What is your favorite brand of fly line, leader and tippet and WHY?

FlyFishDan

FlyFishDan

Steelhead
Anyone else looking for other options for fly line, leaders and tippet? The only thing I can find in my local fly shops (WA, OR, ID, MT, UT) is either RIO or SA...I have had some issues with RIO lately and don't have much experience with SA. Cortland is my preferred brand, but rarely find a shop that has this in stock.

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I'm all about SA. I think they have the perfect balance of all around performance and durability.

Despite having a pile of airflo lines from my previous employment situation, I'm almost all SA now except for my sinking lines which airflo did/does extraordinarily well.

Rio has nice tapers and their stuff casts well, but the durability is suspect at best.

Only have a few experiences with Cortland in the last decade or so and didn't much care for them as far as casting performance. But I'm sure they fish fine. Things can often feel different in a test situation vs real world field applications.
 
Might help knowing type of fishing and rod(s) you are fishing with. By providing this information you may get specific recommendations what works really well.

I am a trout fisherman, lakes and streams, with older moderate/moderate-fast action rods. Cortland 444 is my go to line. They match my rod and last a long, long time. I have never had any issues with Cortland in last 40+ years (until they finally wear out). I am not a fan of Wulff. Just do not match my rods nor my style/capability of casting.

Maybe you can ask a local shop to get some Cortland lines so you are supporting them. I always like to support the local small business.

If they can't, online at Cortland would be the way to go, since you like Cortland already... Lots of sales there on already reasonably priced lines.

Edited to add: it is not easy to find lines that match the rod and you. Probably why so many 'lawn cast' lines are for sale. Once you find one ---> stock up.
 
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Fly Strings - AirFlo for some applications, SA for most others, the odd Rio line in the stable for singlehanders. AirFlo, Ballistic, NextCast, Rio, and some ancient SA lines for 2handers. Selection depends what/where/how I'm fishin.
Leaders - Pretty similar. Everything from polyleaders to furled mono to knotless-20 footers, 5x to 100lb. Store-boughts include Rio, Umpqua, FishHunter...hand-tieds are usually Maxima ultragreen, clear, or the old tournament silver for mono, SunLine FC Sniper for fluoro. Again, depends on what/where/how I'm fishin.
Tippet - Fluoro 98% of the time, SunLine FC Sniper. Maxima the other 2%. Depends less on what/where/how than flystring or leader.
 
Trident Fly Fishing had an interesting review of 20 lb tippet recently for saltwater fishing. Interesting results

Adventure Angling in Tacoma carries a pretty full line of Cortland lines, leaders, and tippets.

David
 
Didn't @Jake Watrous do an analysis of tippets recently? Could be mistaken, hope not...
 
I’m using Airflo Ridge 2.0 Universal taper line for my 5wt and loving it. Had issues with Rio fly lines but still using Rio leaders and tippet. So far so good there.
 
As long it's not Rio, I'm pretty equal opportunity.

For muskies I really like Cortland Pike/musky taper (I roll with the 500gr on my Steffen 10/11) and Airflo Sniper (prefer the 375gr on my Epic Bandit), but also have used Cortland Compacts (I like the clear intermediate) and SA Sonar Titans and liked them.

When I started musky fishing I had an OBS that barely made it one season...granted that was almost 10 years ago, but 7 outings shouldn't make a lines coating fall apart. Maybe Rio has gotten better since then, but I'm not gonna be the one to test that out (judging from the consistent hate here, I'd guess not).

For trout, it's almost all SA. Bass is mostly SA. Carp is also SA. Big salty critters are mostly Airflo Depthfinder or Cortland 50+ series.

I also really like the Airflo Streamer Max Short for much of my streamer fishing for most species.

Tippet? Seaguar CTS flouro all the way minus several spools of Cortland for lighter weight trout dry fly work.

I mostly tie my own leaders from the above material.

Oh, as for why? Because the above performs for it's intended use and is durable.
 
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Fan of Cortland lines for freshwater trout fishing here, but have several newer SA and Orvis lines I like as well. Only had a couple Rio lines, just not quite right and none had much lifespan.
The simple SA freshwater tippet is my fav.
Wish Cortland had more of a shop presence like they used to, provided a lot of nice gear back in the day.
 
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For freshwater lakes sinking lines the best I had was Cortland 444. My Rio sink lines tangled too much, so, I went to SA. SA is also my floating line. Leaders and tippets are Rio.
 
I have no brand loyalty to leader/tippet, but I will say that I once bought cheap leader from some non-branded site and I have 5 flies snap off on two of the leaders in a single day; I tossed the rest out, went to the local fly shop and bought the SA leaders they had in stock. Problem solved.
 
Like many of the above posts, I've had issues with several Rio lines with one nearly new line breaking as I was stretching it and a couple others wearing out with not a lot of use. Too bad because Rio does seem to make some lines that cast very well (Coastal QuickShooter: damn, I loved that line but it didn't last). I fish mostly Cortland and SA lines now with an Airflo type-7 that's a bomb.

