Tips For Buying Fly Fishing Line

By Bob Ives

Fly fishing line is not ordinary fishing line. If you are a bass fisherman, you probably use monofilament or maybe a fluorocarbon. But if you are a trout fishermen who loves fly fishing, you will need a completely different type of line. Fly fishing line is designed for a different kind of casting and come in floating lines, sinking lines, tapered lines, and all kinds of colors.

For starters, fly lines come in tapers. Taper means that the line is not the same diameter for the entire length of the line. This is done for casting purposes such as roll casting (a curved loop called the D loop) and better control in the wind. The two basic tapers are the weight-forward and the double taper.

Fly Fishing Line Taper

The double taper fly line starts with one diameter, then gets larger in diameter, and then returns back to the original diameter (I’ve done this myself on diets). If you are going to be casting in tight spaces, this may be the line you want. The weight forward tapers have more weight at the end of the line, and this is what makes them more wind friendly.

Floating vs. Sinking Fly Line

These do just as the names imply; floating fly lines float on the surface while sinking fly lines will allow you to use wet flies (resembles insects) and streamers (resembles bait fish). If you’re new to fly fishing and are looking for one good all around line, a floating fly line would be the one to start with. They are easier and take less experience to cast. Sinking lines can be much more challenging because once they are in the water you will have to hand-retrieve all the line before making the next cast.

Colored Fly Lines

These are for your benefit, not that of the trout. Colored fly line helps you to better see the line while you are fly fishing. Since you will use a neutral colored leader on your main line, the trout will never even see the color of your line.

Fly Line Backing For The Reel

There is nothing mysterious or technical about this, it’s just the line that goes on the fly reel to which you will attach the main line to. Most of the time you will only be fishing with a certain amount of line, but if you get a big Brown trout on or something that might run with your bait, you will need this extra line for insurance. It doesn’t have to be special or expensive, just decent line.

One more tip about fly fishing line: always keep it clean. Get a line cleaner of something to keep the dirt and grime off the line so it doesn’t gunk up your reel and doesn’t build up casting resistance.