Learn About the Different Types of Fishing Line

Video Transcript

" Hi, I’m Jim from Zoar Outdoor on behalf of expertvillage.com. In this segment we’re going to be talking about fishing gear and especially fly fishing. In this segment we’re going to talk about the third and probably the most important element of your fly fishing outfit, and that’s the fly line. Right at the outset I advise you to buy the best fly line you can afford. It’ll act much more dependably, the tapers would be much better and you’ll find that in the end it’s a bargain. A good fly line would cost you somewhere around $50, the cheap ones for $20 or so, just don’t have the right performance characteristics. Some of the things you should know about fly lines is that they come in different tapers and in different weights. Here for example is a reel grand weight forward diagram, this diagram explains how the weight forward works. At the back going to the reel is a narrow section they call the running line, and then it starts to get fatter in the back taper and it forms the body of the line into the front taper. This section is usually about 30 feet long and what happens is that they fly line, this part of the fly line is what you cast in most fishing conditions and then it tapers down do a narrow tip so that it’ll land delicately when it presents the fly. The weight forward floating fly line is generally speaking the best fly line to start out with. You can tell what you’ve got if you look at the fly line box that comes from the manufacturer, in this case it’s says WF4F, and what means is weight forward 4 weight floating, and you can match that up with your fly rod. If you have a look at the fly rod, you’ll see that this particular rod indicates that this is made for a 4 or a 5 weight. So a 4 or a 5 weight rod matched to a 4 weight line would be a good choice, and even better choice for a beginner would be a 5 weight, weight float forward, because it can handle a wider variety. A 5 weight is heavier than 4 weight, those numbers refer to the relative weights, that goes from about 1 weight all the way up to 12. So don’t be confused by it, stick with a 5 weight to start out with and it’ll serve you well through your entire fly fishing career."