Cortland Trout Boss ?

[eastfly66]

Would anyone know what the deal is with the different Trout Boss lines ? I see a number of them for sale and auction but they have different packaging although the same line (ex. WF5F ) I know there was a revision but how many and why or what changed ? I do have one here I got from someone on the forum and like it so far ...other than the bright orange

I am seeing :

Cortland precision Trout Boss (plastic container)
Cortland Precision Trout Boss SL (tin can )
Cortland Precision Trout Boss HTx ( tin can )
Cortland Precision Trout Boss - no container show at all ....

 

[eastfly66]

I contacted Cortland Line today , the main difference is the head is shorter and replaced with a "handling section" 10' in length. The previous version was true to weight and the HTx (current version ) is 1 full size up.

I have the HTx in #5 and will be testing it out on different rods and on the water soon. Here is a review I found. I was hoping to contact Tony Entrola about his comment in the review as to the line being 140 true on the 5 wt. ?

Member Gear Picks/Reviews

I have been playing with a previous version and like it a lot so far.

 

[sweetandsalt]

East, I liked the 1st. gen BOSS but cut off its white, high-float, too soft hinge inducing tip. Now HTX is a "full size" heavy (like RIO Grand)...this does not work for me; am I supposed to buy a #4 to put on a 5-weight rod? I can think of no rod I want to over line by a full size.

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

East, I liked the 1st. gen BOSS but cut off its white, high-float, too soft hinge inducing tip.

Oddly, the white high-float tip is what sank with my TB line enough that it pulled down my floating leader.......What I will say is do not get the Orange line get the Moss. Don't get me wrong, I like orange line, and in fact have some messed up wiring in my head in that orange attracts me like mosquitoes to a bug light or a bull to red....Yet it has to be the most intense almost florescent vermillion color I have ever seen.

Great for demonstrations, yet if you fear line color spooking fish, go Moss.

B.E.F.

 

[eastfly66]

East, I liked the 1st. gen BOSS but cut off its white, high-float, too soft hinge inducing tip. Now HTX is a "full size" heavy (like RIO Grand)...this does not work for me; am I supposed to buy a #4 to put on a 5-weight rod? I can think of no rod I want to over line by a full size.

Thanks for the input , I have a 1st gen also and noted the hinge effect and thought it was in my stroke , I was thinking of cutting it back a bit. I also have a #5 HTx , I ordered it not making note that the line is a full size up guess I am going to have to put it on my #6 , none of my rods need to be up lined and I cant understand the rational behind this or the Grand . In that review I posted the gentleman is from the Art Flick TU and he said it is true to weight ? Not sure if that means in the first 30 and Cortland line is talking the entire head or what ?

---------- Post added at 03:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 PM ----------

Great for demonstrations, yet if you fear line color spooking fish, go Moss.

I 'm not sure it scares the fish but it does a heck of a job freaking me out , the 1st gen line I have is nuclear orange , the HTX is normal and non radioactive ....

 

[eastfly66]

S&S , did cutting the dyna-tip completely off make this old version stabilize the line or is that a whole new can o worms ? It is not that I need to have this line work , I have plenty of others that do. I am just determined and want to be sure it is not some adjustment in the casting stoke and know the cause. The different density of the tip appears to cause a problem with the transfer of energy , sort of like a poorly constructed leader ?

Any thoughts ?
Anyone else have experience with the old version or know of this ?

Cheers
East

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

How did things play out with this?.....I'm considering picking up a version and cutting back the front taper for my 7wt.(s) specifically for big streamers, and I'm tempted to get the older version which is selling for $35 roughly now.....and if I'm going to go butchering lines that seems like the safer bet. Then again, maybe not. :upset:

B.E.F.

 

[eastfly66]

BEF ,

The older version is true to line weight with the head , the new one is whole line up w/o the tip and a different rear taper, now a slimmed down handling section . The old one cast on both my fast and mod fast pretty well , might be good for what you want w/o that tip. it does not shoot well and not intended for long casting . I have not fished it much to know if it will carry a big fly but suspect from the taper it will ,mends good. Wack the head off if it dont work but give it a shot first and let us know what you think ?

I should try it on a #7 , good idea ..as a streamer chucker

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

BEF ,

The older version is true to line weight with the head , the new one is whole line up w/o the tip and a different rear taper, now a slimmed down handling section . The old one cast on both my fast and mod fast pretty well , might be good for what you want w/o that tip. it does not shoot well and not intended for long casting . I have not fished it much to know if it will carry a big fly but suspect from the taper it will ,mends good. Wack the head off if it dont work but give it a shot first and let us know what you think ?

I should try it on a #7 , good idea ..as a streamer chucker

Which does not shoot well, the old one or the new?....I've been so focused using streamers this year I've pretty much just used my 444 F/S on my 5wt. so I still haven't tested the Trout Boss (SL) on it to any degree.

B.E.F.

 

[horsehead]

I don't know what iteration I had, I think it was the older one. It came in a tin. It cast like junk, wouldn't shoot line at all. Didn't really float that well. I took it off the reel after a few outings and didn't even feel like I could resell it in good conscience. Sierra trading post has a TON of scientific anglers lines on sale right now. May try looking there for what you need.

 

[eastfly66]

Which does not shoot well, the old one or the new?....I've been so focused using streamers this year I've pretty much just used my 444 F/S on my 5wt. so I still haven't tested the Trout Boss (SL) on it to any degree.

