Walter,
Bart Foth a well-to-do Gettysburg fly fishermen with Flip and several others used 150 and 200 pound mono to make fly lines. In the late 1960s Shakespeare came out with the first clear mono WF line. They used a mono core forming the taper over it. It bombed — the core was only 12 pound-test.
From 1964 until 1972 I managed the largest fishing tournament in the world called the MET (short for Miami Metropolitan Fishing Tournament).At the time there were a number light tackle clubs in southern Florida who were able to fish throughout the year. They held fiercely competitive events among members in fly, plug, spin and light general tackle.
The Met and these club members are responsible for many of the major advancements in modern light tackle and fly fishing Much of what we know of modern saltwater fly fishing is based on what the Met and these club developed.
It was in the 1970s I realized that there is no one way to cast and we are physically different so no individual can cast like anyone else. Instructors taught students the way they cast. I thought we should teach principles of casting not methods or styles and in 1986 in the second revised edition of Saltwater Fly Fishing I introduced the concept of teaching principles of casting.
The first saltwater world record requirements were put together by writer Mark Sosin in 1965—no world records existed in saltwater prior to this. Most of the original rules were based on the rules of the MET Tournament and the Miami Beach Rod And Reel Club.
Fly fishermen today have little idea how much light tackle and fly fishing advanced during the 1960s and much of the 1970s.
Thanks Lefty. I plan to follow up with a discussion regarding Lefty’s comments about teaching principles at a later date but there is still a lot to cover on fly lines.
The AFFTA rating system for fly lines determines the weight of the first 30 feet of a fly line. For example, the first 30 feet of a 6 weight fly line weighs 160 grains. It doesn’t matter if the line is weight forward, double taper, triangle tapered, floating, or fast sinking – the first 30 feet weighs 160 grains. This makes it easy to choose a fly line for my 6 wt rod regardless of the type of line. There are no standards for anything after the first 30 feet. For example the length of the head of a weight forward line may be 30 feet or it may be 60 feet. My running line may be any thickness.
In order to make a fly line float well the coating will contain air bubbles or micro balloons to make them float. In order to make a fly line sink manufacturers include tungsten in the coating to increase its density. If you compare a 6 weight floating line to 6 weight sinking line you will notice that the sinking line is thinner than the floating line and the faster sinking the line the thinner it will be. Since the sinking line has greater density than the floating line we have to make it thinner in order to keep the same weight in the first 30 feet.
In a previous post I talked about fly lines having a weight (eg. 160 grains) that conforms to the AFTMA rating. Lines also have a density that tells us how well it floats or how fast is will sink. I also described a property called its linear density (i.e. grains per foot). For example, a 6 weight line has a linear density of 5.3 grains per foot. One of the uses for linear density is to determine what type of detachable sink tip will match up with my current line. It is difficult to turn over a sinking tip that has a greater linear density than my fly line. If I attach a T-5 sink tip to the end of my 6 weight line it will turn it over quite nicely. If I attach a T-10 tip it will be difficult to turn it over. Another use for linear density is in the design of custom lines. If, for example, I want to create a 15 foot shooting head for my 6 weight rod I will use a line that has a linear density of 10.7 grains per foot because this will give my shooting head a total mass of 160 grains – exactly the same as the first 30 feet of my off the shelf 6 weight line. If I wanted to build a line with a 50 foot head that had a similar feel to my standard 6 weight line I would select a line with linear density of 3.2 grains per foot because 50 feet of that line would weigh 160 grains.