Cleaning, stretching, and storing fly lines

Roper

Roper

Idiot Savant, still
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Maybe this is overkill and maybe I’m just a little AR. But I put a reel on a rod recently that I hadn’t touched for quite a while. The memory in the line was unbelievable. It looked like little Shirley Temple curls. So that got me thinking, yeah, I know I’m in trouble now.
I’m pretty much done fishing until spring. So I want to take a look at my fly lines that are on reels and clean them, stretch them, and store them. This is something I’ve never done before so I’m looking for advice. I’m hoping that in the end it will reduce the amount of tangle I have when I’m fishing.
So whatcha got…?
 
I have never done that and look forward to learning something from this thread. I barely remember to clean my lines every once in a great while.
 
Cleaning: Yes, but I'm not sure stretching the lines before storage will do anything...stretching before use after storage...Always.
When I fish in the salt, I rinse the lines/reel/rods every time in fresh water and run through a dry cloth back onto the reel.
 
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this end of season will be using the SA Regulator to store lines in zip lock bags. When winding them onto the Regulator plan on conditioning the line about halfway to the head by pulling it through a microfiber pad saturated with either line conditioner or Aerospace 303, pinching down so it causes some line stretching friction. Wife is unaware she has volunteered to be the official rod butt/conditioning pad holder .
 
Just let a large fish stretch the line and remove any memory.
 
@Roper - done for the season? ;-)

Rick - some lines are slinkies. Over the years I can remember early retirement of one fast, full sinker. I'd stretch the ---- out of it before use, strip in fish and still it would coil as if it was a wound spring. After one particularly great day for the bite of big holdovers, I spent most of the morning trying to untangle that ------ ---- . When I got home, I pulled it off the reel and let my wife use lengths of it to tie pruned pear tree branches in bundles.

I leave my lines on the reels year 'round and except for when I'm in California visiting, they get used. Often there are mornings in winter where local lakes aren't completely iced over and do fish well.

When my lines get really dirty, I do like @G_Smolt says and soak them in water, reel them up through a clean cloth. (I'm not adverse to rubbing floatant on my line when reeling it up.)

Tight Lines!/Pat
 
My wife accuses me of being OCD. I rinse after every use in the kitchen sink, then wet flannel on sinkers and the SA treatment on floaters. Lines I fish often stay on the reels. Those used infrequently get put away on original spools or in big coils in bags. I find they behave better when stored in coils larger than a reel spool.
I don't think they make a line winder like this anymore, but I've seen some other systems out there. Makes it real convenient.
 

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To clean your lines, try to find some old school "Glide" line dressing. I clean my lines via a damp cloth with some Dawn dish soap. Pull the line through pinched pointer finger and thumb. Make a few passes. Then make a pass with only water on different area of cloth. Let line dry. Put some glide on another clean area of cloth. Pull line though the Glide with pinched fingers, to apply a coat of the Glide. Let dry for 10 minutes. One more run through pinched fingers to Buff the glide. Wind onto reel. Some of my lines are 30 ish years old. I attribute this to the "Glide" method.

I leave all my lines on the reels. I do know some people who would store their lines in loose wraps, over some pegs, when not being used. Ive got cats so I dont do this. Reminds me, if you have cats, dont do the "Glide" method with them around. Ask me how I know.

Have a good week.

Bob
 
It could be the line itself. Solid core lines (famously RIO) hold the shape they got on the reel. They are kinky and hard to straighten. Braided core lines, (as in SA) are much more amenable to being stretched to straighten. Anyway, straightening before packing away tightly coiled on a reel is a waste of time. Just stretch them in the spring.
 
Like Draketake, I use Glide line dressing, because they say it’s okay on both floating and sinking lines.
I got a line winder like Tom Butler’s awhile back. It makes it a LOT easier.
Most of my lines don’t hold bad coils, but it never hurts to stretch any of them, though I rarely do these days, as I get lazier. But I find keeping a line clean and dressed helps line performance more than stretching. But I don’t buy lines with reputations for bad coiling.
 
A fella can get all fancy with a spool crank too. This one was $4, they're probably about $6 these days. I use this setup for changing lines all the time, works like a charm - the felt strip lets the slide off the spool better and makes the inner diameter of the coil large enough to put back on the spool for transfer to the reel. Get a few fuzzy twist ties to keep unspooled lines from becoming scrambled nigthmares and Bob's yer uncle.
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Chucker said:
I don't recall what this style of line winder is called, but they are a bit expensive, so I made one. I find that it does the job a bit easier than the spool winders. I have more lines than reels, so most of them are stored coiled in ziploc bags.

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I love it! I may just steal your idea…
 
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