Choosing the best flyline for trout &
understanding fly line tapers
A floating line is what most fly fishermen use most of the time, but which one is best for you?
Choosing a fly line back in the 1970s was simple - all we had was the Double Taper (DT) profile.
Nowadays most anglers use Weight Forward (WF) floating lines.
A WF is any fly line with a thicker head attached to a skinny running line, the name comes from the entire length of the fly line where there is more weight in the front half than the back half.
The profile of the head on a WF line can, however, be weighted at the front or the back.
The endless combinations of head length, front and rear tapers and tip diameter have made it possible to design WF lines for every possible fishing situation.
On one hand this is fantastic, but on the other hand the mind boggling array of taper profiles available has made selecting a fly line confusing for many, sometimes resulting in a poor choice.
In this article I explain the development of fly line tapers and profiles so I can demonstrate the advantages of each and the trout fishing situations when they work best.
I discuss five basic fly line profiles, roughly in the order in which they were developed.
The first being the double taper (DT) and the other four are fundamental variations to the weight forward (WF) profile.
To keep it simple I’ll stick with 5wt lines but the principles can apply to any weight of fly line.
According to the standard set by both the American Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association (AFTMA) and the Association of Fishing Tackle Manufacturers (AFTM), the first 30 feet of a 5wt line should weigh 140 grains. Half-size heavy 5wt lines weigh 150 grains and full size heavy lines weigh 160 grains, which is equivalent to a 6wt line.
Double Taper
A Double Taper (DT) fly line consists of a level belly with an identical taper at each end, so it is reversible.
Double taper profile
DT lines were first made out of silk. As silk lines are more dense than water they only float when dry and coated with Mucilin. These lines, do eventually become water logged and begin sinking during a long fishing session. So the double taper design was to allow the angler to turn the fly line around and resume fishing.
The tapers on modern DT lines usually vary between 6 to 9 ft, but tapers of up to 29 ft have been produced on some presentation models.
Shorter front tapers are better at turning over larger flies and longer leaders, while longer tapers are better at presentation with smaller flies.
A good general purpose taper length for a DT line has proven to be around 6 or 7 ft.
Advantages of double taper fly lines:
Accuracy and presentation:
DTs have a long level belly and no skinny shooting line, so rod load is directly t proportional to the amount of fly line out of the rod tip, at all distances. It is therefore easier to judge distance with a DT fly line. This makes DTs especially accurate when casting to sighted fish or individual risers.
The level belly generates consistent smooth open loops that provide great presentation with dry flies and reduced tangles or rod collisions with dry droppers and dual nymphs.
Re-positioning flies:
One does not have to retrieve the running line into the rod tip before making another cast, which means a DT fly line can be lifted directly off the water to quickly reposition the fly. A consideration when casting dry flies to fish moving at distance.
Mending:
Given that the diameter of fly line at the rod tip is always the same as that of the head, regardless of the amount of fly line on the water, DT fly lines are much easier to mend than a WF line with the head beyond the rod tip. In other words you are not trying to move a thicker head with skinny running line.
Mending in the air, e.g. the reach cast, is also easier with DT fly lines, for reasons similar to those when mending on the water.
Spey/roll casting:
DT lines are good for roll and Spey Casting over a wide range of distances.
The weight of line in the upper portion of the D-loop loads the rod during a Spey cast and turns over the fly line. Given that the leader and front taper form part of the lower portion of the D-loop, a DT line always has more weight on top.
DT lines can be Spey cast with any length of line, up to 80 ft, out of the rod tip, i.e. one doesn’t have to retrieve a running line before making a cast. This is particularly efficient when swinging flies at a fixed distance.
Spey casts with more than about 50 ft of line out of the tip will definitely take some skill to master using a DT line and a 9 ft 5wt rod.
Durability:
Since there are identical tapers at both ends, DT lines can be reversed when one end wears out - which means they last twice as long. Many modern fly lines to not rely on plasticisers that evaporate from the coating, so the back half of the line is usually in fine condition when the line is reversed.
