I was having this debate with a friend yesterday - bright colored line, white line, or muted color like a gray line?
What are peoples thoughts on the board?
I seem to prefer the various shades of green. I like to be able to see the tip well, but also don’t want a gaudy orange thing out there. To me the white lines seem to show up TOO well on the water and the gray I have a hard time keeping my eye on the tip. I read once that the theory of the white line was that it was hard to see in the air.
I always use the brightest FLOATING line I can find. White, pink, orange yellow; brighter the better!
Like JC I prefer the brighter the better.
Tim
I use an olive line mostly, I do not think I need to give the trout the advantage of seeing a bright orange line anywhere near them.
The trout here seem to be able to see me behind a gorse bush from 100 yards as it is!
All the best.
Mike.
I have a willow colored
line that I always thought was grey, until cookie monster informed me
that it was not …
So now that I have a new colored line I mean glasses I am ready
to get umm big time!
Back when I thought it was grey line it would knock the heck out of em but now look out!
willow her I come…
Point is it really don’t make a whole lot of difference
on the color, but a good pair of spectacles and confidence will…
Take care…
Steve
Something that goes with my waders and hat? l-[8O
Ed
I’ve had this argument before, and I can say in advance that you guys on that side of the pond do not seem to be too bothered by bright colored lines.
I can say though with some confidence that they are not in general use in Australia, maybe yellows in rough lake water or very fast river water, but generally no.
I can say too that in New Zealand, where the water is crystal clear and the fish very educated, your guide will have a heart attack if you bring out anything like that.
I have spooked many fish with merely the line in the air or a flash of the rod.
Drab green for me. When do you need to see the line anyway? Watching the tippet or the fly is far more useful!
color doesnt seem to bother the fish so why does it always bother fisherman???
In MY perfect world all fly lines would be white and glow in the dark!
No doubt my fly fishing color scheme is more for me rather than the fish!
I like white for night, or at least the early hours or dusk when there’s little light. But for regular use I like the dull olive … kinda think it’s sorta camouflage … blending in with the foliage, ya know?
Dale
Bam
I have a RIO white glow in the dark flyline I use for browns at night. Works great!
I don’t think color matters unless you line the fish. Then I don’t think any color will save you. I have, with the line, spooked fish that rose between me and the rise I was casting at. But again, I don’t think any color would save you then either.
I like bright lines because I am not so good that seeing the line doesn’t help my casting. That is especially true when you are working out the line false casting to get the right distance. You just have to start short of the rise and work it out. It also helps with reach and curve casts so you can see the belly and anticipate a fly drag. And I love to watch a roll cast develop with a nice bright yellow line. It just looks cool.
Yellow shooting line will spook steelhead when you are using chuck and duck - but so will the weight. Many times when you cast up and over from the female to get at the boys down behind her, you will spook her off the redd. But she usually comes right back.
That’s my $.02
Godspeed,
Bob
Me too! 
I wish they never discontinued it. It has a great coating that works well in the cold too.
Brian Clarke and John Goddard discussed this subject in their excellent book The Trout and the Fly.(Nick Lyons Books 1980)
Using brown, green and white lines, they reported that above the water, “At every level, the green and brown lines were far more visible than the white fly line against the sky above”, “however, the white fly line showed one tendency that the others did not: in bright sunshine it gave off an occasional flash that was clearly visible below the water”.
On the water all lines equally cut off light from above and reflected light from below.
In the mirror ( which is explained elsewhere in the book as the area outside the trout’s cone of vision) “in every case, the white fly line was vastly more visible than either the green or the brown fly lines. It lay like a bright crack in the mirror, and when cast into the mirror, it fell like a flash of white lightning across the whole field of view”
" It was quite clear from this experiment that a white, yellow or peach fly line can be a significant handicap on rivers…"
“…It is in the mirror that counts, every time”
Does this discussion include both nymphing and dry fly fishing?
dudley,
I’ll have to get the book - haven’t read it. Interesting. I didn’t know trout paid much attention to the mirror outside their upward vision cone. Maybe this would explain why fish are more line sensitive in smooth water and you have to use longer leaders. I sometimes go to 16 feet in those spots. How far away in the mirror outside the cone do they notice things?
