Which line ?

Hi, Having sought advice and opinions of different fly lines, i finally decided to treat myself to a snowbee floating wf6 for my hardy ultralite rod. Fine, until at the moment of purchase the tackle dealer said "YOU DONT WANT TO DO THAT, get yourself a Rio Windcutter, casts better and further and will last twice as long. Two minutes later back outside shop, no line and confused again. Any comments please THANKS MASS !!!

Windcutter is a funny line, have a look at Rio's website for its make up. WF6F is something like..1st 3ft is WF5, then next 6ft is WF7, then returns to WF6. I use a RIO WF4F and enjoy the light touch down of small dries, but do not think this line casts any further than other 4 weights. Before I sold my RIO WF7F I found it a strange line that felt dead until the end of the WF8 section was at the rod tip. So I marked it and things improved. Other people LOVE their Snowbee lines, so they cannot all be wrong. Take a look at the RIO design then use what you think you will enjoy. Its your money. Hope this helps your choice.

Buy what you want, not what the shop keeper wants to sell you.....

Genuinely well meant and appropriate advice is good butvery rare. It takes time to ask the questions that address your needs, fishing style, the rod, the likely venues, distance casting etc etc.

When some bugger comes out with that sort of line at the till its more often than not likely to beprompted by his over-stock issues and manufacturer's bonuses.

Snowbee lines are excellent, buy with confidence. Plus which its always better to have a good solidbasic reliable line you can have confidence in as a 'base line' starting point to get used to the rod before starting to confuse yourself utterly with weird tapers, loop to loop hybrids and systems.

Never found any of these odd tapers and lines any use at all, especially the loop to loop type trying to give you five different flavours of cake at once and eat them all - always got that curious 'dead' / disconnected feel to them. Mind you, I am sufficiently old fashioned enough to prefer the delicacy of a double taper on any rod below a six weight, and a long belly in any WF above that ! ie.whatreally amounts to a double taper type profile plus running line..... /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif Old dog, same fleas, no new tricks.

Hi again, thanks lads for the comments, back to the original Snowbee plan me thinks. cheers MASS ||||

Aren't the Rio Windcutter lines SPEY Lines ??

I think you will like your Snowbee line Mass. The Windcutter II now is in two colours, so we dont have to mark them. The Windcutterwas designed I believe for an American river where you have to cast to the far bank for lunker trout. And its windy. Get them right and they do go further, but why mess with special tapers when you dont have to.

Rio do make heavy lines named Spey for salmon etc, with another fancy taper, Ed. And possibly with interchangeable tips. Not sure. But the Windcutter range is still offered. My old WF7F did go further than any other lines I have, as long as I got the loading point right. I got fed up with being lured into long range fishingALL the time, because the Windcutter fished fine very close, or long range, and struggled between. I also have a nice Anorak.

I have got the SnowbeeXS WF8F andI would recommendit to everyone-£32 well spent.I am only a novice but it hasexceptional casting abillity and presentation that does me just fine.

Can anyonehelp me on what WF rod/line I should have for a small fast paced river with only 10oz plus wild brown trout in.

I have a lovely little 7 foot im6 rod I bought from Sportfish with a #4 weight line which does very nicely for brook fishing.

Tho if I were buying again I think / I were you then I might go for 7 ft 6" rod with a lighter #2/#3 line weight rating, and a much softer tip to butt parabolic action.

That way, for very small rivers / short casting, you can more easily 'overload' with a #4 line so that the rod is properly loaded with a shorter length of line out than the 30ft or whatever it is that the AFTM line rating is based on. Not much use when trying to cast 10 - 15ft of line with a similar length leader on a brook only 10ft or so wide when the rod is never going to get loaded up enough to even start bending....

Another useful trick on small rivers and brooks is to stand some way back from the bank, casting so that the first part of your line lands on the grass with only the end of it and the leader hitting the water. Then lift the rod tip and the line off the grass to regain / maintain control.

Cheers Evan,welsh and proud mate lol,very useful information as I have a lot to learn about fly fishing,especially rivers or brooks.

Trying the tree tops trout fishery this year as many have recommendedit,depends on transport too as it's up in the hills somewhere.

I have both Rio and Snowbee lines and can find little fault in either. Rio cost more of course.

I don't have a windcutter line, but it sounds like another form of shooting head.

Evan's advice for brooks is sound. I spent many years fishing tiny rivers in Kwazulu Natal and the Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga).