Looking for a better cold weather line

[sgrim]

I spent a few hours on Valley Creek yesterday a was pretty frustrated with the way my line handled the cold weather. This is a relatively new Orvis Hydros Superfine 4 wt. The air was high 30s when I got there...might have hit 40 degrees by the end of day, but the way it tightened up you would have thought it was near freezing.
Any suggestions on a line that handles the cold better ?

 

[Rolf]

Cortland SYLK. It has very little memory.

 

[nomad_archer]

Interesting. I havn't had any issues with the orvis line 'yet'. I havn't tried the 4wt superfine line in the cold either. I fished 12/23 and it started at 28* with 6wt orvis trout line. I would give orvis a call see what they say. It cant hurt. I will be taking the 4wt out next time to see if I have a similar experience.

 

[ryansheehan]

I fish alot of orvis and a few rio lines, I've never had any issues with them in cold weather. I had my 4 weight hydros textured line out when it was 22 degrees a couple weeks ago, no problem.

 

[redietz]

Rolf wrote:
Cortland SYLK. It has very little memory.

Agreed. I use it year round, but pretty much exclusively in the winter.

The line weight of Sylk is a bit light for its rated size. He might want to try a 5 weight.

 

[outsider]

Cortland 444SL

 

[sgrim]

Thanks. I may stop in the Orvis shop this week and see if he has any ideas about what I was experiencing.

 

[nomad_archer]

sgrim wrote:
Thanks. I may stop in the Orvis shop this week and see if he has any ideas about what I was experiencing.

Good call. That hydro's line costs too much not to perform under those conditions.

 

[Bopper]

Maybe try stretching it to get the memory out.

 

[sgrim]

Follow up: I stopped by the shop and talked to a guy about what was going on. He helped me out by giving the line a good stretching ... something I had done minimally when I spooled it up in the spring and not since ... and also respooled with some additional backing. My reel is an old small Crown II, so the additional backing may help keep the coils a little larger. He advised me to give it another try to see if this is a good fix, but said he'd replace the line if I still have problems. So, I'll give it a shot again soon and see how it goes.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

Nothing wrong with giving it the old stretch out.

 

[Bamboozle]

sgrim wrote:
This is a relatively new Orvis Hydros Superfine 4 wt.

FWIW - The best handling cold water lines I ever used were the most broken in.

 

[sgrim]

I've fished it a few more times since my original post, and have taken time to stretch it again,and again. It's better than it was. I won't bother to go back and take him up on his offer of a replacement, but I probably won't rush out to buy another Orvis line either. I'll continue to use it for a few more months in hope that it softens and make a call later in the year.

 

[sandfly]

the best coldwater lines are the cheaper more soft lines. the stiffer top end type get to stiff and hard to get coils out unless you stretch them everytime.

 

[afishinado]

I fish Orvis lines on all my reels. I have no problem with coiling in the cold weather. I was out yesterday with air and water temp in the 30's.

Until I read this I never really though about it before, but, I don't stretch out my line anymore in the beginning of the day like I used to a few years back. I'm not sure if the line has changed or because it's I now use large arbor reels.

Since we are using the same line (Hydros Superfine 4wt) I would guess the coils come from being coiled up tighter with a traditional arbor reel. You are doing the right thing be stretching it out. Hopefully it was tame it down a bit.

One other thing, I had guys come in the shop with coiled up line and it was caused by the line being twisted up and reeled up on the spool that way. Try laying out all the line in your yard or an open area and holding it with tension while reeling it in. That will straighten out the twist in the line and it shouldn't coil up very easily.

 

[nomad_archer]

afishinado wrote:
I fish Orvis lines on all my reels. I have no problem with coiling in the cold weather. I was out yesterday with air and water temp in the 30's.

Until I read this I never really though about it before, but, I don't stretch out my line anymore in the beginning of the day like I used to a few years back. I'm not sure if the line has changed or because it's I now use large arbor reels.

Since we are using the same line, I would guess the coils come from being coiled up tighter with a traditional arbor reel.

I took my 4wt out on the 6th when it was 24* or so and the superfine line had lots of coils when coming off the reel. It does this to some degree in all temperatures. It straightens out once in use. I attribute this to the traditional arbor reel its on. I have orvis trout lines on my 5wt and 6wt and don't have coiling issues. These reels are large arbor. I think a lot of what the OP is experiencing can be attributed to the arbor size.