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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.

For me trout 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.

This process has left me with the following five 'go to' 6 weight fly lines in my lake kit to cover all my lake based trout fishing options:

You can see from the photo below that the five fly lines are all loaded on modular spools which makes it easy to swap them over during a fishing session.

Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Trout line WF-6-F

I don't understand the bright coloured floating lines that many fly fishers use. I was always taught that fly fishing was all about 'stealth and cunning' and I just cant see how a bright orange or yellow line fits into that philosophy. Sure you can see your line better when it's on the water but I would also have to think the fish can see it better too. Also it's one thing to be casting a dull natural coloured line and a totally different thing to be casting a bright line (or bright rod for that matter) . . . the fish must see the flash of the line or the rod on occasions so why not minimise it. As a consequence my preferred colour of floating line is clear or olive closely followed by grey.

The Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Trout line WF-6-F is my first choice of floating line and the floating line I would have if I could only afford one floating line. It has dry tip technology and very good floating qualities throughout. It has a surface finish that is called AST (Advances Surface Technology) which wears well but cleans easily too when you have been fishing in dirty water or dropping you line on the ground or boat deck as you retrieve. It is also smooth  as it passes through the runners of your rod suggesting less runner wearing friction than some of the other popular fly lines.

Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Stillwater WF-6-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 stick with the clear intermediate fly lines for my lines when fishing for trout in lakes and impoundments.
The Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Stillwater is my default intermediate fly line SA designate it as a WF-6-S fly line. 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 and was designed for fishing sub-surface to intermediate depth of water. I think that Scientific Anglers should reserve the 'S' designation for true sink lines those being types III through to VII. Moving away from semantics I like this line because it meets most of my intermediate line requirements. It has a great finish, is very clear and is easy to keep clean. If I could only carry one intermediate line this would be it.

prior to fishing with the SA Stillwater Intermediate I used to fish with Cortland Clear Intermediate WF-6-I. That line runs a close second to the SA line above and it was the intermediate fly line I used until I was introduced to the SA Stillwater. I found out that the surface on the Cortland line dried out more than the SA line and consequently it sunk slower through the surface tension of the water so whilst the sink rate is basically the same once it's through the surface, overall, the SA gets to the 'intermediate' zone a little quicker and is a little easier to cast. It's marginal but I think the SA intermediate line is slightly more translucent than the Cortland Intermediate line . . . none the less it is a good alternative intermediate fly line.

The other line that was a contender for the position of my 'go to' intermediate fly line was the Airflow Sixth Sense Intermediate WF-6-S.

This line is bright green and as you know from what I have written above I reckon there is nothing stealthy about that. The colour of the line doesn't worry a lot of people and consequently this line has a lot of followers as their general intermediate fly line. For me because the line has a braid core and consequently the line has almost no stretch at all I was reluctant to use it when when retrieving roly poly or other fast retrieve techniques.

Sinking lines:

For those of you that know me it will be no surprise that I have more sinking lines than you can poke a stick at. For my lake fishing, from all those lines, unless there are fish viably feeding on or near the surface the surface and the water depth is greater than around two meters, I am more likely to tie a type 'V' sinking line line on than any other line. I have a broad range of techniques that I work through when fishing sinking lines from static fishing to fast roly poly and it's likely that I will actively  swap between those retries until I find what's working on the day.

There is a healthy debate between fly fisher as to what style of line is best if you have to choose between those built on braid and therefore are low stretch and are very sensitive to a bite or those that are built on monofilament and therefore are less sensitive but have quite a bit of built in stretch. Unless I know that I wont be fishing fast (and I do fish slow roly poly to fast roly poly a lot of the time) my view is that on balance lines built on monofilament cores are best.  Sure there less sensitive but I have soft hands and a pretty good feel for a bite or inquiry and I do stay in contact with my flies at all times. When I am roly poly retrieving I seldom loses fish on the take because the stretch in the line give a cushioning effect to the force of what is often a very hard hit even from smaller fish. I can often keep roly polying with a fish on until it's nearly at the boat and ready to be netted. I have tried to adapt my faster fishing style to lines built on braid core and I find that the lack of give in the line causes me to 'crack' off more fish on the take and then once on I have to quickly bring the rod into play to provide the cushioning effect to play fish.

The other element that is significant when selecting a fast sink fly line for trout fishing is to understand that sinking lines basically fall into two quite different forms. The first form is lines that sink basically along the same horizontal plane through the full cast. Scientific Anglers term this 'uniform sink'. I particularly uniform sink lines when I am fishing from the shore or in shallow water of say down to about 4 meters deep as by varying the retrieve rate I can keep the fly or flies at my preferred depth for a maximum time.

The other style of sinking line are those that are not density compensated and consequently they sink in the middle of the line laid out on the water first. This means that if you cast out 60 feet, taking away the influence of the weight and friction of the fly or flies as they move through the water, that the section of line 30 feet away from where you cast from will settle faster through the water column than the two ends of the cast. These lines are often described these days as 'sweep" lines because the middle of the line sinks first and then as you retrieve the line the fly or flies are pulled down (or sweep if you like) toward the slightly deeper middle section until the retrieve reaches a point where the tip of the fly line is as almost as deep as the deepest middle part of the fly line and then starts to pulled up toward the surface (or sweeps) as the whole line is retrieved back toward the rod tip. So the travel of the the tip of the fly line and consequently the fly or flies is a 'sweep' from the surface then down to the deepest part of the retrieve and then back to the surface. The action of a fly or a team of flies moving toward the surface is very attractive to fish probably because it's imitative of what emerging nymphs do. Throw in a couple of pauses and a hang and you have a very imitative retrieve. For me these sweep lines definitely have their place when fishing from a boat in deeper water.

The sinking lines that I use are as follows.

Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Uniform Sink Lines WF-6-S Type V

If I could only have one fast sink line it would be a Scientific Anglers Mastery Series Uniform Sink Lines WF-6-S type V. 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. This type V is also a 'uniform sink' fly line so it sinks level 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 graduated density 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. I should mention that I do have SA uniform sink fly lines in II, III and IV sink rates densities but seldom use them and choose not to carry them in my kit preferring to use a sink tip or intermediated line for shallower retrieves and a type VII sweep line for deeper retrieves.

Airflow Sixth Sense Type  WF-6-S type VII

For those occasions where I know I will be fishing slowly I do use lines built on braided cores but by in large only if I know I can resist the temptation to fish fast. The Airflow Six Sense Type VII is dark grey in colour and is my 'go to' fly line when I am fishing deeper than 4 meters and want to fish reliantly slow. Because of its braided core it is very sensitive giving me a good feel for any touches from fish or the bottom. Whilst it's not marketed as a sweep line this line does sink in a U profile allowing me to fish a range of depths on a single cast.

Other lines:

South Pacific medium olive floating line with dark olive sink tip.

This is the best sink tip line I have found and great for fishing static wets and fish feeding on emergers just below the surface. With an olive running line and 13 feet of olive sink tip that is designated as type IV to V but actually sinks closer to a type III this is a very versatile line.

This line has replaced two fly lines that I used to carry in my kit.

The first is an Airflow Sixth Sense Type WF-6-Slick line. I always had a problem with that line because of its bright light green in colour.

The other that the South Pacific floating line with a sink tip took over from was a Scientific Anglers chartreuse floating with clear intermediate sink tip. The down side with that line was twofold in that the running line is bright chartreuse and secondly the line always felt sticky to me making it harder to cast.

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