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by Scott Richmond
wenty years ago I bought my first premium fly rod, a Sage 6-weight. Near the grip, neat lettering proclaimed it to be "Graphite"--not "Graphite I" or "Graphite III" or "RPL". Sage only had one 6-weight rod, so there was no need for additional declarations.
When I bought a line for it, the guy at the fly shop had an easy time. I said I had a 6-weight rod, and he pulled down a box of Cortland 444 DT6F. "You want the peach-colored line or the peach-colored line," he said. Ah, the simple days of yesteryear! When you walk into a well-stocked fly shop today, you see a wall with box after box of fly lines. Many shops carry at least two brands, and each brand has umpteen different types of lines. And the rods! Each rod maker has an array of models, all of them presumably different from each other. All those rods, all those lines. How do make sure you get a good match? It's enough to make your head spin like foam in a backeddy. The Most Important Gear You'll Buy "Your two most important pieces of fly tackle," says Joel LaFollette, retail manager at Kaufmann's Streamborn in Portland, "are your rod and your line. The trick is to make sure they work together. Do it right, and you'll have good fishing. Do it wrong and you'll be a very frustrated angler. If you're having trouble casting, the problem may not be you: it might be a mismatch between your fly line and your rod." Most anglers buy the rod first, then get a line (or lines) for it. So the question is, how do you match the line to the rod? The first thing to understand is what line weights mean. The industry standard is to weigh the first 30 feet of fly line. If the weight falls within a certain range, it is a 5-weight line. A slightly heavier range, and it's 6-weight. And so on. Then there's weight-forward vs. double taper. A weight-forward is thicker in front and a double taper is thinner. Weight-forwards cast farther but the presentation is not as delicate and they don't roll-cast as well as double tapers. Now throw in specialty lines, such as full-sinking, sink-tip, bonefish, special tapers, etc., and you've got even more choices. A Line for Every Purpose Under Heaven One of the significant developments in fly tackle is the large number of lines that are specific to a species or technique. "Anglers need to realize that each line has different characteristics," notes Joel. "The type of line you buy depends not only on the rod you own, but on how and where you're going to fish. I've had people come in and say, 'I want an 8-weight line for steelheading. Oh, and I want to use the same rig on a bonefishing trip.' That won't work." It doesn't work because a line that's built for cold water will turn into a limp string under tropical heat. And a bonefishing or tarpon line will resemble a piece of rebar if you use on a Northwest steelhead stream in January. Further, line weights indicate a range, not a precise measurement. For example, not all five-weight lines weigh the same. "The Scientific Anglers GPX WF5 (weight-forward five-weight) is really more like a 5.3," says Brian O'Keefe, the Northwest rep for SA. "It's made for casting with today's fast-action rods, and the extra weight loads the rod better. It's a general purpose line. The XPS is for delicate presentations in cold spring creeks, the XXD is for long casts." "Everybody makes a general purpose line," says Brian. "Buy that first. Then look at lines for specific species and techniques." More Complications Rods are a variable, too. Different brands cast differently, as do different models of the same brand. A line that works great on one Winston 6-weight may not work as well on another model of Winston 6-weight. Another complication is that the same brand/model of rod can vary in its characteristics. This is seldom true for premium rods; one of the things you pay for is exacting quality control. However, low-end or mid-range rods are a different story. There are some excellent "price point" rods available today, but the reality is that even two identical-appearing five-weights of the same model and from the same maker can require different lines to make them cast well. It's not unusual for some "5-weight" low-end rods to require a 6-weight line to make them work right, whereas other rods of the brand/model work fine with a 5-weight line. Know When to Walk If you're in the market for a new line, start your journey on the internet. Go to the website for the major line vendors: AirFlo, Cortland, Orvis, Rio, Scientific Angler. Familiarize yourself with the different types of lines. However, unless you're feeling uncommonly confident, you're not ready to buy a fly line yet. The internet search is useful because it familiarizes you with what's available, but it's usually not sufficient for selecting a line. The next step in your journey is to go to a well-stocked fly shop that has a knowledgeable staff. Know the brand, model, weight, and length of the rod you're buying a line for. Better yet, bring the rod. "If the guy behind the counter isn't asking you some questions," says Joel LaFollette, "it's not a good sign. Before he can sell you a line, he needs to know what rod you've got, as well as your casting ability, fishing experience, and the type of fishing you'll be doing. If you're not hearing any questions, walk out the door and go to another shop." Summary To summarize the line-buying process: • Understand the complexity of the problem • Use the internet familiarize yourself with what's available • Visit a good fly shop armed with your rod or your rod's vital statistics • Get a general-purpose line before buying species- or technique-specific lines. |
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