Beginner's guide to understanding Fly Lines

Chris Niccolls from Bow River Troutfitters shows you a simple guide to how fly lines are designed. If you are looking to understand how fly line tapers will effect your fishing, check this video out. Visit bowrivertroutfitters.com to find a new fly line for your rod today.

[@SufferingOutdoors]

I’ve watched a couple of your videos now, they are very informative and the presentation is fantastic. Great job.

[@moorejl57]

Thanks so much for the clear common sense explanation of front tapers. Your videos are a cut above and information rich.

[@CrazyAboutFlyFishing]

Thanks for that, very informative, well presented and easy to undertand. Another one on some of the specialty lines would be great as well as getting into the different cores and coatings

[@niccollsvideo]

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

[@CN-re5ut]

Just when I thought I was starting to get the hang of things 😜

[@kamarte]

Chris, you are such a great tutor!...thanks

[@user-rk7kg9ik2c]

Great information, excellent speaking ability, primo presentation!

[@stevedowling5705]

Awesome explanation 👏

[@azcountry6064]

Dude, you are a veritable wealth of information!

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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

[@bobsteve3366]

Thanks A lot. It's very useful information. After watching, I strongly believe it will be very helpful for us to design fly rods.

[@WelcomeFBS]

Very informative, thank you

[@terrykleier5068]

Excellent explanation thank you

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

Glad it was helpful!

[@toxico1152]

Thank you so much

[@jimdees2490]

great video explained very clearly

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

Glad you think so! Appreciate the feedback!

[@robertcarpmael9796]

Great video. Thank you. Always enjoy your presentation style, having watched many of your camera videos. Would love something about matching salmon fly lines to rods or Skagit/rage compact shooting head lines and matching weights to rods when using flo tips and the like, given that they add to the weights.

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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

[@DoinDadThings]

Probably the most information about fly line I've found on the web yet. But it seems like this a good reason for me to not want fly fish if I have to know all this stuff. If it wasn't for artificial lure only locations I wouldn't even be looking into fly fishing.

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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

[@sjurgabriel]

Looking for insight before buying a new line for the upcoming trout season, and what do I find - one of my favourite photo guys on YT! (DP-review sadly coming to an end)

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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!

[@kec2528]

Thank you for the video. I am still trying to understand double taper and what the benefits are.

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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.

[@kec2528]

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

[@KruiserIV]

I had to take a double take. I thought I was on the photography channel.

[@kevinkitson1569]

Brilliantly informative video. I’m in the UK but can you give me some advice? I’ve just bought a 7’6” #4 rod for fishing UK streams, something that is completely new to me. I’d like a line that will cast well at 15-20’ but also roll cast nicely. Will the Rio Creek do the job given its short head, or should I consider a universal taper? Sorry to ask, but you really do know your stuff!

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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.

[@kevinkitson1569]

@@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

[@Michigandrivenoutdoors]

9 foot 5wt.. what line you recommend? I use streamers,nymps, and drys

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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.

[@itsgottabeinteresting.8388]

I have a 5'6 3w fly rod, what line would you recommend for this. I use it for fly fishing in creeks and small areas., Thanks

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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

[@garypuckett5694]

Chris, just finding your your channel! Anyway, I'm mostly a SoCal saltwater guy but recently I've been wanting to tryout fly fishing in our Sierra Nevada mountains. With ocean fishing I have several setups that I take with me depending on situation/condition and type of fish we're on. Do you do the same in fly fishing? Do you have (1, 2, 3...) fly setups for dry/wet/creek/river situations when you go on a 2 or 3 day fishing trip. Or do you setup a pole with a combo configurations?

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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.

[@garypuckett5694]

@@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.

[@Unnaturalfly]

Is there a way to tell what kind of fly line you have if you don’t have the box

[@BowRiverTroutfittersCalgary]

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.

[@Unnaturalfly]

Thanks that dose help. Appreciate the advice

[@dougreid1951]

Weird to see Airflo without a mention of sinking lines.....

[@mihaelachiscovici]

Perfect for my needs but too expensive for what ya get

[@kmax214]

promosm

[@costaimaging2011]

Good topic, but toooo technical, I completely got confused 😃

[@jimangela4589]

This isn't a beginner's guide. There are three basic fly lines. There is level line, double taper line and weight forward line. You only presented weight forward lines. I prefer double taper because I can cut it in half and split the cost over two reels. Using weight forward lines to fish anything other than large rivers is a waste of fly line and money.