Fly Line Cleaner / Dressing?

[steveo27]

What do you guys do/use?



I soak the line in soapy water (Dawn dish soap) for a bit then strip it through an old T shirt to clean it. Then use another shirt with some Aerospace 303 protectant on it and wipe the line down.

This seems to work really well, but the very forward 2 or 3 feet of the line still wants to sink after a few hours of fishing it. No matter how often I clean the line it still does the same thing. By the time Im done fishing for the day, the line is starting to drag under water. The line is Orvis Clearwater WF floating line.

What do you guys use? Any suggestions on how to keep the very forward section of the line on top of the water?

Cheers

 

[ryansheehan]

I put some Payette paste on the first couple feet of my line at the beginning of every fishing day. It does an amazing job keeping the line afloat.

 

[dryflyguy]

I've always used mucilin paste on the last few feet of line. Seems to work OK - although I'm not sure how important it is to keep those last few feet floating.

ryansheehan - I'm curious as to what Payette paste is. I've never heard of it

 

[Maurice]

The usual reason flyline sinks at the tip is because the dacron core gets soaked and becomes heavy or heavier than the floating properties of the coating. Seal the tip of the flyline with zap a gap or superglue at the nail knot.

Otherwise you may have cracks or even just one crack that is allowing water into the core.

 

[steveo27]

I never though of that Maurice, but that makes sense. I use this line on my brookie rod, so it takes a beating fishing those small streams. Ill have to take a look at the line and see if I can see anything.

THanks

 

[PennKev]

I've come to accept that floating lines that start to sink are a fact of life.

I've owned dozens of lines and most everyone of them developed this problem in short order, if not right out of the gate. Heck, I had a brand new, high-end 8wt line start to sink on the first few cast this year. Mucillin fixed the problem and it floated fine the rest of the day.

Taking a few seconds to wipe on some Mucillin or Payette once or twice a day is a wise investment of time.

Kev

 

[RLeep2]

>I've come to accept that floating lines that start to sink are a fact of life.>

That's pretty much the truth of it, in my experience, and I've found it to be true of even the high end lines with the (alleged..) hydrophobic coatings, etc. They all sink and usually sooner rather than later. So, I do the Mucilin thing as suggested by some of the other posters and it works well.

I've noticed though that when I don't want to be bothered getting the Mucilin out that a quick swipe of the last few feet of line with a piece of faux-chamois cloth (I carry this to pre-dry drowned flies before applying floatant) will usually get me a couple dozen casts without any line tip sinkage. In technical terms, I think over time that our lines pick up little microscopic pieces of fonk that help to sink the line and that simply drying the line tip helps for a while...

 

[ryansheehan]

dryflyguy wrote:
I've always used mucilin paste on the last few feet of line. Seems to work OK - although I'm not sure how important it is to keep those last few feet floating.

ryansheehan - I'm curious as to what Payette paste is. I've never heard of it

It's a loon product. It will keep your line floating most of the day. In my opinion the Rio gold seems to be the best floating line I have used. I love the way the orvis hydros 3d line casts, but it cracks at the tip very easily and is hell on your finger when you are stripping streamers. I have bought three orvis lines that have cracked within 10 uses so I am switching all my lines to Rio.
Also I couldn't disagree more about the last few feet floating, I believe it's critical to be able to mend to your leader or sometimes fly. Even if just a littlr bit goes under I apply some paste.

 

[steveo27]

Ive read mucilin is bad for modern fly line.


Im going to give the payette paste a try if I can find it. I tried a few places locally without any luck. Time to order it I guess.

 

[ryansheehan]

I pick mine up at ****s.

 

[sandfly]

NEVER use a detergent (dawn) to clean a line, they take the essential chemicals out. Only use Ivory soap (bar) its the only safe thing to clean lines. I prefer thinned goop to seal the line ends since its totally water proof where some CA glues tend to break down in water after a time.

 

[TimRobinsin]

Sandfly is correct. DO NOT use dawn. It will break down the coating on your fly line. Use the mildest soap you can in warm water.

I also like Orvis' line cleaning system.

Full disclosure: I work for Orvis.

Don't use Dawn. I killed 5 fly lines in one shot with dawn.

 

[KeithS]

Sandfly,
What do you thin the Goop with? Also, are you using brand name Goop?

 

[steveo27]

Well #censor#. All the research I did that lead me to using Dawn to clean the line was wrong I guess. Tons of misinformation out there....

I hope I didnt do too much damage. Sigh.

 

[Tack-L-Tyer]

Two other products to peruse. Otter Butter + Albolene. Supposedly no caustic effects to either PVC or silk lines from both items with good reviews.