Disadvantages of double taper fly lines:
Shoot-ability:
Double tapers don’t shoot as far as weight forward lines, because there is no skinny low friction running line.
Recent developments in fly line coatings and textures have significantly reduced friction and increased shoot-ability of double taper fly lines, e.g. Scientific Anglers textured AST Plus.
DT lines are nevertheless most suited to short to medium distances, I.e. out to 60 ft (45 feet of fly line and a 15 ft leader). I seldom need a cast longer than that when fishing a 5wt rod on New Zealand rivers.
Grunt :
5wt DT fly lines are not able to turn over large (#6) bushy dry flies and 15 ft leaders as well as half size heavy weight forward lines with reverse belly tapers and more weight up front (see MPX below). But they will easily manage bushy dry flies up to size 12, with a nymph or two attached.
Having less grunt, DT fly lines are not as good as aggressive weight forward lines in strong wind. But they are better in the wind than presentation fly lines.
Rod Load and distance :
While the linear relationship between rod load and line length beyond the tip is good for feel and accuracy, it does mean that a presentation rod that is perfectly loaded with 30 ft of fly line in the air may feel overloaded with 60 ft of line in the air. A WF line with long head and reverse taper, e.g. SA Trout (below), provides disproportionately less rod load as more line exits the rod tip, so is better for long casts.
What 5wt double taper lines are best at :
1. |
Casting small to medium dry flies, dry droppers or light to medium weighted nymphs to sighted fish - accuracy and presentation.
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2. |
Fishing soft hackles - presentation and mending are good and Spey Casting results in fewer tangles with teams of flies.
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3. |
Indicator fishing with a small yarn indicator and a couple of 2.5mm tungsten beads at close to medium range - great mending and presentation.
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4. |
Euro nymphing rods, when a floating line is required to fish dry flies or nymphs further than 25 ft. Double taper lines cast well on Euro nymphing rods and the extra feel compensates for the loss of accuracy associated with rods 10 ft and longer. DT lines also mend and Spey cast exceptionally well on longer rods. |
A Scientific Anglers Amplitude 5 wt DT is now my favourite line for nymphing lowland rivers and for sight fishing on New Zealand rivers, outside of the cicada season. This line is very accurate, has decent presention, can cast long leaders and deal with moderate wind.
One of the advantages of a DT that I especially enjoy is that when the river is flowing from right to left and my nymphs have drifted below me I dont need to retrieve any line, all I need is a quick double Spey and I can shoot it out another 10 feet. I can also use the double spey to aerialise the line and make a single false cast to cover even more distance.
Original Weight Forward
The original Weight Forward lines had the same front taper as their DT counterparts, a shortish level head and then a short rear taper to a skinny running line.
Original WF profile
These lines cast identically to the DT at short distances, but shoot further once the head is just beyond the rod tip. This makes them easier for unskilled casters to cast further - hence their initial popularity.
The original WFs were, however, less accurate on medium to long casts than the DTs and they were also difficult to mend and hopeless for Spey/roll casting at distances much longer than the head.
A later development to the original WF was the introduction of a longer rear taper to the level belly to improve stability in the air, accuracy, as well as mending capability. While the long rear taper does improve all of those attributes, none reach the level of proficiency of the DT. The long rear taper also does little to improve roll casting.
WF with long rear taper
In my experience, the standard WF taper, with or without long rear taper, is inferior to the DT for some applications and has been superseded by custom designed Reverse Belly Taper WF lines (described below) for others. The one exception is casting heavy indicator rigs.
A WF fly line with a short front taper (ca 3 ft), a long level belly (ca 35 ft) and a long rear taper (ca 25 ft) makes a great indicator nymphing and large streamer line, especially if a full size heavy. The long level heavy belly is great for roll/Spey Casting, the long rear taper shoots well and allows mending at distance, and the short front taper and extra weight in the head help turn over heavy indicator rigs, large streamers or 10 ft Polyleaders. The Scientific Anglers Anadro is one such example.
