Unlike monofilament, gas station sunglasses and the repaired seams on your favorite waders, fly line is designed to last longer than a single season. Eventually though, you have to accept the fact your cracking, coiled fly line is too old and finally retire the poor line. Before it’s time to bite that bullet and buy new line there are a few tricks that can keep your line casting like new for just one more season (or two). Cheapskates everywhere rejoice!

Your Line Deserves A Spa Day

If you pull out your reel and your line looks dry, cracked and dirty, that line is in its twilight years. Many times you can keep your line casting like a youngster by giving it a little TLC and a handful of product. First, give your line a cleaning with a proper line cleaner, not just whatever soap is lying around your house.

Instead of just dousing the line in line cleaner and hoping for the best, make sure to use a line cleaning cloth and massage the cleaner into the fibers of the line. This will make sure the whole surface of the line will be properly coated with cleaning solution and will give the cleaner a chance to really do its job. A fly line dressing will help to further add moisture to your line and make it cast like brand new again.

Give It A Stretch

Line memory is usually the first sign your line is getting old and it can also be the most frustrating. There’s nothing worse than laying down the perfect cast, with a perfect lead on your new personal best fish, only to have your line start coiling on the water’s surface and ruin your presentation. Instead of just casting longer and harder with the blind hope that your line will stretch itself out, give it a real stretch before you hit the water this season.

Go into your backyard, or anywhere with a lot of space and pace yourself 75 yards from a big tree or smooth pole. Make sure the tree or pole doesn’t have any sharp points that will cut your line. Putting a soft blanket or towel between the tree and your line will make sure you don’t ruin your line.

Walk towards the tree, letting out line evenly on the ground behind you, walk around the tree and stop when you get back to your leader. Have a friend stand by the tree to make sure your towel stays in place while you gently stretch out your line. I like to stretch it out a handful of times, with a ten-second pause in between each stretching session. Reel up your line and you’re ready to hit the water.

Next Time, Plan Ahead

Instead of hoping for the best at the start of every season and just burning through fly line, a few precautions can make your life a lot easier down the road. Buying a large arbor fly reel will help reduce line memory, therefore extending the life of your line. It will also reduce the amount of junk that can get trapped in between your line, as there will be less wraps around the reel’s spool. Large arbor reels also just look way cooler.

Cleaning and adding some line dressing to your line at the end of the season, before you put it in a drawer and forget about it, can double the life of your line. Keeping it in a dark drawer is also better than leaving it where the sunlight can touch it. UV rays will wear out the PVC coating on your fly line faster than anything else. If you can, clean your line on the water if you have downtime between bites–or if your buddy is a bow hog.

Also be sure to check for nicks, rough spots or cuts in your line while you’re cleaning it to make sure you don’t lose that dream fish when you do hook up. Your line might be old, but that dog can still fish (as long as you treat it right).

Postfly