B.E.F.

Neither version shoots well , they were not intended as a "distance line" , it will carry well. This is what they told me. I have only used it a couple times but have not had any issue with it not floating and like the coating , seems durable. The 444SL in DT is probable a better fit for me. If you want fire me a PM and I will send you both versions new and old ......I have lines out my wazoo

 

[sweetandsalt]

I have no idea what is going on at Cortland. The one line I really like is the saltwater Liquid Crystal Blue. Trout BOSS (original) is a good line with a nice taper. take the white tip in one hand and the olive line in your other and flex the line into a curve. You will observe the high float tip is limper than the line itself and that is where the hinge is emanating from. I cut it off back to the colored line, re-attached my leader and noted a big improvement. I told this to a Cortland guy and he said, "I do the same thing!", and he works for them! How do you go from a line that is true to size to an "improved" version that is a full size over weight? It will have to wait till Somerset but I intend to visit with Cortland and ask just that.

I also know nothing about what SA is doing but major changes are afoot over there. I do hope they have devised a way to make textured lines quite...

 

[eastfly66]

I also know nothing about what SA is doing but major changes are afoot over there. I do hope they have devised a way to make textured lines quite...

Didnt they just revamp all the lines ?

 

[sweetandsalt]

Well last I looked nothing had changed on SA'a site so I checked again and voila, all new tapers! Check out Wavelenght and Mastery Trout for delicate dry fly work and EDT is still there too. Looks like plenty of new-and-improved. VPT for the triangle taper types and both a textured and smooth Grand Slam plus a revised Bonefish and Steelhead/Salmon Anadro. Cool stuff.

 

[horsehead]

S&S, did you see the trout taper has changed considerably. Looks like it's now almost exactly like the EDT.

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

I actually noticed all the new tapers a couple days ago on S.A.'s site, yet it's tough for me to want to try them again......Now I'm not saying they or anyone else has "bad lines", I'm just saying they didn't work for me (though it has been a good 10 years+ since I tried one)......My issue is that I don't want to plunk down $75 here, $90 there, another $65 again, all to try and give them another chance.

Guess I'm just "once bitten twice shy," so for myself I'm going to pick up one of the older trout boss lines (in that really the taper is what I like for the intended use), modify it, and if it doesn't work out that will be what is now only $35 out of pocket and then if needed make the jump.

Over the years Cortland has just worked for me.....Though your points on shooting have me concerned in that it is a BIG part of my casting style and it has been too windy here to go out and test the TB 5wt. line I have to check that out.

B.E.F.

 

[sweetandsalt]

I don't think we can fairly compare any of today's lines to the same brand a decade ago. Back then Airflos were horrible and they are great now, Cortland was still good and I'm not so sure now and SA is under total new ownership and management. A lot has changed in materials, construction and taper design and a line at under a $100 can be as big of a performance enhancement as that proverbial $800 rod. Some of the new SA tapers look much improved.

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

...If you want fire me a PM and I will send you both versions new and old ......I have lines out my wazoo

Well thanks for the offer but hold onto them for someone more in need perhaps.....I have the 5wt. which I simply need to work with a bit to understand how it performs, and am hoping to do so before I commit to anything.

S&S, I get it I really do....Yet it gets rather tiresome spending not just $100 but $3-500 to simply find a line that works as well as my 20 year old Cortland 333. That's not how it is supposed to happen.

Without exaggeration, over the years I'd buy one or two new premium lines, spool up my better reels with them, and go fishing in that why not put them to the test. In short order I'd be swapping out that better reel and new line for the old stuff on the old starter reels (Cortland Rimflys).

When a bottom end, 20 year old line floats, casts, shoots, straightens out, whatever better to such a degree that a $75 line gets taken off the reel and chucked in the bag forever that is a problem.....I'm the novice, and I count on the experts at the line companies to get it right.

Now I realize a line is not some magic bullet for poor form, yet as said when new floating line sinks, or when 20 year old line still on the same spool straightens out after a couple false casts and the new line remains a slinky, or it is too light/heavy working better on a rod 2 line weights from what it is designated, etc., then I don't waste my time fighting it for hours/days/weeks.

In any case, I may try out the S.A. lines though when once bitten twice shy turns into fool me once....fool me twice....There won't be a third time.

B.E.F.

 

[GrtLksMarlin]

Well, I think I'm going to hesitantly try one of the S.A. lines in that I have no interest in the new TB, and if the old ones are that bad at shooting why waste the $35 on an older TB......Again, this line will have one use being a full floating line for casting large streamers on a 7wt..

In any case I'm thinking of one of these:

Mastery MPX Fly Line | Scientific Anglers

Mastery Expert Distance Fly Line | Scientific Anglers

B.E.F.

 

[eastfly66]

Well, I think I'm going to hesitantly try one of the S.A. lines in that I have no interest in the new TB, and if the old ones are that bad at shooting why waste the $35 on an older TB......Again, this line will have one use being a full floating line for casting large streamers on a 7wt..

In any case I'm thinking of one of these:

Mastery MPX Fly Line | Scientific Anglers

Mastery Expert Distance Fly Line | Scientific Anglers

B.E.F.

I think they added a longer front taper on the MPX over the old GPX not sure how that or the MED will be with large streamers...Dont they also have a streamer line ?