Cleaning Your Line

[steve98]

Was wondering if and how u all clean and dress your fly line from one season to the next, or from one outing to the next for that matter.

Steve98

 

[TLoomis]

I clean mine twice a season. But I have crappy line that I dont care about. I would more if I had decent line. Look at your line, if it looks dirty, clean it. If you are going on a trip or something, clean it before/during. It doesnt hurt right?

I use a fly line dressing applicator and rio fly line dressing. It cost me like 10 bucks or something.

 

[jayL]

http://www.zipcast.net/

Afishinado recommended it, and I bought some. My lines are all performing *better* than new. I use it once every few outings.

 

[gfen]

Zipcast is the way. HA turned me onto it.

And yet, I don't own any... I'm still working my way through a bottle of Cortland XL and those nifty little pads with the rough finish on one side, and the sponge on the other.

If I'm feeling saucy, I'll do it every time I fish. Usually, though, its about every week or so. Lines are expensive, and if I bought them full price instead of clearance, I'd be doubly motivated to care for them.

 

[PaulG]

I use zip cast as well, works fine for me, probably should use it more then I do.

PaulG

 

[afishinado]

jayL wrote:
http://www.zipcast.net/

Afishinado recommended it, and I bought some. My lines are all performing *better* than new. I use it once every few outings.

Zipcast works well. It cleans your lines, makes them float better, and makes them slick. To get the most out of it, I try to use it right before I go fishing to slick it up. Every couple of trips I run my lines through a small piece of rag with ZC on it, and I'm good to go.

 

[whheff]

I clean my line every month, or after 20 uses. I use a little Dawn dish washing detergent and I don't use any line dressing at all. I have had no problems with this method.

 

[gfen]

Actually, I forgot about that aspect, thinking instead only of the regular dressing of the line.

Once a year, I've removed the line, soaked it in warm water with mild detergent then let it dry on clean towels in loose coils before spooling it back up.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Cleaning your line only works if you actually DO it. The soap and water method works well, but is far more time consuming to do. I'd rather take 2 minutes to clean my line with Zipcast, than 15 or twenty minutes to do the line in the sink thing. You can also clean your line in the field with Zipcast just as easily.

Zipcast also cleans better than the soap and water deal - I've tried cleaning what I thought was a clean line done with soap and water, and Zipcast removed even more dirt from what I thought was a clean line.

I keep an empty reel pouch with Zipcast and some gun cleaning patches in my gear bag, and this works great for cleaning lines at the end of the day's fishing. The next time I use that line, it's ready to go and performs better than new.

 

[shakey]

i only clean my plastic lines once in a while and i usually dress the last ten feet of a plastic floating line with albolene.

silk lines i'm a little more careful with,cleaning after each use and i dress them with red tin mucillin.