Viking Lars | Saturday, 19 October 2019
Good fly lines are expensive and with anything expensive, it makes sense to get the most out if it. One thing is using the fly line, casting it, fishing and letting it do what it was designed to do. But another thing is keeping it alive for as long as possible - and perhaps even more impotant - keeping in proper shape so it delivers optimal performance for as much of its lifespan as possible.
I decided to write this, sparked by Bart's troubles.
As with anything, be it cars, reels, knives, bikes, fine mechanics etc., the key is maintenance. I know that many fly fishers dislike maintenance and that many basically can't be bothered with. Fine - as long as you're willing to accept that your tackle is more subjected to wear and tear if you don't maintain it.
When it comes to fly lines - apart from use, which should of course never be avioded - there are two factors that are significant in wearing them down: Dirt and worn rings on your rod. And a dirty fly line imparts more wear to the rings of your rod, which in turn imparts more wear back on the line, and a worn line picks up more dirt and will in fact in the end be able to "saw" grooves in the rings of your rods.
So thre's plenty of reasons to do a bit of maintenance. It keeps your lines performing well and increases life span, and it prevents unnecessary wear on your rods.
Just fishing makes your line dirty. It picks up algae and microscopic debris, you drop in mud on the bank, you step on it and so on. Every now and then, just do a quick clean by running it through a wet rag and that'll remove most of the dirt the line has picked up. Applying a lubricant makes it nice and smooth. Shoot is a good choice as it's quite thin and can be applied when the line is on the reel. Others are more viscous and needs to be applied with a cloth, which of course can be a bit tricky, at least "in the field". Doing this - cleaning and applying a little lubricant takes less than five minutes and really increases the life span of your line. And it's especially beneficial to the lines you take on the grass for practice. I clean my practice line after almost every session. And yes - I do actually believe that you'll cast further, both on the grass and when fishing.
I clean my freshwater lines more often than the lines I use in the salt. Whe I fish the salt, the line is either in the water or in the line tray and it doesn't pick up much dirt. Still, the lines get the occasional clean up and application of lubracant to keep them performing. This even goes for all the monofilament shootinglines I use, both in the salt and freash water.
My fsalmon- and dryfly lines are seasonal, so before stowing them for the off-season, I give them the royal treatment. Clean with soapy water (using soap flakes), dry off, apply lubricant, buff, coil up and store away in ziplock bags.
Have a great weekend - happy cleaning!
Lars