g that, i understood.

George Cleveland wrote:
On Thu, 05 Aug 2004 17:36:54 -0400, Jeff Miller
wrote:


huh?


Wha?



George Cleveland wrote:


Just got done playing with fly lines on my 6wt. GM Frontier. I had
destroyed the line I was using on it for casting smallmouth patterns.
(That was a Cabela's Prestige I picked up already mounted on a reel
[STH cassette] I bought on closeout.) So I had been using a SA Air
Cell 7wt. Bass Bug taper (BBT) on it. It worked fine but it had
noticably slowed the rod down and just made it a bit less pleasant to
cast. So, since I have a plethora of reels mounted with a wide variety
of lines I decided to experiment. All the lines were cast with a #4
Deerhair Popper.

First I tried DT 6 Orvis Clearwater. Yuch! It actually worked out to
about 30' but then just seemed to lose interest. Then I tried an Aqua
Nova 7wt. bass line that casts really well on my 7 wt. Redbone. That
line was a rocket, out to about 40', but then it began to bog the rod
down. It was hard to push it out to 50'. Then I tried a WF 6 orvis
trout line (Silver Label, I think.), even though I had at first
replaced the wrecked Prestige with it and hadn't liked it. As before
it could carry itself just fine but didn't seem to have the energy to
turn over the bug. So on went the SA 7 wt. BBT that I have been using.
It did the best job so far but it still didn't have the same feel of
the Prestige. (So why don't I just order a new Prestige? That would be
way to simple. ) Then on a whim I broke out my Redington RS2 reel
that has an AirFlo Platinum WF5 line on it, one I had won at a raffle
this spring. It felt noticeably lighter to cast, with a much faster
line speed. And lo and behold, it seemed to carry the bug and turn it
over just as well as the 7wt. SA BBT.
So out came the nippers and I soon had four different fly lines
uncoiled around my feet along with the fly reels they were mounted on.
Also with two rods lying amidst the collection of gear. Neighbors
walked past and stared. (I cast along the median strip in front of our
house. No trees. You'd think the busy bodies wouldn't notice any
more.) Off came the SA 7 and Air Flo lines. The AirFlo went on my
favorite bass reel (SA 2L 7/8 ) and the SA went on my second favorite
bass reel (Okuma Sierra 7/8 ). Then the Redington RS2 was loaded with
a spool of Borger Spring Creek WF 5 F I had won on eBay a year or so
ago and the Orvis WF 7 was relegated to the empty spool that the
Borger line had been occupying. The DT 6 remained on the old Browning
click drag that is usually mounted on an old soft GM Eagle River rod,
where it works pretty well. So that was my afternoon. And even though
it would be seen to be an incredible waste of time to non-fishermen
(Why bother?) or the non-stingy (Why not just buy a new Prestige
line?), I did learn some interesting things.

The taper disign can make a huge difference- The SA 7wt BBT (Bass Bug
Taper) and the Aqua Nova bass taper lines were built completely
different. The AN line had an extremely long mid taper. So while at
short ranges it cast well, the added weight on the already overlined
rod bogged it down. The SA BBT had a much shorter midsection and a
longer running line. So while both lines probably weighed the same at
30' (the AFTMA standard), after that the difference in tapers made a
huge difference in castability.

I was surprised at the anemic feel to the DT 6 but it is probably for
the same reason that the AN 7 wt line didn't cast well at distances.
Too much weight after the first 30'.

The Air Flo 5 wt. was a surprise but after a little reflection it
probably shouldn't be. It is a very thick line. It barely fit
on the RS2 reel which usually has room to spare when mounted with a WF
5 line. I had thought that that was because of the materials that it
was made from. The thicker coating would make it float well, which it
does. But then again, on the bag it was contained in it was labeled as
a promo line. Could it be that AirFlo made thier promo lines a tad
heavier to make them cast easier? Hmmmm.

The main thing that I got out of the afternoon was the huge difference
individual fly lines make on the same rod. This was so striking that
if I ever decided to spend big bucks on a fly rod (Not likely. See
"stingy" above) I would take a reel loaded with my favorite line to
try it out with. ( I know this isn't news. I've read it many times
myself. But direct experience does still impress one with information
better than words on a page.)

But all in all I had fun. I have a line on my bass rod I like. I
didn't spend a cent, which I like. And I have another afternoon's time
lined up to screw around with my 5 wt. lines. And this time I have 3
different rods to try to fit.


g.c.