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	Fly lines Casting a fly line

In terms of manufacturers of fly lines there are heaps of very good manufacturers out there. Look for brand names that are well known and proven in the fly fishing fraternity.

I have settled on #8 outfits and the following fly lines for when I target estuary species such as bream, flathead, mangrove jack and small trevally and queenfish, as my preferred outfits for bass, saratoga and various perch and as my go to outfits for when I fish to bonefish.

For me fly fishing is more about doing the best I can in the most efficient and enjoyable way rather than just doing the same thing time in, time out. As part of that process I try to select the best fly lines that I can for particular situations and have set up my gear so that I can relatively easily take one fly line off and replace it with another, during a fishing session, so as to achieve my goals.

TEMPERATE TO WARMISH ZONES

These are the lines that I carry in my kit when I am fishing either estuaries or freshwater inpoundments in NSW and Victoria. In these fisheries the water is generally not crystal clear and often carries varying amounts of colouring ranging rendering most of the temperate waters from clearish green to olive and then with increasing amounts of suspended matter to varying shades of olive and brown.

Sage performance taper WF-400gr-F

I have tried a number of floating fly lines in temperate NSW and in semi tropical lower and central Queensland and this is by a long way the best line for those locations that I have so far tried. This Sage performance taper is 290gr and loads my #8 weight fly rods perfectly allowing me to punch big flies out good distances and yet has a short enough head to allow short punchy casts under trees. I have fished that line for a couple of season now and this line is definitely my go-to line for temperate water surface fishing. This olive coloured line camouflages well with the water colours and clarity that I come across.

Scientific Anglers uniform sink WF-8-SF

If I could only have one fast sink line for temperate waters it would be a Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Uniform Sink Lines. The type V has a dark blue running line and charcoal head and I am very comfortable with that. The Roman number at the end of designations for many sinking lines is an indication of the average sink rate for the line so a type V has an average sink rate of 5 inches per second, a type VI an average sink rate of 6 inches per second and so on. The type V is a very versatile line and by varying the wait time when counting the line down and the retrieve rate I can fish it comfortably from just below the surface to down as depth of perhaps 3 or 4 meters. Because this line is density compensated except for the influences of the weight of flies and the retrieve rate etc these 'uniform sink' fly lines sinks relatively level along the full cast rather than more in the middle of the cast. I find this allows me to count down to the desired depth and the when I retrieve the line retrieves flatter than non density compensated fly lines. Also the fact that it has a monofiliment core means that, as I fish fairly fast a lot of the time that I don't crack of as many fish as I perhaps would with a line built on a braided core with little stretch.

Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Stillwater WF-8-S

A lot of fly fishers opt for Intermediate camouflage fly lines believing that the camou effect is for all waters. I don't believe they are and unless your fishing in water where there is overhanging trees and shadows the camou effect actually increases the viability of the line. So I stick with the clear intermediate fly lines for my intermediate lines because whilst I do fish them in creeks sometime where camouflage lines would work well also a lot of my intermediate line fishing is in open clear water. The Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Stillwater is my default intermediate fly line for temperate water fishing. This line is very clear throughout its length, has a great finish, is easy to keep clean and of course casts well.

For me the only down side is that I would prefer that the designation here was 'I' not 'S' because this is a line with a sink rate of around 2.5 inches per second was designed for fishing sub-surface to intermediate depths of water. I think that Scientific Anglers should reserve the 'S' designation for true sink lines those being types III through to VIII.

Moving away from semantics I like this line because it meets my temperate water intermediate line requirements.

WARM TO TROPICAL ZONES

I have been fishing warm to tropical waters regularly now for about five years and now have a base in Central Queensland where I am spending an increasing amount of time. I started off fishing these waters with my temperate lines as described above but quite quickly tried a range of tropical lines looking for lines that would handle the windy conditions that often seem to prevail, cast bigger flies comfortably and of course don't turn to what resembles wet spaghetti as they heat up. These three lines are fantastic for these warm to hot waters and whilst I'll keep trying different line options I suspect they will be hard to beat.

SA Mastery WF-8-F Grand Slam (Floating)

This is a fantastic floating line that I was first introduced to when I fished for bonefish at Christmas Island (the one in the Pacific Ocean) in 2016. When I first started fishing in warmer tropical waters I was initially put off by the bright light colour of the lines. I have since put that concern behind me and have recognised that brighter lines like this light blue Grand Slam actually camouflage better against the sky and the bright tropical azure waters, sand flats and lagoons than the darker lines that I previously fished.

This line casts well and is stiff enough on the hottest of days that you don't think you casting wet spaghetti. Having said that if I had any criticism of this line it is that if your making short casts as is often the case for bonefish it is a little underweight. For my 2017 bonefish outing I'll be taking a #9 weight for my #8 weight kit to test that out.

SA Sonar WF-300-GR Sink 30 clear tip (Intermediate)

Until getting this line I was using my Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Stillwater WF-8-S when fishing in Central Queensland. I got by with that for two years just accepting that the SA was perhaps a little soft on hot days. In 2016 I swapped over to the SA Sonar and I have to say I am thrilled. I can not believe how much easier it is to put out a good cast even with a couple of quite big saratoga flies in tow.

SA Sonar WF-300-GR Sink 30 warm water (Type 5)

My success with the SA Sonar intermediate line described above led me to purchase this line and I am equally impressed. I can't believe how tough I was doing it when I was out there days on end casting my temperate zone sinking lines.

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