Choosing the right fly line.

Steve,

Great question since many guys have this problem. First, DON’T BUY new fly line – yet!  If you don’t have cracks or breaks in the line let’s do this first.

First, make sure that where the welded loop was or where you cut it off, the line is “sealed”. Take a tiny amount of super glue and add it to the location where the line was cut. This should allow the fly  line not to “soak up” water up into the core of the fly line.

Second, clean your line with dish soap like Dawn. Get a bucket of water with Dawn dish soap and a rag.  Wash a good 30-40 feet of fly line at a minimum.  Be careful not to pile your fly line on the floor or ground because it can get tangled. Ugh

Now, take a Scotch Brite green pad and “scrap” your fly line – again a good 30-40 feet. Just take off a very, very tiny amount of the fly line coating. So you barely see some of the fly line coating on the Scotch Brite pad.  The coating is all the same down to the core so you are not taking off a “floating surface” because all the coating is made to float.  After you do this I probably would put some fly line conditioner on your fly line again.

Or buy new fly line.  With our discount with Woolybugger Fly Co. you can’t beat Rio Gold fly line. The Scott Radian is a fast action rod so you could get RIO Grand (which is a 1/2 wt higher than it’s number – i.e. 5wt line is really a 5 1/2 wt line). I have tried this line with my Sage One (which is fast action) but went back to the original RIO Gold 5 wt line cause I liked the feel better.

Hope this helps!

Steve,

I will second Kenny’s RIO Gold recommendation for the 5 wt. Radian. That line is the best combination of distance plus presentation.  Scientific Anglers GPX/MPX line also works but is a bit heavy handed in the presentation department.   If you are strictly using streamers, the GPX/MPX works just fine.

RIO Gold is what is on both my 5 and 6 wt. Radians.

Bob