09-23 REELLIFE digital - Flipbook - Page 19
of 7 ounces to make it work. If I am
trying to cast heavy flies or nymph
rigs, it’s easier to do that with a
shorter piece of line beyond the
rod tip. At least that is our brain’s
message to us. Anyone that has
ever tried to fly fish knows that our
brain says “use less line, it will be
easier.” However, this works totally
against everything that makes
the fly rod/line work as a team. The
rod needs 7 ounces to load and
unload, but picking up 35 feet of
fly line with an awkwardly heavy
indicator rig on the fishing end is
darn near impossible. OK, maybe
not impossible, but it’s hard.
Fishing is hard enough, why make
it harder? If I could use a fly line
that had head weight of 7 ounces
that was 20’ instead of 35’, that
would be easier. The rod gets the
line weight it needs and the angler
gets the casting performance
needed to deliver the cast without
having to pick up 35’ of fly line in
a small space. On my last trip to
the Anchor River in Alaska, I chose
the Scientific Anglers Anadro fly
line. It has a shorter tapered, more
aggressive head that checks the
box on what I need to deliver for
steelhead flies and rigs. It also
works well for skating mice to
Bristol Bay rainbows. It is not a
good choice for dry fly fishing. Yet,
therein lies the conundrum.
Some of you reading this have
already thought “I just need one fly
line that will do everything I want
it to do.” In my three decades of
guiding fly fishing, hanging out
in fly shops, hosting trips and just
generally being in the business, I
have never once seen one fly line
that will do everything you need it
to do.
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