Advice on line please

[Toomanyhobbies]

Hi guys, I have a couple questions about my line, I will keep it as short as possible,lol. My fly rod set up is about 5-7 years old I bet and consists of a St. Croix 9'-7w and a smaller Ohkuma reel. I bought it from a friend who won it and never used it 3 or 4 years ago (it was still in the case when he sold it to me). The line is original and seems ok but it's starting to feel stiff and rough, just wondering if it needs to be replaced. I mostly fish for Steelhead on smaller, shallow creeks and generally use a Wooly Bugger type flies. Some areas of these creeks have good sized pools that are fairly deep, do I go with a floating or sinking line. Thanks!

 

[PatrickC]

Toomanyhobbies wrote:
Hi guys, I have a couple questions about my line, I will keep it as short as possible,lol. My fly rod set up is about 5-7 years old I bet and consists of a St. Croix 9'-7w and a smaller Ohkuma reel. I bought it from a friend who won it and never used it 3 or 4 years ago (it was still in the case when he sold it to me). The line is original and seems ok but it's starting to feel stiff and rough, just wondering if it needs to be replaced. I mostly fish for Steelhead on smaller, shallow creeks and generally use a Wooly Bugger type flies. Some areas of these creeks have good sized pools that are fairly deep, do I go with a floating or sinking line. Thanks!

A lot of that depends on HOW you fish. If you only fish with streamers and never use indies or cast a dry fly, a sinking line is fine. Most folks that have one set-up they use for nearly all of their fishing do better with a weight forward floating line. It's more versatile. You can't get an offering down with floating line, but it's pretty tough keeping a dry fly up or using an indie correctly with sinking line.

Hopefully that helps some. I'm sure there will be more "in-depth" answers to come. Try to keep it simple. And again, understand that the way you fish plays the most important role in how to choose line. I have every kind of line there is (not literally, but a lot of them). Which is why I have many reels and many extra spools. But then, I'm on the water WAY TOO MUCH and fish for everything in about every way. So consider these things.

 

[dryflyguy]

That fly line may just need cleaned. I do that to mine after about 6-7 days worth of fishing.
And - unless it has cracks or breaks - it should be fine

 

[RLeeP]

If the steelhead streams you fish are PA streams and if you'd just as soon not have to invest in both a new floating and sinking line (provided you need a new line at all...), there is no place on the PA Lake Erie tribs where a sinking line is "necessary". I mean, you could get a sinker and fadiddle around with short leaders and whatnot and catch fish. But there is no place where not having a sinking line is going to put you at a disadvantage. Just bring lots of size BB shot and keep putting them on your leader until you find the fish or the bottom.