What do they have to say about leader material in the mirror?
Bob
Multiple speeds of seams in our streams makes a bright line my choice; I can see it on the surface. Since it’s all a game, seems like using a bright line ‘down-under’ would be a fun challenge. If you can catch fish with one, you’re really good!
Again from The Trout and the Fly
We tested three leaders of equal diameter, one greased with flotant, one treated to sink by applying to it a compound of glycerine and Fuller’s Earth, and one not treated with anything, but simply wiped clean with a soft, dry cloth.The greased leader came off the worst in both the window and the mirror. Refraction around the edges of the flotant made it appear to “thicken” over and above the added width of the floatant itself. The leader that was simply wiped clean was fairly conspicuous in the surface film at every point, but was less easily seen below the surface. The leader treated to sink was, because of it’s opaque dressing, more easy to see below the surface than the wiped leader but, of course, it had the advantage of not appearing on the surface at all. In view of this, and the results of our drag observations recorded below, we had reinforced our faith in a leader treated to sink throughout the last few feet of it’s length, where fishing conditions and technique allow
Well, now, maybe this can “stir the pot” a little and also give me an answer, that’s puzzled me for a long time…
Fishing the upper St.Joe river in North Idaho last year, we were after West Slope Cutts. We’d spotted a small grouping of 5, that lay at the base of a small white water area. Obviously, at about 17" average length that we could easily see, these fish hadn’t grown to that size, “being stupid”.
So, I switched reel spools and put on a CLEAR Monic brand floating 4wt. line. ("I’d had on, a subdued colored, AirFlo line, in “moss green”.).
First cast up to the fish, the line as planned, stayed well below the fish in question and the only thing to reach them was a #22 Trico and 12’ of leader.
The fish scattered like we’d thrown rocks, into their pool.
We rested the spot, for over an hour and watched as the trout slowly returned.
I switched back, to the AirFlo moss green line, while we rested the pool. Same fly, same leader. Bishop had kept on his peach colored 555 line the whole time.
We fished, again, and it took some effort, but we hooked and released 3 of the 5 trout, in about an hour's time. Naturally, being the EXPERT that I AM.......... I screwed up and bungled more casts, during that hour than I ever made good ones, I'm sure.
But, the lines, we used, never seemed to spook those large fish one iota. We, accidentally lined a couple, no sweat, they didn’t even budge.
I became more curious about this “Monic clear as glass fly line” I’d been given to test out,so again I put it on my reel. One cast, and again the fish scattered like before, the second that line hit the water, WELL BELOW where they all laid!?!
I worry about “where my tippet lands, along with the fly”, and no longer care, what color my lines are.
I’m not sure line color makes a difference or not. I use green (olive) lines most of the time and on some of my rods (7wt for example) I use yellow mainly for bass and bluegill in the lakes.
I’m really not sure if bright orange, green, olive drab, or pink with gree polks dots really matters to the fish.
On the other hand, we agonize over matching the color of our flies to the color of the bugs in the water, and we swear by (and more frequently swear at) given patterns on some waters.
Do fish see colors like we see colors? I don’t know, I’m not a fish. With its IQ hovering somewhere around 3, the fish is slightly more intellegent than me but only by a slim margin.
The way I see it, fish may see colors and they may know the difference. An olive or dark green line looks a lot more like a stick or a blade of grass floating down the stream than a bright day-glow orange line.
Why give the fish any more advantage than it already doss?
Jeff
I am one that doesn’t think Line color matters. It’s the shadow the line makes and they all make shadows, that spook fish. I think longer leaders if you really think the color matters. With the clear floating, I see a shorter leader as being the only advantage.
But I also don’t think that a shiny rod or reel make a difference either. Generally, if I can see a fishes nose, that fish can see me and it doesn’t matter what I do, it knows I am there.