what are your favorite manufacturers of Lines/tapers/weights?

[Lonewolve]

I prefer Cortland 444 double tapers,and Rio windcutters.Size 3-5 double tapers,the Windcutters i prefer 4-6.all are floaters, for salt water i strictly use a teeny350sinker ,a monic intermediate{slime Line}for floaters i have a don't know anymore floater for poppers,,i have yet to fish that last line.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace
I have a Walton Powell Hexagraph 7'6" 4/5 wt that im consdiering a Cortland Sylkk line for ,anyone use these lines? what do you think?

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I have several line weights (3 WF,5 WF and DT along with 6 WF) of Cortland's Classic "Sylk". I use this line on all my fiberglass rods and one bamboo. It's good line and remains supple even in cold weather. I have no complaints.

 

[gfen]

Who's on sale today? That one.

 

[BPS]

I don't think I've ever spent over 15 bucks on a line. I also have no clue what brands I own. I know some are cortland and some are sci-ang.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Lonewolf,

Here's another vote for Cortland Sylk. The nice thing about it to me is that the diameter is much thinner for a given line weight than with a typical PVC fly line. It also casts nicely and doesn't coil in colder weather.

I can fit an entire DT5 weight Sylk on a Pflueger 1494 reel along with about 50 to 60 yards of backing. With a normal 5 weight fly line the line takes up all the capacity leaving no room for backing at all unless you cut about 20 feet off of the line.

The rest of my lines seem to be whatever I can grab on sale though I do have about 4 or 5 reels spooled with Cortland 444 peach colored line. Hook and Hackle's olive colored line seems to be the same thing as 444 peach and you can often get it for about half the price.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Lonewolve]

Opps.....
The Rio Windcutters are the only weight foward trout lines I use ,I have two Rio Selective Trout Lines in Olive that I am not at all a fan of. I recently got a Rio Gold to try . I tend use single handed spey casting techniques alot and have heard that this line for being a weight foward almost does it all..time will tell.On big water i Trout Spey alot and I use a Rio Windcutter Spey line it is a floater 5/6.
It seems aside from being in love with The Rio Windcutters ,That I am a confirmed Double taper guy.
I have tried Sci Angler lines..hate them they suck the coating is bumply and impedes line speed when being shot thru the guides,and most of my rods are custom bulit using larger than standard recommended guide eyes from Strippers, Snakes, to the Tip Top.I have tried Airflo lines,not a fan of them although that was a few years ago before Rajeff took over.
I started out with a Cortland 444 Just Add Water outfit over twenty years ago that was loaned to me by my mentor,then i went to Nestor's and bought another Cortland Just Add Water outfit,at the time of its purchase it had a wf 444,i asked to have it switched out and have a double taper put in its place,and Dan Buss was more than happy to do that.I have used mostly double tapers and couldn't be more happy but the Windcutters are the thing for me where it applies to using a weight foward line.In Saltwater i use three lines on three reels,Reels are all Billy Pate Bonefish anti reverse models,cortland backing, Jim Teeny Saltwater 350,one reel has a Monic Intermediate {Slime Line} the last reel is a Sci Angler 4 double taper.the first two reels are my mainstay for Salt the double taper was a just in case poppers on top thing,never used it so far.
Tight Wraps & Tight lines
Rick Wallace

 

[Ramcatt]

It's completely dependent on application...
But I'm big on rio, SA, and airflo... I also have a cortland sink I like

 

[Lonewolve]

Tim,
Thanks, im going to look for a Cortland Sylk for my Hexagraph 4/5 7'6".Its my main small stream rod.I was just curious what folks like and why..and to make a lil conversation.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[tobewan77]

Terenzio DT 5

 

[krayfish]

I'd have to vote for Rio Gold as my favorite and Sharkskin as my second favorite for all purpose trout fishing lines.

I didn't care for the Windcutter or the Grand from Rio.

The line I prefer using on my bamboo and glass rods is......
I almost said that with a straight face. Sorry. Carry on.

edit: I have an AirFlo Polyfuse 7000 (or something like that) on my 3wt rod. It's probably better than the 444SL I had been using for 20+ yrs.

 

[trowpa]

i've never used anything other than SA Mastery XPS DT for my 4wt or Mastery Trout WF for my 5wt.

Need to get 6wt and 7wt now - wondering about Rio Gold.

Is it more aggressivly front heavy than SA trout taper? Or is it similar?

I'm considering trying it...but don't know how it compares.

