Fly Lines, Weights and Profiles

Fly lines are your casting weight for a fly that weighs almost nothing

For casting purposes, fly lines are designed to project a fly of indiscernible weight 30 to 40 yards or more out onto the water. The absence of weights and floats allows us to present the fly delicately and without deliberate disturbance. The average trout fly line is 90 feet or 30 yards long. It comprises of several sections:
The 'running line' connects to your reel or backing line and varies in length according to the type of casting profile.
The 'rear taper' usually about 8 or 9 feet long.
The 'belly' varying in length from 12 to 70 feet.
The 'front taper' is about 7.5 to 9 feet long
The 'tip' is about 1 foot long.

Fly Line is made from PVC around a core of nylon or dacron fibres. The outer coating can be treated or added to to enhance it how well it floats or sinks. Tungsten powder can be added to the PVC to make it sink. The more added, the faster the sink-rate achieved.

Sinking fly lines come with an 'X factor', a 1X line will sink at a rate of 1 inch per second, a 2X = 2 inches/second and so on. So if you want to fish 30 feet deep, a 3X line will take 2 minutes to get to the bottom. Fishing such depths really needs a 'Super-Fast-Sink' line. e.g. a 7X line will get you there in about 51 seconds and a 10X in 30 seconds.

Different Types of Tapers

For different casting methods, a fly line profile will be made up as follows:

FT (forward taper)