Leaders? I make many of my own but for dry fly fishing I use Rio tapered leaders.
 
SA and Cortland mix for lines and leaders. Whereas I do like Rio's conventional leaders am not a fan of their flouro tippet because of how easily it kinks, like Cortland flouro better, Seaguar STS remains my fave.
Regarding leaders and tippet combos...at the start of Callibaetis days on the lakes this year, for grins rigged one rod with mono leader to dry fly, the other rod mono leader to 1' of flouro to dry fly...the flouro rod always seemed to get more takes, so that's become my standard.
 
RCF said:
Didn't @Jake Watrous do an analysis of tippets recently? Could be mistaken, hope not...
Click to expand...
I was doing one until the machine crapped out and couldn’t be replaced in time for that article/publication. I definitely put a dent (possibly even three dents) in the research, pivoted, and sent it elsewhere.

Bottom line for saltwater and knots in my opinion…tie the knot you tie well and fish something that turns your fly over well. The ability to put even 15 lbs of pressure on a tippet using a fly rod is very, very hard to do—especially if you’re using your rod and side pressure correctly. Hatch reels have something like less than five pounds of drag, yet saltwater guides swear by them even for huge tarpon. (Yes, torque is different, but drag strength is something too many people agonize over too).

Most fish are neutrally buoyant and don’t exert their mass on the tippet anything even remotely close to 1:1. Especially outside of rivers.

Heck, with 8 lb tippet I’ve pulled my 65 lb canoe + formerly 330lb self + all my gear across a lake when I’ve snagged something.

Favorite Lines:
Cold water = Arctic Silver for a beach line because the taper and line flexibility are beautiful. Airflo for everything else because they use different plastic that is recyclable, more durable, and stays more flexible in cold water.

Warm saltwater = Scientific Anglers because I like their tapers more than Airflo’s, and I really don’t trust RIO lines. On top of all the other issues, I had one brand-new Leviathan line fail (core failure, not loop) in three different places a few weeks ago, and cost me three big fish.

My favorite tippets are:

Streamers: Maxima UG in 10-30 lb varieties for SRCs, salmons, trouts, tunas, and basses. Because it works, is cheap, I can buy a metric crapton at a time and I don’t think those fish really give a shit about the tippet. Anything that regularly eats #22 midges can see 7x tippet even with new improved Extra Marketing. I believe it’s a question of whether they care. Roughly 6-7 feet long, level from line to fly, and keep it on until it’s about 4’ long.

Eurodorking: 5x of whatever fluoro is cheapest and isn’t RIO. I run about 25’ of 5x from my line to the sighter, and then ?? from sighter to flies.

Tropical I like P-line because it seems to do better in the heat for me than Maxima.


Edit: Goddamnit it Siri! Tippets not tippers.
 
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My current favorite lines for casting are an SA heavy sink and Rio Tropical Outbound. I fell in love with trout hunter tippet for freshwater, but lost 6 $pools when they fell out of my pocket while releasing a fish on the Snake. I think I have a slight preference for SA tippet, but have started buying larger quantities of mono/flouro from Seaguar, PLine, and Maxima. I tend not to use tapered for streamers.
 
I tend to use furled leaders and I have gotten mine at Feather-Craft and from the Fly Fisher in Lacey before it went out of business. I believe Bjorn makes the furled leaders for Feather-Craft. I also have some tapered leaders from Orvis, Rio, and SA plus a few streamer from Cortland.

I have some

I have a hodgepodge of fly lines...Orvis, Airflo, Rio, and SA.

For tippet material I use:
SA Absolute Trout
SA Absolute Fluorocarbon
Orvis Mirage (fluorocarbon)
Orvis Superstrong Plus (nylon)
Seaguar Blue Label (fluorocarbon)
Seaguar Gold (fluorocarbon)
 
Trout: Most of my trout lines are SA. At one point I had a bunch of lines, SA, Rio, AirFlo, and would try them all out on each rod to decide best fit. Turns out that recently it was always SA, so just started going with them. I have the Amplitude Trout and Infinity in most of the weights I use. I make my own leaders out of maxima chameleon, then use trout hunter for tippet.

I do use DT444 for a bamboo rod. And a Royal Wulff Ambush for single hand spey casting

Bass: SA Andro and Infinity. Maxima leaders. I have a Rio Outbound Short for heavy stuff because I find it easier to haul and shoot than the SA alternative.

Steelhead: Most of the lines I am using today are Boss or Bridge. Leaders are Maxima Chameleon with Ultragreen tippets.
 
FlyFishDan said:
Anyone else looking for other options for fly line, leaders and tippet? The only thing I can find in my local fly shops (WA, OR, ID, MT, UT) is either RIO or SA...I have had some issues with RIO lately and don't have much experience with SA. Cortland is my preferred brand, but rarely find a shop that has this in stock.View attachment 130879
Click to expand...
Puget Sound Fly Shop in Tacoma sells their Ultra Premium Fluorocarbon tippet in sizes 1x to 7x.
 
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