I was going through the fly fishing supplies when I found a new unopened box of SA Air Cell L-5-F Lt green. I remember buying it off of ebay when I was new to the hobby and didn’t understand the difference between the fly line profiles.
What do you do with this stuff? I am not going to fish it. Is it
[ol]
[li]Good to stabilize the garbage can linner at the bottom of the can?[/li][li]show others how to tie knots since it is thicker than mono?[/li][li]dust collector on top shelf of tying room?[/li][/ol]What would you do with this stuff? I have a friend in Iraq that is a fly fisherman, but I wouldn’t fish with the stuff so I don’t even think that I should donate it to people to use as a fly line to fish with.
Looking for ideas before it hits the trash. I have many fly lines, one of the treasures found in the same look and see was a box of Rio Grand in a WF6F that I forgot that I had, new in the box. I also have an unfished 6 wt rod, must have been why I bought that, but don’t remember when. It’s good to look through your stash pile once in a while, you might be surprised what you find.
I’m a vest or fanny pack guy and I hate zingers so I made up a lanyard with an old fly line on which I attached my nipper tool. I tuck it in my shirt when I don’t need it to keep it out of the way, and it’s always available when I do. Actually I used a DT line to make it as it is lighter than a level line ;-). There are some guys on here who are collaborating on a book soon to be released entitled “One Hundred and One Things To Do with a Dead Line.” Joey V is writing the preface and baking cupcakes for the introduction party. Stay tuned.
You can make a wallet of various sinking heads. (example: Rio T-14) Put a loop on the end of the fly line and you have a pretty good sink tip set up. You can do the same thing with a WF line that has seen it’s last days. Just cut the wf part off and use the level line with sink tips. If you do this remember you need to cast a sink tip when the weighted part is at the tip of the rod or within the rod tip (best) . That’s true for any sink tip line.
Thanks for some ideas on what to do with this stuff. Kind of like the idea of using it as a running line. I also have a stream thermomter that is tied to my fest with backing; I cold redo that connection with a section of this fly line. All good ideas.
I wasn’t trying to sell it or send it off somewhere, I was really just trying to figure out how to make use of this stuff. The book about how to use old line is interesting. My fly casting coach, uses old lines to demo knots and works very well with two different colored old fly lines, easy to see and work with.
I used one to make a snake catcher. A snake in the house was terrorizing my stepmother and the maid. I took a piece of old level line and tied one end to the bottom guide on an eight weight rod’s tip section. Then, I ran a loop thru the guides and out the tip-top leaving the untied end handy at the bottom of the rod. Slipped the loop over the snake’s head and pulled on the loose end. Worked like a charm. The snake couiled all up on the tip of the rod section as I took it to show steopmomma and the maid. Do you have any idea how fast 75 yeear-old women can run?
Nymph fish. The level line will turn over strike indicators and are great for “Tuck” casts.
I usually don’t worry about being delicate with strike indicators and split shot.
Czech / Polish Nymphing.
Small streams for both dry fly and nymph fishing. I don’t get the problem of the line
running back thru the guides when trying to cast short (5-10 ft).
Warm water fishing.
I also don’t feel bad about constantly changing leaders since I’m not cutting any taper off the fly line. I’ve found many uses for a level line.
Vinny
P.S. If you don’t want the level line, I’ll take it off your hands.
cut pieces and use it for making extended body flies. I found some 8wt level and it makes great Hex and dragon fly bodies. Also us it to tie up the tomatoes. It looks great attached to one of those Japanese boxed bamboo rods and a Better Boy tomato plant.
A really good caster can cast a level line with dry flies reasonably well. The taper is there to make the end of the cast a little less sensative to too much left over velocity. By using a little reach at the end of the cast you can get an over zealous cast to lie down softly even with a level line. But you’ll spend more time trying to learn to cast it than it’s worth. Use it for nymphing or streamers where the presentation isn’t as critical.
Level running lines primarily are used with shooting heads attached to them for distance casting. Salt water fly fishing is where I see this set up mostly.
I also see these level lines used quite a bit in Great Lakes tributary steelhead fishing where significant weight is used on the leader to get the flies down to those bottom hugging winter steelies. The skinny running line has less resistance to the water flow and gives a better drift. The significant weight provides the momentum to make the cast and shoot the running line.
My 7 1/2 yr. old son can cast a LL about 30 ft. and thats what he fishes with. But then again I made his rod from a ultralight spin rod and martin reel. But he catches fish with it and don’t have to worry about him messing up a good line till he gets better. As if he can cast a LL he will be able to pitch a wt.fw line real good. And was going to say use it for tying bodies as someone else said. Later Matt
We usually use a #2 level for chuck and duck in Great Lakes tributaries for steelies. Mono is too rough on the fingers and the #2 flyline shoots really nice.
All the old fly lines were level as I recall until they started tapering silk lines. Tapered lines cast better but you can learn to cast without them, e.g. Matt’s son. I’m sure he will think he is heaven when he graduates to a tapered line.
