Line weight

Line weight

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
A principal called over-lining makes great sense in flyfishing.

Our good friend Josh Mills tells me that there is a nifty way to get line out for a fly fisherman without having to overwork it. It’s called over lining and here’s Josh: “ If you are out flyfishing and you are casting either a sinking line and really big bugs and you are feeling like you are constantly having to really work hard to get line out, to shoot it, to even manage it, let me introduce you to a principal for people who are starting out, it is the principle of over lining your fly rod. Let’s say that you normally fish with a 5 weight line. Feel free to switch up to a 6 weight line on your 5 weight rod because what that is going to do is provide a deeper load in the rod. You will be able to shoot more line. There is nothing worse than being out all day long and getting something that doesn’t quite match and you are constantly having to work to get line out or you are casting big bugs and it is hard to get the line to load the rod properly and therefore it is just effort upon effort upon effort. Especially when you get into the heavier stuff, going up the line size to the rod like if you’re fishing and 8 weight don’t be afraid of going to a 9 weight line on that rod. Modern manufacturers most of the time overweight it a little bit as in go above what a 5 weight would really be, but if you step up to a 6 weight and it is a specific application, it’s not going to be that great if you are throwing dry flies. If you are throwing sub surface stuff, like streamers or big heavy flies to deep bass or something like that, try over lining, it’ll make your day a lot more fun.

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