Beginner's guide to understanding Fly Lines 

Appreciate that! Yah a second follow up could certainly be a good idea. So many specialty lines to cover.

Thank you! We try to educate as much as possible, and are happy you are finding worth in it.

You got it! It's definitely time for another Spey setup video.

Glad you think so! Appreciate the feedback!

Glad it was helpful!

Yes its a sad day for the photo community, but everyday is a good day to fish. If you have any fly line questions please let us know!

It can be intimidating but if you stick with it, it'll all come together.

The benefit is basically two fold. First they tend to be longer heads with a little more bulk in the running line behind the main head, so roll casting and mending in the water tend to be easier. Second if you wear out one side of the line you simply reverse it on the reel and so you double your fly lines lifespan. The downside is they tend not to cast as far or certainly not as easily compared to a compact weight forward head deisgn.

@@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary thank you for the response. I miss Calgary having grown up there. I went to Henry wisewood.

That's a great question! So often small creek lines will have short compact heads because they load the rod without needing a bunch of fly line out of the rod tip. On small creeks it can be tough or impossible to do long back casts and aerialize a bunch of line, and this sounds like exactly your situation. If you aren't casting long distances (which you aren't) and you want a good roll caster, look for something with a taper that is thicker towards the rear of the fly line and with a slightly longer head. Double taper flylines can be ideal for this because they have a lot of bulk to the rear of the head, or something similar to a Wulff Triangle Taper is killer for roll casting. But to really answer your original question the Rio Creek has a 30ft head so not only will it cast much nicer at short distances, but it will still have enough taper out of the rod tip to mend and roll cast well, especially within 30ft. It would do very well for you, otherwise a general purpose Rio Gold would be fine too. Just stay away from really long heads like the technical trout line.

@@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary This is incredibly helpful, and your response exceptionally generous given that you know I’m in the UK which means I’m effectively tied to buying here. All I can do is offer my profuse thanks, wish you all the very best, and pray for God’s blessing on all your endeavours. Rev. Kevin

Hey Gary. Thanks for watching! So in fly fishing we always think about the type of fly we want to cast and then have a rod and setup for that. If we are fishing small mountain streams we think lighter dry flies and thus light rods like 3 or 4 weights, with floating lines and leaders. But if we want to fish streamers, usually with heavier weight and sinking leaders, we go with heavier rods like 7 or 8 weights for example. So in these cases we generally have rods dedicated to a certain kind of fishing. I would never really use an 8 weight to cast small dries for example. However if you are using a 5 or 6 weight rod then you might fish dry flies, and some lighter nymphs or streamers as well. In this case we might carry multiple reels with different fly lines, or we might use a sinking leader one moment and a floating one the next. I guess to answer your question, Yes, but it depends. If I fish mountain streams for a day or hit the Bow river for a session I will usually only choose one rod and go for it. Multi day trip, especially outside of Calgary I'll take multiple setups for different situations.

@@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary Chris, thanks for the response :) I agree and it makes sense & that is why I have 12 variations of saltwater poles & reels. It's a love / hate situation... yes I have the tackle that can solve 95% of my ocean fishing situations, but I have also spent $$$$ and I always have storage space that I have to account for :( I was just thinking can I just purchase an extra reel spool (like a spinning reel) for my fly reel and set one up for Dry & the other for Wet? Maybe you can give me your thoughts on this, and Pros / Cons on the best ways to minimize gear while maximizing function or use.

A Rio Creek line in 3 wt would be ideal. It's gonna load the rod properly at short distances, can't go wrong.

Airflo makes a Superflo Power Taper which really turns over nymphs and streamers well. For dry fly it will work if you use a longer leader, say 12 ft which can be beneficial anyways. If you want a more general purpose though, then you have your classics like the Airflo Universal Taper, or Rio Gold for example.

It's difficult. Rarely the manufacturer actually labels what they are. But more often than not all you can do is weigh the first 30 ft to get a grain weight and compare to standard fly line weight ratings. Or if you have LOTS of experience with different fly lines you might recognize the color combo. You can have a very close look at the actual shape and length of the tapering of the fly line head as well and get some sort of idea. But none of this is what I would call easy.

Thanks that dose help. Appreciate the advice