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Thread: Fly line cleaners-treatments

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Tejas !!
    Posts
    792

    Default Fly line cleaners-treatments

    With the cost of lines being what they are, I need to get better with keeping mine clean, so what are you using to care for your floating lines?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Santa Rosa
    Posts
    108

    Default

    Hi Larry, RIO has some YouTube videos on cleaning lines...search "Rio fly line cleaning" and you should find it. Depending on the condition of the line, start by cleaning with dish soap. If the line is really dirty, Rio sells a cleaning cloth. They also sell line dressing. I don't know if that's the best or lowest cost method, but it has worked for me and it's cheaper than a new line. Now if I could just stop stepping on my lines, I would be all set. I am interested in what others on the Board use


    Bob

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Redding
    Posts
    228

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr T View Post
    With the cost of lines being what they are, I need to get better with keeping mine clean, so what are you using to care for your floating lines?
    I wipe down my floating lines with a clean cloth and water. No detergent. Then I apply a thin coating of Thames Green Label Silicon Mucilin Dressing to the front portion of the line before I head out to the water. I wipe down my sinking lines with a damp clean cloth after every use. Religiously.
    "Radiate, radiate, radiate far and wide as the lines of latitude and longitude on a globe."
    - John Muir

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Location
    Santa Rosa
    Posts
    108

    Default

    Ricards, do you have problem with dirt clinging to the mucilin? I have used it in the past and still do when I am fishing and my line is not floating right, but I always feel it leaves the line greasy and prone to more dirt pick-up.

    I agree with you on not liking detergent and I use gentle dish soap. I also don't like the idea, discussed in the Rio video, about a mild abrasive. It seems any abrasive will roughen the surface and make it more susceptible to dirt.

    thanks

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
    Posts
    23,837

    Default

    I am pretty lazy so I don't do anything until I feel the line is really "dragging" through the guides.

    Then I use to just get a new line off the shelf....

    Actually, "back in the day" the fly line companies would give us staff members all the free fly lines we wanted.


    Al Perryman once said to wash the line with a mild detergent, wipe dry and fish it.


    I would wash it with a mild soap, wipe it dry and apply "what ever" line dressing you want with a soft cloth.

    Then try to wipe it all off or polish it off like car wax.


    In the old days people used Mucilin paste, red or green. Green has silicone.

    Cortland had a cloth patch soaked in their formula that was in every fly line box or you could buy it separately.


    There was "Russ Peak Line Dressing" too. Russ built lovely fiberglass fly rods in southern Cal.

    After putting a fly rod together Russ coated the entire rod blank, wraps and all, with a finish of some type.


    Loone Products will have something.


    I remember tropical saltwater guys used WD40 on rag.



    If you use one fly line a lot I would ask your grandmother to buy you one for Christmas?


    We had people come in with outfits with old Cortland 444 Peach float lines that were 30 years old and were like new?



    We had people come in with new floating fly lines that they said sank?

    Then we had others come in with new sinking lines that did not sink?

    One of my staff said, let them trade each other? Only kidden.......




    One time I was loading up a reel for a customer with a new Scientific Angler Aircel Supreme weight forward 4 floater.

    It seamed like it was way too long? so I measured it and it was actually two lines on one plastic spool.

    I just measured the length and cut it in half and measured the diameter and trimmed the points a little.

    The lines were so thin that the "lady" at SA did not notice she missed the end and beginning to cut it so we got two lines.



    You can not believe in 50 years how many weight forward fly lines I found that were on the reel backwards?

    The customers commented that "yes, it never really cast very well." No kidden........



    We even found shooting heads on backwards but that was not as tragic.


    Young Paul Boley, Harry Boley's son, came in for some advice on catching some Half-pounders about 30 years ago.

    He had one of his dad's old outfits and it had no backing? I explained the reality and I put backing on his old Pflueger Medalist fly reel.

    Later he told me that very evening he hooked about a 5# Steelhead above Watt Avenue and the fish took out all his fly line, way into

    his new backing.



    I guess fly lines are around $100 but most think they are the most important part of an outfit....



    Because of the reputation of my staff, fly lines were actually the largest part of our business' sales dollars.



    Bob Giannoni would come in and measure the "points" of all the lets say, DT3F lines we had. He likes small points.


    40 years ago we sold hundreds of Cortland and Scientific Angler 30 foot factory shooting heads in all sizes and sink rates.

    Heads were a huge part of our market in those days, before the development of integrated sink-tip fly lines.

    We would take a grain scale and weigh every shooting head that came in and put the weight on the box.

    Cortland's heads varied quite a bit which was a good thing for matching lines to individual rods.

    Scientific Angler heads did not vary much so they were usually spot on the IGFA designated weights.



    There are lots of thing that the customer is better off not knowing.

    Like the fact that the head weight of Weight forward fly lines can vary a lot.

    I told that to someone once and he was never happy after that.......



    Fly fishing equipment today is so amazing that most can cast this new stuff pretty well.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Byron Bay,Australia
    Posts
    344

    Default

    An old chestnut this one,but here goes.I don't know anything about Mucilin or anything like that,but I do about salt water fly lines,especially the WF floating ones,and I've only ever used the proprietary dressings from the companies who make the lines as I figure they know what they're doing Thus Rio's Agent X on Rio lines (after cleaning the line if necessary using a mild soap,then drying it) or Scientific Anglers version.Both companies also market a mild abrasive pad (S.A.'s is included with the dressing)...Don't whatever you do use AmorAll or similar stuff meant for tires or plastic on a car etc.(e.g.303).The best fly lines are well north of USD$100 these days so it pays to be anal about their maintenance.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    847

    Default

    I use the Rio Wonder Cloth, which does a great job of removing dirt. It is very mildly abrasive I guess. Follow that with loon line speed. Just what I do, but it works.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Fremont when not out there
    Posts
    189

    Default

    In addition to cleaning and lubricating the line, your guides can always use some attention in the overlooked cleaning department.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    The Bend-Red Bluff, CA
    Posts
    71

    Default

    STP Son of a Gun protectant spray. Very slick and provides UV protection. Works great on Airflo lines as well as PVC lines.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    Byron Bay,Australia
    Posts
    344

    Default

    See my post above...this product is for vehicle plastic.

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