Fly Line or Gold Mine

FAOL Community Sound Off
21

I figure, the $35.00 line on the market today would have been near top end line years ago, and they still caught fish and loved the sport. I clean and treat them regularly to try to maximize the performance, but it’s far less effort than dressing silk lines in the distant past.

Granted, top end lines are sweet, and if I could afford them I’d buy them in a heartbeat. No doubt. They generally cost more for a valid reason. With one kid in college and another heading off soon, I have certain priorities to consider, but my budget constraints don’t lessen the enjoyment I experience on the water. I’d rather fish a lesser line than not fish at all.

22

That pretty much sums up why I like Sharkskin too. I want to add, I’m fishing more because I’m not false casting as much with it, so the line is in the water, not in the air.

23

I was privileged to cast a sharkskin at the Idaho Fish-In a couple of years ago. JC said “come here and try this line” so I did. The line shot out to more distance than I was ever able to cast before. It probably added up to 15 more feet with my normal casting stroke. I was impressed to say the least. It did, however, make a lot of noise shooting through the guides. I ididn’t really mind the noise and I don’t think the fish would either. To tell you the truth, I’d like to have one of those lines, but $100 puts it way out of my budget. For those who can afford it, that line just might be the cat’s meow. But for me, I’ll settle for a Cortland 333. They’ve always been a good line for me. I hope they never stop making them.
The bumps on the Sharkskin only touch the guides about 5% or so as much as a smooth or ridged line. I really wouldn’t worry about grooving you guides.

24

Thanks for the comments. So I am not crazy and a $100 fly line is “pushing the envelope” based on most of your responses. I guess those $35 line perform well enough for most of our skill levels and use. Times are a changin.

Dr Bob

25

These days I basically use two different flylines, The Rio Classic and the Sci Angler Trout. When I started with these lines they cost somewhere around $40-$50 bucks. They now cost more although I have no idea because I haven’t bought a new line recently.

Since that time, Rio went from the “Slick Shooter Process” to “Agent X” and added the “Welded Loop”. I’m sure some other improvements came along the way. During that same period, Sci Angler added the “Dry Tip Technology” and the “Streamlined Loop”. Again, I have no idea if this is the extent of the changes made in that line.

Now I’d be a liar if I told you that besides the welded loop, I could see or feel any major difference from the past versions to the latest. Nevertheless, changes WERE made for some reason; either because of quality improvements, performance advantages or anglers just asked for them. I’m not sure if the changes I can see were worth the increase in price, to me. However, I’d be I liar if I told you the price increases were NOT justified, since neither company bothered to include a 10 year production cost analysis along with the line.

I would be telling you the truth if I told you I really like the products I am using right now, but because I don’t have any NIB 20 year old flylines to compare them to, I have to assume there IS a performance & quality advantage over the “old” lines.

Which kinda makes me wonder: if flylines work just fine as they are, and if NO price increase justifies any new product or performance; how come nobody stocks up and buys a few when they are priced right? Beside the cash factor, is it because folks are afraid they will be left out of any new developments in the latest & greatest? :rolleyes:

Because ALL of my fishing tackle gets treated like it cost me a million dollars, I clean my lines after every trip and I have a few that are at least 6 years old. I admit I have a LOT of reels & lines to spread the use over and some are relatively new, but the last line I replaced because of wear was a LONG time ago. I can also tell you that the last flyline I owned that cracked anyplace other than right at the leader joint was also a LONG time ago. So that tells me something, either I don’t fish enough (which isn’t true because I get out about 200 times a year), my care and maintenance program has merit, I am really lucky…

…or there is a value in quality.

As for me, I don’t sweat it. I consider a flyline one of the many consumables in fishing that are either a necessity, make the job easier or just increase my pleasure. That list also includes $15 fluorocarbon tippet material, $70 dry fly necks, $120 studded wading shoes, $1.85-$4.00 a gallon gas, $4 cigars, $40 Bourbon and a host of other stuff that gets used up, worn-out or lost over time. When I amortize those individual costs over the lifespan of the product and look for the best value, the statistics tell me I should not drive anywhere, stick with the high priced flyline and give up the whiskey & cigars.