 

[gfen]

trowpa wrote:
I'm considering trying it...but don't know how it compares.

http://singlebarbed.com/2009/03/30/part-1-of-2-is-the-fly-line-industry-running-out-of-superlatives/

http://singlebarbed.com/2009/04/01/part-2-of-2-is-the-fly-line-industry-running-out-of-superlatives/

 

[krayfish]

I think it's very 'tip heavy' and that's probably why I didn't like it. Jay is using it on his uber fast rod. PM him for feedback.

 

[trowpa]

thanks for the links gfen!

 

[RLeep2]

I've always bought and fished primarily Cortland lines. I have a lot of reasons, some rational and fishing-related and others more emotional.

1) The series of lines based on the 444 (with the exception of the old 44SL) "seem" to me (and I may be wrong) to be more durable and tend last longer before they crack and check. I'm tough on lines. I maintain them indifferently, if at all and tend to walk on the coils hanging from the reel. I'm too busy fishing to pay much attention to this stuff. The 444's seem to be a little bit more supple, which I like, but which I also realize this means they are less slick and might cost me a few feet on a long cast. I don't mind this. Distance casting is significantly over rated as an important FF tool, at least in my world.

2) I tend (and this is the emotionally-based reason) to patronize retail underdogs over industry dominant brands. Until the quality went completely to h---, we always had AMC cars when I was a kid. No GM products. They didn't need our business because they had most everybody else's. Sci Anger was (and may still be) a 3M company. Cortland, so far as I know, is just Cortland. So long as they make a decent product, they'll have my business.

I'm also old enough to remember all that the late Leon Chandler, a VP at Cortland did for the sport. That's another reason I still buy Cortland, even though Leon has been dead for 7-8 years and it all doesn't really matter to him any more...

The worst fly line I ever owned was a Rio Gold that I got as a gift. I went through it in less than 200 hours on the water. But remember, I'm rough on lines and this may be no reflection on their quality.

 

[gutcutter]

RLeep2 wrote:
I've always bought and fished primarily Cortland lines. I have a lot of reasons, some rational and fishing-related and others more emotional...

2) I tend (and this is the emotionally-based reason) to patronize retail underdogs over industry dominant brands. Until the quality went completely to h---, we always had AMC cars when I was a kid. No GM products. They didn't need our business because they had most everybody else's. Sci Anger was (and may still be) a 3M company. Cortland, so far as I know, is just Cortland. So long as they make a decent product, they'll have my business...

I like that answer and agree with - except for that whole AMC thing. But the Honda Element has "Pacer" written all over it
:-D :-D

 

[gfen]

gutcutter wrote:
I like that answer and agree with - except for that whole AMC thing. But the Honda Element has "Pacer" written all over it
:-D :-D

Hey!

Don't knock til you've tried it.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Not likely. :lol:

 

[RLeep2]

>>I like that answer and agree with - except for that whole AMC thing. But the Honda Element has "Pacer" written all over it>>

Thanks, Tony..

We had a series of Hornet Sportabout Wagons in the 60's. They were tough, minimal fuss, reliable vehicles. So, a few years after I got out of college, I bought a new one, a 1977. At 45K, the head gasket blew and (just about simultaneously..) the belts broke on all four of the Firestone 500's on the thing. I limped it into the Subaru dealership and traded it on a new 1979 DL 4WD wagon made for the Canadian market (otherwise I would have had to wait an additional 10 weeks for a car). Everything was in kilometers. You could almost sit still and watch the odometer spin.. I drove Subarus for a while and then they went uptown on me; power this and that, more plush interiors and TV ads with kangaroos. Then I switched careers and went through my Bohemian period, where I was happy as a hog in mud, but had no money. So, I couldn't afford a Subaru anyway. So, I got a used 86 Renault Alliance, which was part of AMC's last gasp. It was a great little car. A 1.4 liter four that sounded like a hive of bees under the hood, but got almost 40 mpg on the highway. It died at 145K (brain box) and I sold it for $150 and U-Haul-It-The-Hellouttahere.

My first wife had a Pacer. Like her, it only operated intermittently and the paint was prone to peeling.

My sister has an Element. My brother-in-law got it for her because she has a tendency to do township work with her vehicles, clearing ditches and mowing small trees, etc. She bent the noses on two RAVs, so he got her this big bread box so she can do all the township work she wants without him worrying all the time about it.

I wish I could find those Canadian fly lines that Wal-Mart used to sell for 10 bucks. They were great lines. But they stopped carrying them. They were white and I used to dye them all sorts of colors with Rit.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear RLeeP,

Those flylines are made by Aquanova. You can buy them direct from Aquanova, or get them from GlobalDorber Group http://www.dorber.com/flylinesub.html.

Regards,

Tim Murphy