Fly line

[krayfish]

You like that windcutter? I cast it on the lawn and liked it but when on the stream, thought that it refused to turn over the leader correctly. I thought the Gold was the better line for me.

Both lines go for around $70.

 

[pcray1231]

Regarding the overweighted GPX and such, I do find the marketing trends amusing.

Hmm, lets see. Low wt ratings are "in" for rods, but they want them fast and powerful. Ok, lets take our 3 wt rod and label it a 2 wt, our 4 and label it a 3, our 5 and label it a 4, and so on. There you go, a whole lineup of fast rods! Wait a minute, they're saying the matching lines aren't heavy enough to load the rods properly. Ok, lets take our 3 wt line and label it a 2 wt, our 4 wt line and label it a 3, ........

We've come full circle.

 

[krayfish]

Amen to that observation pcray. If I have a 4wt rod, I want it to cast a standard 4wt line. I don't want to overline it or have it able to cast a line as heavy as a 6wt. For nearly 15 yrs, I'd actually fished a 444SL... 5wt on a Sage RPL+ rod that was for a 6wt.

 

[gfen]

pcray1231 wrote:
Regarding the overweighted GPX and such, I do find the marketing trends amusing.
...
We've come full circle.

I wanted to read the Bergman information on wet flies the otehr day, as I've been enjoying down and across swinging far more than sulphur risers lately.

Its amusing that he's lamenting this EXACT issue in 1940 as we are now, that rods are becoming stiffer and less fishable, and that in turn lines are being weighted up to deal with it when all people needed to do is chose a more reasonable action for their style and need.

 

[jayL]

The overlining thing isn't all nonsense. I had (broke) a rod that took 3-4 different line sizes. It was rated 5wt, but it was incredibly versatile with everything from 4-7wt. One rod, 5-10 uses.

If I had an XP or something like that, I'd probably fish it overlined in PA mostly, but with a proper size on larger rivers and out west. Beats buying two rods.

But yeah, it's mostly funny. Let's just not get involved in a CJ.

 

[afishinado]

Generally I cast my rods with the recommended line weight, but I do have rods that perform better, or as Jay wrote, differently with a line size up or down.

Many FFers don't realize a 4 wt rod with a 4wt line casting 30' of fly line in the air is equal to casting 25' +/- of 5 wt line. The rod has no idea how much line is in the air and what line weight rating it's casting. The whole line weight thing is a sliding scale, and adding or subtracting a line weight just moves the scale one way or the other.

If you cast mostly short distances, a line weight heavier may work better for you. The reverse for longer distance casts. For mid-distance, maybe not much difference at all.

Also, there are an infinite number of types of casters as well as different rods out there. You may be happier with a line weight heavier on a faster rod or the reverse for a slower rod. But maybe not. You really have to try it out to see. Maybe you should try a different rod.......lol.

Just what we need........adding another variable - the rod as well as the line.

 

[jayL]

Good post.

A super fast action overlined =/= (necessarily) a slightly slower rod with "proper" line.

While it obviously benefits the rod companies, it's entirely possible that the caster simply prefers it.