By Louis Cahill
It pays to keep your fly line clean.
You can spend $90 on a fly line, these days. It just makes sense to take care of them and a big part of caring for a fly line is keeping it clean. Removing oils and chemicals, like sun screen and bug spray, will make your line last a whole lot longer. Keeping it free of dirt and river scum will make it float and cast better.
So why wouldn’t you clean your line every time you fish?
Because it’s a hassle or because you just forget. Well the good news is it’s actually really easy and convenient. I keep a hand full of moist towelettes, like you get at BBQ restaurants, in my fishing kit. I only takes a second to clean your fly line with one of these handy wipes. I buy them by the case but you can pick them up at the local BBQ joint if you like.
Watch the video and see ho weary it is to clean a fly line.
Louis Cahill Gink & Gasoline www.ginkandgasoline.com hookups@ginkandgasoline.com Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter!
Do I see you dropping the wrapping in the stream?
Of course not. I dropped it in the boat for the sake of making the video smoother.
Nice one!
Louis,
Have you ever had any experience cleaning the textured lines? I’ve got an SA mastery textured line, and the gunk always seems to get stuck in the little texture divots.
That’s an issue. One of the reasons I don’t like textured lines. Soak them in warm soapy water once in a while.
So does the alcohol in these wipes not damage the fly lines?
Nope. I’ve been using them for years. RIO even sells them for their lines.
But isn’t the wipes from Rio made of different solution base?
Nope. RIO,does,say they add silicone to the product but otherwise it’s exactly the same. Even made by the same company. So the benefit of the RIO wipe is you get some dressing at the same time. They are $1 each, which is not a lot, but still the least cost effective way to dress your line. Personally, I think it’s better to clean first, then dress. Modern lines need dressing less often than the old ones but it’s still an important step.
You can read more about that here.
http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing-tips-technique/how-to-get-new-fly-line-for-5-or-pretty-close/
I fish for bass in Texas & for trout mostly in Colorado. I clean & dress my floating lines anytime the tip begins to sink, I hear the rasp of grit or notice the line doesn’t shot readily thru the guides (especially in dirtier water) and always at the end of the day when I store my gear. Some of my lines are several years old & still work great.
Armor All wipes work great too, and leave the line nice and slick so it shoots out the guides even better.
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Much like Robbie, I try to take care of my lines but they do get used a lot. How do I know when my older lines are having a negative effect on the performance? Of course I would like to get new line, but it always seems like I’m on a tight budget.