Silk Fly Line

jerry

Steelhead
I have been infected with a terminal disease called "bamboo fly roditis". I have some nice new and old bamboo fly rods, some nice new and old reels to go with them. I have been thinking of taking another step and trying out a real silk fly line. I am looking for some suggestions as to what fly line to acquire. I have heard that some Chinese lines have a rough texture and others are difficult to maintain.
 
Silk lines are nice to cast but you need to maintain them. Dressing the lines before use and drying the line post fishing trip off the reel is needed to keep the investment from rotting. I think that the 406 fly lines (plastic) are a great alternative without the need for the maintenance. But yes, silk lines are fun to cast, their thin profile, lack of memory make them cut through the air.

Mike
 
I have fished silk lines and they are as Mike said fun to cast and they require a bit of work to use. I used Phoenix lines which are produced in the UK and back then they were pricey. A line dryer is necessary and during warm weather you may need to regrease during the day. I fished the lines for steelhead head and cutthroat, so I don’t have experience with fishing them for trout. I also fished would not grease the front portion to fish like an intermediate tip. I recently purchased a Spey Scandi line to fish with my bamboo Spey which will be fun this summer.
 
I have a couple of Terenzino artificial silk lines that are really nice to cast. They come from Italy in a fancy box, but I’ve found that the trout I try to catch with them don’t really care about that.

They still require dressing to make them float, just like real silk lines do (I use Otter Butter).

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