Front Loaded Weight Forward
Front Loaded WF lines have a short 5-7 ft thicker level belly in front, with a short rear taper down to a longer level belly that eventually tapers down to the running line. The first 30 ft is usually one (160 grains) or two (185 grains) times heavy, and front tapers tend to be 3 to 7 ft long.
Front loaded WF profile
The advantages of the front loaded WF profile are that it can turn over heavy or large wind resistant flies and it loads fast action rods quickly, achieving good distance with a minimum of false casting.
Presentation with small flies is poor and roll casting and mending are not great. It is therefore a specialist profile generally used for large articulated streamers and bass bugs.
Popular current examples include the SA Titan Long, Rio Outbound Short and Cortland Streamer.
Triangle Taper Weight Forward
Triangle Taper (TT) Weight Forward lines have a head with a short rear taper and a very long front taper that takes up all of the remainder of the head. The long front tapers on TT heads turn over smoothly making these heads stable in the air and produce excellent presentation.
The first TT lines were the the brain child of the great Lee Wulff and had a constant front taper. Fly lines from Royal Wulff still follow that design.
Triangle taper with constant front taper
Following the introduction of the original TT by Royal Wulff, other manufacturers have improved on the design for certain applications by introducing a compound taper.
Compound tapers either start more gradually and then become more acute (convex), or they become less acute toward the tip (concave).
Triangle taper with convex front taper
Convex front tapers have more power to turn over larger flies and deal with wind, e.g. SA Spey Lite Scandi.
Triangle taper with concave front taper
Concave compound tapers have a presentation bias.
Since TT heads increase in thickness toward the rear, they don’t shoot well or load the rod effectively until the entire head is out of the rod tip. Once the head is out they can shoot a long way, as the long front taper turns over slowly, with great loops, producing very stable flight.
A WF line with a triangle taper has the ultimate roll/Spey cast casting profile, because it has the more weight in the upper portion of the D-loop than any other head profile. A potential limitation is that the amount of fly line out of the rod tip when making a cast is predetermined by the length of the head - they cast best when the head is just out of the rod tip.
Because there is more weight at the rear of the head, TT lines mend exceptionally well when not much more than the head is beyond the rod tip. But at greater distances one is back to trying to move a fat head with a skinny running line.
Alternative TT designs
Apart from front taper, the performance of a TT is strongly influenced by head length, head weight and tip diameter.
Long TT heads (35-40 ft) with skinny tips are fantastic for delivering small to medium dry flies at distance, but are not great at turning over heavy or bulky flies, or dealing with wind. They also do not load well and have poor feel in close.
A short (ca 25 ft) one size heavy (160 grain) TT head with a concave compound front taper and thicker tip will manage a lot more payload than a long true-to-weight head with a continuous taper and skinny tip.
The shorter heavier head will also load well in close and is capable of turning over long leaders to compensate for poorer presentation.
Even though the head weighs 160 grains (equivalent to a 6wt), it does not overload a 5wt rod because casts are made with only 25 ft of line beyond the rod tip - which produces similar load to around 40 ft of a true to weight 5wt line.
Theses short head versions of the TT are capable of quick overhead casts out to at least 70 foot with decent presentation, which makes them good for casting to cruising trout. They require little back casting room when overhead casting and even less when Spey/roll casting. Which makes them great for small streams and confined casting situations.
A clever recent addition to TT and Delta Taper (below) has been a 6-12 ft handling section, also referred to as the handling line or haul zone, to the rear of the head.
The handling section is essentially a thicker piece of running line that reduces hinging and also wear, because the final delivery always takes place with tip top line guide just behind the head. Other advantages of the handling zone are that it provides greater stability in the air and allows one to extend the length of the overhang and therefore aerialise more line, and it extends effective mending distance.
The Scientific Anglers Creek Trout is a great example of a modern short head TT fly line with compound (concave) front taper and handling section/line behind the head
What Triangle tapers are best for:
Long true-to-weight TT heads are good for presentation with small to medium dry flies at medium to long distance. They are also good for swinging soft hackles and dry flies, as they are great for Spey Casting and have good presentation.
