Shooting Line.

[Idadon]

Looking for a shooting line for for a Skagit setup, on a fixed-income budget (something cheap). Found a line made by P-Line called Hydrofloat. Appears to have a couple of good characteristics, low stretch and it floats. It's made in 50lb and bright green.

Have any of you Spey/Switch guys tried this line? I've got a spool of 40lb Big Game that's usable but the "Floating" aspect of the P Line is attractive. Any comments on this line, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated.

[Sheepdog8404]

Mark Kranhold turned me onto the hydrofloat for my lighter spey rods (5wt and down). And boy was he spot on! That line shoots like a son of a bitch... it has no stretch so you feel anything that looks at your fly. At 13 bucks for a 150yd spool, thats about 4.25 per standard length of shooting line at 100ft each. It's cheap enough to try and if you don't like it, someone on here would gladly take it.

[Gary R]

I've been using this for over two years now. Shoots extremely well, no stretch as mentioned, and is not slippery like verivas. Easy to do great bimini's with UV cure coating over the knot. I do turn the running line around as the coating will get rough up front after months of heavy use. I use it on everything up to an 8152 for steelhead. Can't beat the price.

[Idadon]

I am encouraged. Thank you guys! Just ordered a spool of 50lb and one of 30lb. Any special knot for a loop?

[Sheepdog8404]

A triple surgeons with UV cure over the knot has served me well.

[Ben J]

I've gone through all the coated lines from Airflo, Rio, and SA but find that i have gone back to good ol' Berkeley Big Game. It's cheap and shoots great. Once it gets stretched well it seems to stay fairly limber for a few days. I use 40lb for most rods and 25lb for my 3 wt spey. I take it that the hydrofloat doesn't have any memory? What pound test are you guys using?

[Idadon]

The Berkeley Big Game works very good actually. I'm resurrecting my 15' 10/11wt rod (mostly because of boredom) and looking for something to go along with the 810 grain Airflo Skagit head I found on Kiene's closeout table. I'm thinking the 50lb might be the best for this big of a outfit. Depending on how the stuff works my switch rod might get updated with 30lb. Hoping to use that 15 footer to take a Chinook next year.

[TahoeJoe]

I'm on the program now too. I just got a spool of 50 lb Hydrofloat to see how it works with my 5 wt switch rod (300 grain head). Would 30 lb be a better choice for this setup?

Sounds like the knot to use at the forward end is a Bimini Twist with some Knot Sense over the knot to smooth out the knot.

I'm thinking I'll just put 150-200 feet of line on the spool and just cut it off as it gets frayed on the end. To me, that's even easier than switching the ends as it wears.

[Sheepdog8404]

Joe, I like the 50lb for spey even down to my 3wt trout spey. The 50lb has a very small diameter to hold onto as it is. I wanted to try the 30lb on my single hand 3wt with a 150gr commando head but haven't got a head yet to try that. I think after you fish with the 50lb, you'll see that you wouldn't want any thinner than that as it is difficult to hold onto and if you snag, it's just thick enough to barely not cut into your finger.

[Trouter925]

I've been using 30 lb. Berkley Big Cat on my 3/4 switch. I think I would like a little thinner diameter on this set up, but on my 12' 5/6, this would be good. Just give a good stretch before fishing and it's okay. About the same amount of tangling as the Rio Slickshooter I was using before...

[Mark Kranhold]

Hydrafloat is a spectra coated line so the 50# is thin! Don't get your finger tangled up on a hot running fish, you might be left with a nub! :0

[Bryan Morgan]

Been very happy with OPST. Check it out, your choice of thicknesses.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Over 50 years ago when I started fly fishing for larger fish like Shad, Stripers, Steelhead and Salmon they used single hand fiberglass 9' #9 line fly rods, a large single action fly reel with some 20# Dacron backing and then mono running/shooting line and around 30 foot shooting heads in different weights and sink rates.

Even back then everyone tried all different kinds of mono for shooting lines to find that 'magic one'.

Some of the factory stuff was Cortland 'Cobra' that was oval in clear and in red in several weights/diameters.

We tried yellow or Golden Stren.

Sunset came out with Amnesia which came in lots of sizes and colors.

Al Perryman told me in a pinch he would just take a tippet spool of Maxima Untragreen in 25 pound test.

There was a bow serving mono line that was orange and came on small wooden spools that was highly regarded.

Along came some black mono line that the Reno Fly Shop liked.


We had a love/hate relationship with our mono running lines because they like to kind of go bad on us at inopportune times.


Seemed like we got away from mono and heads some with the onset of so many integrated fly lines.



Funny to see it all come back again with the popularity of two handed rods with heads.

.

[Idadon]

I remember those days Bill. Still have a couple of those 30' heads with a chunk of mono on each end and Perfection loops. Amnesia was my favorite for many years but I invested once in a Cortland level/floating line. Was nice that it floated but not a great shooter. The Big Game works as good or better then Amnesia plus the price is really good. I finally received my spool of P-Line but haven't tried it yet. Nice color, funny texture and the 6" piece I cut off floats rather well in my sink.

We've got snow up in SE Idaho already. Woke up to 6" of the stuff Saturday morning and a roof covered wth several large branches ( heavy wet snow on leafed trees is a bad combination). Lots of natural pruning/tree trimming took place. After I get my roof cleared and check for damage I'm off to the river to see if this Hydrofloat stuff is the "Holy Grail" of shooting lines.