I got into bamboo fly rods, and it seems that silk lines will work better than most plastic coated lines. Does anybody use these lines, and how do they fish? My bamboo rod has very small guides, and I do not want to replace them. Where is a good source for these lines at a cheap cost? ( I used up most of my money on those rods!!:p)Thank You.
You won’t find silk lines “at a cheap cost”. The manufacturing processes for synthetic lines and silk lines differ considerably; the taper of a silk line is created by adding or removing additional strands of silk during the braiding process. In the case of synthetic lines, the taper is the result of varying thicknesses of coating added to a constant diameter core; a much less expensive and time-consuming process. Cortland offers their “Sylk” line which is a synthetic line of smaller diameter than most synthetics and is also quite supple. I’m sure that most anglers (excepting perhaps the most die-hard traditionalists) would not be willing to put up with the additional, time-consuming care and preparation required to keep a braided silk line in top condition.
as far as im concerned there is no other flyrod other than bamboo or any flylines other than silk… i tried 1 plastic line from cortland, didnt like it so give that line away… the silk and plastic fish almost the same, casting is a little different… silk requires more maintanance than a plastic… silk has to be dried completely before storing or it will rott on ya… plastic doesnt really require any maintanance other than simple cleaning and the ocasional floatant/conditioner… if your gonna make a day of fishing with silk line, ya need 2 lines… yes 1 line half a day then switch to the other line fer the other half of the day so the lines dont become completely waterlogged… durring my fishing i allways apply a thin coating of mucilin in the red can only… 1 time a year or once every 2 years the lines should be refinnished with a mixture of varnish, oil… i have the recipe for the silk line finnish here somewhere… if you want a silk line cheap, go to ebay & type in SILK LINE or OIL PROCESSED or VINTAGE FLY LINE… ive bought several lines from there fer about 15$ needing a little care to be fishable but i aint got 400$ to spend on a brand new silk line either… ask questions… dont just assume a line is silk just because it looks like silk… some are made of nylon also… if you burn the end of a silk line it burns to ash… nylon burns leaving a ball at the end…
Thanks for the posts. I was looking on E-Bay and found a silk line for $50, but It was made in China.:mad: Would you have to change the line if you fish for only 4 hours?
Isn’t that where silk started? 
Today’s cane rods also have larger diameter guides than the older ones (like your’s). I’ve had great luck with Rio STII. I really despised Cortland’s Sylk. However it did make a good sink tip line. It has a smaller diameter than regular fly line (at least that’s what a Cortland rep told me) Some cane fishers like real silk line, but I’ll guess 99% fish plastic lines.
BTW, it wouldn’t be hard to replace your guides with newer, larger ones. At least your stripping guide. I’m assuming it’s agate?
no… you wouldnt have to change the line every 4hrs… about every 6hrs works just fine… also you might look in some good flee markets for silk line… i like a double taper silk line myself… i use a weight foreward if im casting big hair bugs…
One of the advantages of fishing a silk line is dressing the line prior to fishing. About noon you get out of the water, hang your wet line between some handy trees to dry, eat a dandy shore lunch, read a bit from a favorite old book, redress the line and go back to fishing.
Take the time to stop and smell the roses. There are some good silk fly lines around. The Phoenix brand springs to mind. Great dark yellow color, a soft hiss when it shoots through the guides and casts like a dream.
A silk line may cost a bunch more at the outset, but if well cared for, will outlast the owner. I know a couple of older gents that have over 40 years of hard fishing on their double taper silk lines and the lines are in great shape. Wonder what a plastic line would look like after 40 years of hard fishing?
REE
I bought one of those cheap silk lines from ebay. It’s not bad but it took a little work to get it broken in, every time I use it it fishes better then the time before. To the best of my knowledge the only silk line you can buy a fish right out of the box without a break-in is Phoenix. The Phoenix lines are definitely the best. But with a little patience & work the Chinese lines on ebay are fine. Mine was purchased this winter and it now will last about 3 hours, my Phoenix lasted more then 3 right out of the box. With the Chinese line all I did was pull it twice through a bar of lava pumice soap, then burnish it by pulling it through a folded piece of leather. Then it just need the treatment that comes in the box. I rubbed it in, let it set over night and polished it off with a clean towel and reapplied. I did this 3 times. My first trip out it lasted about 2 hours, but it lasts longer every trip.
I own lots of bamboo rods but only three of them have smaller guides. I use regular plastic lines on all of them with no issues whatsoever. The plastic lines shoot just fine and are hassle free. I tried silk, I liked it and all of the tradition associated with it, but I fish too many hours to go back to the hassles of removing, drying and greasing for no performance improvement over plastic.
IMHO the whole small guide/bamboo rod, must use silk thing is nonsense. Be careful, the next thing they will try and get you into is gut leaders!
But if you THINK you need a silk line ask yourself this question: Do you clean your plastic line regularly now?
If not, why not? If it’s because you don’t seem to have the time or it’s a pain to do it after every trip, once a week, once a month, once a year?
If the answer to the question is NO; you’ll quickly tire of taking care of silk.
Thanks again for the posts. I have a lot of time on my hands, so the silk lines might work. BTW all the guides on my fly rod are small agate. Two of the agate inserts on the tip sections are loose, so can I Fix them without replacing them? Thanks
My feelings on the subject are more or less in line with Bamboozle’s post above. By all means go ahead and try a silk line at some point, but don’t feel that it’s a necessity on a bamboo rod, small guides or not. I have a Thebault silk line that I spend a small amount of time with each season. Some day I may even get it broken in, LOL. I have no issues with the maintenance/preparation issues. I tend to enjoy that kind of thing. But the truth is, I really like the way my Air Cel Supreme lines feel and fish and that is what I use most of the time.
Bamboozle, gut leaders? How new fangled of you. They are horsehair and furled.
I should have known. 