Is clear the most effective? I have no trout in the lakes I fish just standard warmwater fish. I ended up getting a line that is dark green for my 4wt mostly because of my budget. Just wondering if this will affect my already feeble attempts of catching fish from my float tube.
Janus
This question comes up often. If I had to guess, I think clear would be better. Some intermediates are light orange.
I’ve never seen dark green, though. Are you sure it’s an intermediate?
Randy
I hope so. It says that it is. I will find out soon. it is from Allen & Co. took a little risk I suppose.
It’s one of those good, better, best, fishing confidence things.
Back in the day we used Cortland Intermediates that were Blue. I don’t mean the current pale blue nearly white ( Horizon ) colored lines as you see in the Saltwater market. The old lines were Blue, like Sinatra’s eyes :roll: and anglers caught plenty of fish with them.
While every fishery is different and clear lines have their place and I use them. If all I had was one of the old blue lines, I’d fish it with confidence knowing that it’s what I present and how I present it, that really counts.
Best, Dave
I have 4 intermediate lines,all different colors.One clear,1 aqua,1 light blue/surf,and 1 cream colored glow in the dark.I fish these in the salt but no matter,the fish dont care.No one line fishes better than the others and im sure WW fish wont care either.I will say I prefer a colored line better than a clear just so I can see it and know where the line is in the water.
I have an old dark green full sink but I think it is a 3 or 4 type sinker in a 5wt . An intermediate is generally listed as a type 2 sinker.
I caught lots of crappie and a few pike in 10 to 12 feet of clear water in northern Michigan on it .
For the sake of clarity…Type two has a faster sink rate than the Intermediate.
Here is a quote from Cortland.
“TYPE CHARACTER SINK RATE (inch/second)
1 slow (intermediate) 1 1/4 - 1 3/4 ips
2 fast 2 1/2 - 3 ips
3 extra fast 3 1/2 - 4 ips
4 super sinker 4 1/4 - 5 ips
5 super fast 5 1/4 - 6 ips
6 extra super sinker 6 1/4 - 7 ips”
You should be able to tell if it’s an intermediate by fishing with it. It should sink very slowly. I have two light-orange intermediates. I believe one was clear then I actually dyed it because I was having trouble seeing my back cast when I made long casts, but I’d certainly like to try a clear again. I mean, I’ve always heard that bass are spooked by wire leaders, so a clear line can’t hurt.
Randy
Most full sinking lines are some sort of dark color, and you generally use a very short leader with them. You generally use a full length leader with intermediate lines. So, your line color shouldn’t be a problem unless the water is really clear and the fish are really spooky.
Janus,
You will do just fine with a dark green intermediate line. Most of mine are either clear or camo but with a decent length of leader, 6 to 8 feet and you will have no problem.
One method I find very effective is to cast out as far as I can, kick some more, releasing almost all of the intermediate line, say about 90 feet of it. Then stop kicking, let the line rest for a minute, strip in 10 feet then kick some more while you snake out that 10 feet, and repeat. Vary your times of line rest and your stripping speed to find the depth the fish are at and what stripping action they will strike. Just make sure you get the fish on the reel and reel it in, do not strip in 90 feet of line, that causes a massive birds nest.
Larry —sagefisher—
I have intermediate lines in dark green (cortland), sky blue (cortland), light green (S.A.), amber (orvis), and clear (various brands). They have all been effective for me in salt and freshwater, clear and murky.
A few years ago I was fishing the Fall River in Northern California with a guide. The Fall river is a spring creek and very clear. Dry fly and nymph fishing wasn’t working for me so we decided to fish leeches on intermediate lines. I uncased a rod rigged with a sky blue Cortland intermediate line and 7ft leader. The guide said it would scare the fish and wouldn’t work. After about the tenth time of hearing me say “oh, that can’t possibly be a fish on the end of my line” he told me to shut up. I caught about two dozen fish with that line in crystal clear water.
I had used that guide many times and we were friends and comfortable needling each other. The only reason I use clear lines today is because they are usually what is in the shop. I prefer colored lines because I can see the line and often detect strikes I cant feel. Some of the lines with a clear tip and tinted body have the benefits of both types.