Has anyone using this line noticed a breakdown of the tip cover at the line/tippet knot?
I have noticed a breakdown of the white tip covering exposing the core…the first time it was a Castwell knot reinforced with super glue so I figured it was the hinge point with the firmer glued area…retied it without glue and now I notice the same thing…
I don’t think it’s the knot’s fault.
Anyone?
Incidentally this has been with lawn casting.
Also I’m thinking this particular tip may be a set up to have a nail knot strip off the covering as has been reported occasionally.
I posted the following on another fly fishing board a month or two back. I also wrote to Cortland and they said they had not noticed this problem during extensive field testing of this line. They weren’t particularly interested in assisting me further! Back in Leon Chandler’s day at Cortland they had exceptional customer service. I have subsequently put this line in my ‘junk’ box.
One of my biggest bug bears in fly fishing has been that until recently floating fly lines do not float all the way to the tip. They might start off floating O.K. but eventually they start to sink and no amount of cleaning will prevent them from doing so. To combat this, I have used a little bit of Loon Payette Paste which I have smeared on the the line to leader connection and first few inches of fly line. This usually does the trick although it usually needs to be reapplied two or three times during the course of a day.
Very recently fly line manufacturers have started to advertise ‘new generation’ flylines which incorporate so called “new technology” that guarantees a fly line will float higher on the water than ever before and never sink. One such company that comes to mind is Rio with ‘Agent X’ technology that they have incorporated in to their range of fly lines, another is Cortland with their ‘Dyna-tip’ high floating technology which can be found on some of their 555 and latest ‘Precision’ range of lines. The last few issues of Fish & Game New Zealand magazine have featured full page colour advertisements for the Cortland 555 Dyna-tip. The most recent issue also has an endorsement from Graeme Sinclair including a photo of his 11 lb Fiordland Brown which he caught using one of these lines. All looks and sounds great!
Now for the bad news! Last week I purchased one of the new 555 Dyna-tip lines in WF6F Avacado. I was attracted to this line for a number of reasons; it is weighted slightly heavier than a standard WF6F, which is ideal for loading my Sage 690XP, the low memory, the slick coating, high floating tip and last but not least it’s fantastic colour. In fact, I would have to say that the avacado green and muted sage green colour combination is the best I have seen by any manufacturer period! However my enthusiasm for this line was soon short lived when I attempted to needle nail knot a leader - my preferred method of connection - to the tip. I made five successive attempts to do this and even tried a standard nail knot twice and although the knot would hold, when tightened it would bite deep into the coating of the line exposing the core directly behind the knot and causing it to hinge in this area. While I applaud Cortland’s use of innovation and new technology in designing a line with such a high floating tip, clearly the nature of the coating on the tip section of this line is not particularly suited to traditional methods of leader connection. Many anglers including myself shun braided loops and I certainly would have no confidence in using a line with an insecure connection. I feel this needs to be made clear on the advertising on the rear of the box and in the accompanying booklet. When I spoke to the tackle store where I purchased the line I was told that this was the first 555 Dyna-tip they had sold and therefore was not aware that this was a problem. Had I known this I would have thought twice about purchasing this particular line. So let the buyer beware! Unless your preferred method of line to leader connection is the braided loop, be wary of the new Dyna’tip lines!