Short 1X heavy TT lines are good for the following purposes:
| 1. | Swinging soft hackles and dry flies - great Spey Casting and presentation. | |
| 2. | Casting dries and nymphs to sighted fish - fewer false casts with short head versions. | |
| 3. | Small streams, where a lot of roll casting is usually required. They load the rod at short distances, and will turn over medium sized nymphs and dry flies as well as small streamers. | |
| 4. | Stalking trout on lake shores when quick accurate casts with good presentation are required. They also work well for fishing nymphs and streamers over weed beds, as they cast far with few false casts, I.e. more time fishing than casting. |
Royal Wulff remains the only company producing true TT heads longer than 26 ft. Both Vision and Guideline produce TT heads of 21.3 ft, but introduce a short level belly to their longer heads - which leads us to the next profile design: the Delta Taper.
Delta Taper Weight Forward
Delta Taper heads have a long front taper, a shorter level belly and a short rear taper. The relative length of the level belly tends to increase with head length, and may be as short as 7 ft for 30 ft heads and as long a 16 ft for 46 ft heads.
Primary advantages of the Delta Taper are excellent Spey/roll casting and smooth turn over. Like the TT, they also benefit from a handling zone behind the head.
Although similar to TT heads, the advantage of the Delta Taper on longer heads is that the line shoots better once the level belly starts to exit the rod tip. At this point the increase in rod load with fly line beyond the tip switches from exponential to linear, I.e. similar to the Double Taper, which makes judging distance easier.
Delta Taper head length and weight of the first 30 feet are typically adjusted for specific applications.
A 46 ft true to weight (first 30 ft weighing 140 grains) Delta Taper head with 20 ft front taper, 16 ft belly and and 10 ft rear taper is an Airflo staple. Once called the River and Stream, it has been renamed the Tactical Taper
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This is a great line for presenting small dry flies to picky fish at medium to long distances. It is accurate, and presentation and mending are excellent.
Disadvantages are that it does not load well in close and does not deal with wind and medium sized flies as well as a presentation WF line with long reverse taper that is designed for the same job, e.g. SA Trout (below).
5wt Delta Taper heads 28-32 ft long and weighing 170-185 grains are popular general purpose fly lines with European brands Guideline, Loop and Vision, possibly because of the popularity of ‘underhand’ (i.e. touch and go Spey) casting in the Scandinavian region. They also overhead cast well.
Being 1.5-2x heavy (7wt AFTM = 185 grains) and with commensurately thicker tips, these lines are capable of casting a wide range of fly size and weight. They are designed to be cast with the entire head beyond the rod tip. A long leader is required for delicate dry fly presentation.
They are capable of decent distance with little effort, but mending is poor with much more than the head on the water.
Even though these Delta Taper lines are overweighted by two line sizes, they will not cast the extra heavy nymphs and articulated streamers specialist heads of similar weight but with more weight up front will manage.
Short heavy Delta Taper lines are great for:
| 1. | Swinging or stripping small to medium streamers on lakes, rivers or the coast. | |
| 2. | Upstream dry fly and nymph fishing on small to medium sized rivers - but a long leader is required. | |
| 3. | Fishing situations with limited casting room. | |
| 4. | Anglers who love to Spey Cast. |
Reverse Taper Weight Forward
Reversed taper (RT) WF fly lines have bellies that taper rearward, and possibly represent the most significant development in fly line design this Century.
Fly lines with reverse tapers load rods quickly for short casts, but don’t overload them when aerialising more line for long shots. With more weight up front they have more power to handle wind, longer leaders or larger flies than a fly line with a level belly and identical front taper.
By altering the combinations of head length and weight, and both front and belly tapers, RT lines can be tailored for a very wide range of fishing situations.
Since there are so many potential options it is easiest to demonstrate the benefits of RT lines by discussing three Scientific Anglers textured Amplitude models that I am very familiar with. I start with the shortest and most aggressive head and end with the longest and most delicate.
