best. My cardinal rule is, avoid the cheap, avoid the hyper-expensive. Cheap is rarely a bargain, and hyper-expensive is overkill (for me).

[jszymczyk]

I wish they'd all show the measurements of their tapers. Some do, most don't. The WF market is a nightmare. Some are like casting a Rapala. Some are nearly level.

All I need is a DT and a WF, one "standard" taper, in the weights that work on my rods. The terms "Tarpon", "Striper" "Redfish", and all that are meaningless. Just like "light, "medium", and "heavy" to describe rod actions. No two are alike, despite the name. Tarpon come in 5 lb sizes and 150 lb. sizes. Same line? I don't think so.

I agree with the OP. Make two or three tapers, put the best finish on them that's available, maybe make a WF that's stiffer for tropical applications, and let us all learn to cast them all. There's no reason other than marketing to have 10 or 15 different fly lines. PT Barnum would have done well in the fly line business!

And to the guy who said Cortland 444 peach---YES!

Hits the nail squarely on the head! A special line just for Carp? Get real. I love to fly fish and have been doing it my entire life, and it has quickly become evident that Fly Fishermen are some of the biggest suckers in the world. An average person in todays world trying to start out fly fishing, who perhaps didn't grow up making due with a hand-me-down rod and a level line, and who typically lacks any common sense, can easily be confused and priced out of even wanting to fly fish. Pick up a decent rod, a good quality DT or WF line AND LEARN HOW TO USE IT instead of trying to rely on "special" tapers and all that other BS. I freely admit that a bass bug or heavy front taper line makes it marginally nicer to cast big flies for a given line-weight. Opposite is true for delicate dry flies, etc. Either extreme can still be accomplished with a general-purpose line. Can't blame the manufacturers for making all this stuff, because they know fly fishermen will BUY IT! I know I've caught a pretty big bucketload of different species of fish over the decades using "normal" fly lines. I've switched between surface flies, nymphs, and streamers using the same line in the space of an hour and caught fish on all of them.

[anglerdave]

Well Rio no longer makes the Selective Trout II line. I think it was replaced by the Trout LT and this is what their website says about that line. Although I use the Selective Trout II on my 5wt Scott G and have taken it to CO and did not once think I had the wrong fly line.
A long, delicate front taper ensures the softest of presentations
Perfect for fishing dry flies, soft hackles, emergers, small nymphs and chironomids
An excellent line for roll and single-handed spey casting
The ultimate presentation fly line

Also, I think Feather Craft's catalog does a pretty good job describing what trout fly line might go best with the type of fly rod you are using. As far as specialty lines are concerned, if you don't fish for carp, tarpon, bonefish or steelhead, etc., what does it matter?

[idlerick]

Those who would fault the line manufacturers for making such a wide variety of lines generally have a common trait: They fish one way for one species in one geographic area. If all I did was fish for trout in mid-sized streams, the standard WF or DT lines of 20 years ago would work fine for me.
But the world is a big place, and many saltwater anglers, for instance, need fly lines that are designed for 85 degree water; the coldwater trout lines behave like over-cooked spaghetti in warm water.
A guy throwing Clousers or bass bugs really benefits from a torpedo-type taper; someone on a spring creek will catch more fish with a finer presentation; Spey casters almost have to have a specialized line, or their method is futile; beginners may want some choice in line costs; and the different sink tip weights make matching different the water depth to the fly line much easier.
Sure, the variety forces the single-use angler to do some reading and ask some questions before he chooses a new line. That's the price of progress.

[JohnScott]

Well said, idlerick. Maybe it will remind folks that the fly fishing universe is HUGE and most of us occupy only a very small part of it.

John

[sharps]

All I fish is fresh water, cold and warm, and I've never found a thingmy silk lines won't do, most often nearly to perfection. HOWEVR!!!!! while I'm not a great experimenter when it comes to fly fishing for the better part of 40 years I had to try almost every new gadget & gizmo that came on the market for shooting the following: Long range smokeless riflery, BPCR when it first got going and we were "re-discovering" the art of shooting black powder cartridges, and revolvers for long range and hunting. Therefore, I understand the huge quantity of lines out there from both the manufacturers and end users standpoint. I had a pile of fun shooting and learning and I bet those who go through so many lines have the same fun.....and find out what works for them in the process!

[jszymczyk]

at a cost of $50 to $70 or more for each of these "specialty" lines, most people are not going to be able to go through a lot of lines to find out what works for them, and this just continues to propagate the idea that fly fishing is elitist and extremely expensive. Based on my experiences fly fishing in cold, hot, fresh, salt, small streams, oceans, rivers, clear, muddy, fast, slow, deep, shallow, shore, boats, wading..... I would say the large majority of fly fishermen won't realize enough advantage of one of these specialty lines versus a so-called normal WF or DT line to justify the expense. When I saw the "Carp" line for the first time, I just laughed...Totally marketing driven to try to make another buck because of contemporary COOL status of fly fishing for carp--- what are generally used for carp? #12 to #6 nymph and crayfish patterns... can't effectively present those on an everyday WF line?

I'm absolutely not saying there shouldn't be a wide selection of lines available, because there should be. To put out a line such as the Carp is totally fad-driven though. Probably marketing genius- make a small inexpensive change, write a couple of sentences, and market it directly at the hype-of-the-day in the FF world.

As a shooter of BPCR and therefore a student of the period, you've no doubt heard the saying "Beware the man with only one gun, because he knows how to use it!" Same concept can be applied to FF, although none of us would want to be so limited--- the idea is learn to use one outfit effectively across a multitude of conditions, and you will truly become good at what you do.

The marketing of lines seems to push the idea that a person WILL NOT be effective unless they have a specialty line for every possible condition which is just a load of crap.

good thing I don't make my living in the marketing world, because I wouldn't make much of a living!!!

[lee s]

If it were up to me I would seldom use much more than an "ought", a five or a ten weight rod with a level line or a shooting head system...(notice SELDOM). However, rest assured, there is plenty crap to sort thru to get to those items in the FF quiver around here. Add to that that the GF is still new enough at FF'ing to have to experiment and be facinated by most of the newest and greatest. Let us just say that I am often catching heII for not waiting at the PU (which is needed to carry ALL of the junk) while she assembles the latest and greatest.....time's a'wasteing, let's git to the water....NOW.
....lee s.
PS - Just now she wanted to load MORE stuff for a non-fishing trip......just in case. Welllllll.....in the PU (my quiver) we carry an ought,a three, a four, a six, a nine, and a ten weight and varoius lines to toss with each. And she asks, "can we BOTH fish any situation?" I am sorta in trouble again as my reply started out with "well, if'n we can't........"

[lestrout]

I prefer the (over)abundance to the situation in the '50s before 444 Peach made the scene. There were different, now defunct, makers like Sunset Line and Gladding, but overlooking silk, there were just coated nylons and SciAng 2 series and the predecessor to the 333. Even the Orvis and HL Leonard lines were repackaged lines, with no mods at all.

hp
les