JMHO

26

I also refuse to pay the list price. I like to buy last year’s wiz bang line at half price and let the New adapter types pay list price for the advertising blitz and for the companies to recapture quickly the R&D costs of developing a new line.

27

OK. Then maybe the line has less drag in the AIR, like a dimpled golf ball.
For the average trout fisherman I doubt this is much advantage because the casting distances are not all that far. But for someone fishing the flats this might be a good thing.

28

Informative article on Sharkskin here:
http://www.westfly.com/feature-article/0901/feature_1001.php

JC – do you think Glide is a bad product? I never used anything other than old silicone line dressing until that FFF conversation, so I have only relatively recent experience with Glide to rely upon. Frankly, if it wouldn’t affect floatability of flyline, I’d use WD40.
If you have real concerns about Glide, what would you use to treat/clean your fly line?

29

Bob, I still have a lot of 303 left so I use that. I really can’t say on Glide these days. I don’t know anyone who uses it and haven’t seen or touched it in many years. Lets hear about PE+. :slight_smile:

30

It’s all marketing. Like in food. Tell 'em it’s
lite, natural, low in calories, sat fat, cholestrol,
sodium, carbs but high in dietary fibre and you’ll
sell the crappiest food imaginable and ppl
will gobble it up like it’s the answer.

Fly lines are prolly little different one from the
other but how ya gonna sell a peach unless you
say it’s from Georgia? Anyone that has caught
a shark knows the skin is rough as heck one
way and smooth the other way. Better not saw
that through your guides.

Why do we get amazingly better gas mileage
when we pour junk in our gas tanks? Well,
because we want to so we drive properly. Why
does a particular and often times ‘new’ flyline
cast better than another? Because we want it
to.

Line dressings might help but basically they’re
cleaners and crud is what causes flylines to hang
up in the guides. What about the guides
and the rod? Clean them and feel a difference.

And here’s an idea…what if I clean and wax my
guides and my flyrod too? For that matter, what
if I clean and wax my flyline?

MontanaMoose

31

Hey Bamboozle,
You forgot the $31 bucks for your resident Pa license with trout/salmon stamp.:shock::wink:

32

My last two outings involved roundtrips of 160 and 220 miles, respectively. At $.08 per mile for gasoline, that’s about $30.

Over the next two weeks, I will probably make four more trips to the further destination, and two or three trips to more “local” spots, each maybe a 40 to 80 mile roundtrip. The cost for gas for those trips will be around $85.

So where is the real expense in fly fishing - rods, reels, fly tying equipment and materials, fly lines or GAS ??

I don’t buy $100 fly lines, yet, but the $70 line that lasts the best part of a season ( my season is year round and involves 125-150 days on the water ) is by far the smallest part of my fly fishing “budget” ( not that I have one, anyway ).

John

P.S. My annual license is $11.75.

33

Best money I spend all year! Call me nuts but I’d gladly pay double or triple that to fish in Penn’s Woods and I harvest nothing, don’t own a boat, and fish for stocked trout about 6 times a year.

34

I think that after the “new” wears off of the sharkskin phenomenon, and the prices drop (Clearance!!! make way for sharkskin II, New and Improved!!!) maybe I’ll take a look at it. I’m seeing an awful lot of threads on “sharkskin ate my wrapping threads”, “sharkskin sanded my guides in half”, “sharkskin causes male pattern baldness” (OK maybe not that one), “sharkskin makes my fingers bleed”, so maybe there is something to it, maybe not. I’ll stick with using what I have that ranges from 14 dollars through 50 dollars and be content. It either casts or it doesn’t, if it doesn’t it gets replaced. It either floats well or it doesn’t and gets replaced. Keep it cleaned (I use the SA kit), Loon the open ends if it doesn’t have a welded loop so it floats better, store properly and no matter the cost, it’ll serve you well. To me, that’s all I really need.

35

I keep large crappies, yellow perch and big gills, own a canoe and catch stockers because they are the only ones dumb enough for me to catch! Oh and I couldn’t agree with you more!
:smiley:

36

I am pretty happy with the Aquanova 99 lines from globel dorbeR. Price is $14.40. Apply a little Zip-Cast and they cast and float as well as my $52 Cortland 444s.

JW