Cleaning Fly Lines

[Wildfisher]

Mind you, he does own a tackle shop

I own a fly line supply business. There are hunners of lines 8 feet behind me in a cabinet all in non environmentally damaging packaging.  :lol:  I have to admit owning  this resource does encourage me to be a tad less careful with lines than I otherwise might be.

[Wildfisher]

this can be a pain when the line slipping in is faster than the line turning over,

Indeed super sick coatings are a great asset casting comps. Imagine if you will a zero friction coating;  it would be useless for fishing  unless you braked the line to make it turn over (I think the casting nerds call in "feathering"). Super slick is not really an issue for river fishing most of the time. Floatabilty is far more important and can be enhanced with a clean line and a rub of a hydrophobic floatant like silicon mucilin   on the tip and the first few feet of the tapered leader. I do this as  a matter of course at the start of the day regardless if I am using a 60 quid or a 6 quid  fly line.

[deergravy]

I don't clean and lubricate my lines as often as I maybe should, but I always notice a difference when I do.
Makes me feel quite pleased with myself, like getting a chore out of the way.

[Fadpasser]

I try and give mine a pull through using baby wipes after every couple of outings, surprising the muck that comes off what looked like a clean line !

[Fadpasser]

  Its just an excuse to play with your gear when you cant get out fishing 

[Wildfisher]

By the way Alan, I tried your method of applying the line slick. Put it on and leave it . I did it a few times to the same line. It really does soak in well.

[Wildfisher]

everyone wants to know how to add 20' to their cast, this is the way, let it do it itself.

Or learn how to cast.  :lol: Really, I'm no great caster but I am smart enough to know  that no matter what line I use, or rod for that matter, technique is far more important. Casting is no different from anything else in that respect. You can only get out what you put in. The only real variable  is how much you are prepared to put in, or perhaps how much you believe is worth putting in.

[Traditionalist]

Or learn how to cast.  :lol: Really, I'm no great caster but I am smart enough to know  that no matter what line I use, or rod for that matter, technique is far more important. Casting is no different from anything else in that respect. You can only get out what you put in. The only real variable  is how much you are prepared to put in, or perhaps how much you believe is worth putting in.

While that is certainly true, setting the gear up properly does make a fairly large potential difference. "Potential" because you can only make maximum use of some of these things if you can cast well. 

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

yet my forward cast uses enough energy to split a log to make the fly travel the same distance :lol:

Most of that is simply wasted. The only energy that does you any good as far as casting goes is the energy you manage to transfer to the line!

TL
MC

[Traditionalist]

indeed, it takes a long time learning to let a line cast without hindering it with all that crap casting instructors tell you :lol:

im not dismissing Freds getting the technique in place, but I'm starting to think it can't be done out of context, belting out 100' in a field uses a rather different set of techniques, which left me scratching on my first river this year.

Depends on the instructor!   Learning on water is absolutely essential in my opinion. The main "secret" is simply smoothness and keeping the line under tension. Everything else is just varying ways of trying to achieve that. Most of it fails!

TL
MC