MPX
The Amplitude MPX lines are a half size heavy. The head on the 5wt MPX is only 35.5 feet long and consists of a 5 foot front taper, a relatively short reverse taper of around 17 feet, a level belly of about 10 foot, then a short rear taper of approximately 3 feet.
This powerful profile with considerable weight up front excels at turning over large bushy dry flies and heavy nymphs on long leaders, and dealing with wind. A 5wt version has no problem turning over a mouse pattern or a size 6 cicada on a 17 ft leader. The MPX is a brilliant New Zealand back country fly line.
Given the short head and rear taper and thin running line, the MPX shoots well, but it is not great for mending at distance, and is therefore not the best for indicator nymphing on large rivers. It is also not a line for roll/Spey Casting.
Infinity
The Infinity is also a half size heavy, but the head is 49 ft long. The head profile of the Infinity consists of a 7 ft front taper followed by a complex reverse taper that decreases in diameter toward the running line, in three separate tapers that become progressively more acute, i.e. belly 1, belly 2 and belly 3.
The infinity has less power but better presentation than the MPX, and easily handles dry flies up to size 10, as well as a couple of 2.5mm tungsten beads beneath a small yarn indicator. It also mends well at regular indicator fishing distances (inside 70 ft if you take rod and leader length into account). The Infinity is a good general purpose floating line, especially for fast action rods.
Trout
The SA Trout is a true to weight 5wt - i.e. first 30 feet weighs 140 instead of 150 grains - with head length of 68 ft. The head profile consists of a 13 ft concave compound front taper followed by a compound reverse taper comprised of three separate tapers of decreasing steepness and length.
The SA Trout excels at delicate presentation with smaller dry flies (to #12) and light to medium weighted nymphs. Owing to the long and gentle rear taper it mends very well for a weight forward line, even at distance.
The reverse taper means that it loads better in close than other presentation tapers, i.e. a TT or a delta taper line. With more weight up front the Trout will also handle more wind and slightly larger flies than the above mentioned presentation lines. I have no trouble casting a small yarn indicator and pair of 2.5mm tungsten beads into a downstream breeze with an SA 5wt Trout.
The SA Trout is a fantastic line for dry fly hatches and casting light to medium weighted nymphs to sighted fish. It is particularly suited to presentation rods and euro nymphing rods. For New Zealand sight fishing situations, over-lining Euro nymphing rods by one line size works well - I use a 5wt SA Trout on a 4wt rod.
Summary :
If you fish small to medium streams with a medium action rod and you require a versatile line to cast small to medium dry flies and nymphs, the old DT with a 6-7 ft front taper should not be overlooked. It is accurate, presentation and mending are excellent and it is great for Spey and overhead casting. The profile may be old but new materials and textures mean modern DTs shoot, float and mend better than ever.
A DT is also a great choice for a Euro nymphing rod as it helps compensate for the loss of accuracy with longer sticks.
If you like Spey Casting, fish small streams with little casting room, or need to make quick accurate casts out to 70 ft on larger waterways, a short TT WF is worthy of consideration. A short head TT with a compound front taper and reasonably thick tip, e.g. SA Creek Trout, is a versatile line that will handle a wide range of fly size, and will turn over long leaders.
For casting large indicators and heavy bombs on the Tongariro in winter, a two times heavy line with a short front taper, long level belly and long reverse taper would be the go, e.g. SA Anadro. A line of this description will turn over heavy junk, allow you to Tongariro roll cast and mend at distance.
Finally, if you need a specialist line for a specific purpose I highly recommend a WF with reverse taper that has a profile tailored for that purpose. For example, the SA MPX for casting large bushy dry flies on back country rivers and dealing with wind, the SA Trout for mayfly hatches and casting small to medium flies to spooky sighted fish, and the SA Infinity for general purpose and indicator nymphing with medium sized nymphs on larger rivers.
Thats it folks, I hope this article helps you when purchasing your next fly line.
You may need more than one.
Also see :
Scientific Anglers 5wt Amplitude Infinity, and Smooth Infinity and MPX fly lines review
Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Creek Trout Fly line In-depth review
And other articles :
