Posted by Jim E (24.116.99.140) on September 18, 2003 at 18:46:10:
About Fly Lines. Do fish care ? (a continuation of scaring fish)
A controversial subject is fly line color. Do bright colored lines scare fish ? I think so. But more importantly I “feel” better using drab colored lines. Being confident of what you are using, be it your fly, line, leader, tippet, etc., far exceeds any other aspect of fishing. With confidence comes more faith and you will try harder and be more aware.
Fly lines are brightly colored for one reason and that is so the fisherman can easily see it. This can be important especially if you prefer to nymph without a strike indicator (For more on that subject http://www.beaversbendflyshop.com/bbs/messages/1310.html) or like to watch your back cast when false casting. Other than that I can think of no other reason for “neon” lines.
Now, we know trout can see different colors and they even prefer certain colors of flies. We also know about trying to not line the fish. But what about swinging wets or stripping streamers, obviously our line will pass over other fish at times. Also a time I believe to be important is when false casting. Sure we shouldn’t false cast over a rising fish that we are trying to catch (false cast down stream of the fish and then place your final cast upstream from the target). A bright line being false cast right above the water is bound to alert the fish more than a darker line would.
One fact we can’t get away from is that on sunny days a line that is floating on the waters surface casts a big shadow through the water column all the way to the bottom, unless it is very deep. No matter what color it is if it is disturbing the surface meniscus it will cast a shadow. This is true also for leaders and tippets. Some time try taking your fly rod outfit to a swimming pool on a bright day. You’ll be surprised at how much of a shadow such a small line can make. This is the reason why I prefer my tippet to sink just a little below the surface when fishing dry flies.
Something to consider is that just about all of the sinking fly lines made are a dark color. Sink tips are usually a dark brown or black. Full sinkers are usually a dark olive color. Shooting heads are the only lines that I can think of that some times are a bright color.
When shopping for fly lines I don’t let the color stop me from buying it. I just use some rite dye to darken it some. Mr. Leon Chandler, semi-retired president of Cortland Line Co., said that dying lines doesn’t hurt any properties of the line as long as you let the dye bath cool down somewhat from the boiling temperature before immersing the line. I have dyed several of my lines with absolutely no ill effects.
As I said before, this is a very controversial subject, so realize that the above is mostly my opinion. Whatever your opinion is, as long as you are confident with it stick to it.
Thanks for reading. As always, if you have any tips that you would like to share just email them to me. Also, feel free to comment.
Jim Enns <*))))))))><