Fly line dressing

[RRR]

Earlier this year I was browsing the net and saw a website for a supposedly super duper new fly line dressing. I have looked on all kinds of search engines and haven't been able to find it since. Should have saved it to my favorites when I found it. The stuff was pretty expensive and I didn't have the extra cash to spend at the time. Supposedly, you only need to dress your line once before you start fishing and it floats all day. If anybody has an idea of what it might be called or where to find it I would sure appreciate hearing from you. If some line company could ever invent a floating line that would actually float well for any extended period of time, they would surely put everyone else out of business. I clean my line regularly and have tried all types of treatments but still have trouble with it sinking after a couple hours of fishing. Very frustrating.

 

[afishinado]

Zip Cast?

http://www.zipcast.net/

 

[crs5942]

Does zipcast have UV protection in it? According to the website it does not gunk-up like other line dressings/cleaners do. This would certainly be helpful; however, there is only so much a line dressing can do. Good fly line is the key. I used to buy a $30 fly line every year (Cortland 333) and it never floated well after only a few months. Once I switched to more expensive line, I no longer had problems with floatation. Rather than dressing, I just use a cleaner/UV protector after every outing. I have one or two lines that are several years old and still work great. The only downside to this method is that the line does gunk-up after a couple hours of fishing but not enough to impede casting. If zipcast has UV protector then it sounds like great stuff. It is certainly worth a shot, but my experience has been that there is only so much that can be done to an old/cheaper line. Please let us know if you try zipcast and it works wonders. I still have an old Cortland 333 that I could try and bring back to life. Thus far nothing else has been able to revive this line.

 

[shakey]

i dress silk lines with red tin mucilin and plastic lines with albolene.

if i fished exclusively with plastic rods like graphite and fiberglass i would consider armor all for lines.however the silicone can damage cane rods.

 

[gfen]

According to Interwebs legend, Armourall will damage more than your varnish, it'll also destroy the coating on a plastic line.

YMMV, I just report what I've read.

Every so often, I clean clean my line with those fancy little SA pads and some Cortland XXL or something like that.

 

[afishinado]

gfen wrote:
According to Interwebs legend, Armourall will damage more than your varnish, it'll also destroy the coating on a plastic line.

I ruined a couple of lines with Armor-all. Different brands and types of fly lines are made from different compounds. Some are okay for AA, some become soft (like one of my lines did), and some crack (like another line I had). Those that say it works well for their lines are not really lying, but if the truth be known it's really like playing Russian Roulette with your fly line.

 

[RRR]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. crs5942, that is exactly why I'm so frustrated with this problem of lines sinking. I have bought only top of the line flylines for the last 20 yrs. and feel like they should perform better than they do. The last line I bought was a Sci. Anglers Sharkskin which sells for 99.95. It was OK for a little while but soon I noticed that the abrasive little "scales" that supposedly make this line so superior were gone and the line started sinking no matter how much I cleaned it or what type of floatant I used. I never used any off the wall solutions on it like Armour All or harsh soaps. Just Sci. Anglers cleaning pads and their line dressing. I have also used Mucilin on it when it starts to sink whike I'm fishing and that works well for an hour or so. Maybe it's because I fish an average of about 200 days a year and I shouldn't expect any line to hold up very long at that rate. From reading the posts on this forum and others, I believe alot of other people fish just as much as I do and wonder how many days are reasonable to expect from a line before it becomes warn out and starts to sink. I probably had about 100 days on my current line when the problem got really bad. I see now that both Sci. Anglers and Cortland have lines with super floating tip sections which have a lower density than the rest of the line. Maybe that will be the answer.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Maybe a second spool and line ,switch off when you notice a problem starting.Just a thought.

 

[RRR]

Thanks afishinado, that's exactly what I was thinking of. Just ordered some. Will report on results once I've had a chance to try it.