Floating line... WF or DT

[Rip Tide]

What's your preference in a floating line?

Are you a DT fan or have you never even tried a DT.
Are you into finesse or distance? ....do you think the taper makes a difference?
Think a WF roll casts as well as a DT?
Can you mend with a WF as well as you can with a DT
Can a DT cast the distance?
Or are you just cheap like me and want a line you can wear out on both ends?

[randyflycaster]

Many casters feel that when going for maximum distance a good caster will be able to false cast, and then cast, more DT line than WF line; but I don't think that's applicable in most fishing situations. A WF line will help you get a lot amount of line out more quickly.

Randy

[catman]

I use both

[Greenwood]

I use both as well. I have DT on my softer, smaller stream rods and WF on most others. But, I also have spare spools with sink-tip lines for my WF setups as well. IF I only owned one all around rod with one reel/spool/line set-up, I'd probably opt for a floating, weight forward line BUT fortunately that's not the case - as my wife can testify to!

[Douglas Wesson]

I mostly use a wf, but becuz I use the "loop system" I will loop on a 6-10' sink tip at times.

[Joni]

I prefer Weight Forward and that is all I use. I don't like the thickness of DT, I feel I have to muscle it more, which means...Tried it, didn't like it! LOL
TT isn't one of my favorite either, but I would choose it over a DT.

[Pocono]

For the faster graphite rods, I use WF almost exclusively. But for glass; particularly vintage glass rods, I now use almost exclusively DT; generally in the DT5F or DT6F weights. I like the results.

[mcnerney]

I use a WF and like Douglas I like to loop on a 6-8 ft sink tip at times.


Larry

[Hardyreels]

Hey Rip Tide,

I like DT lines and always have. Back around 82 or 83 someone decided that most lines should be WF or RT and that same Dark Power decided that all reel seats should be up locking. It least it has always seemed to me that the market changed and those of us who were just catching on to the wheel and the concept of matches were left to languish with our existing equipment and special ordering if we wanted more of the same.

I have even purchased cane rods from Orvis back in the early 90's and then sent them back to have the seats changed to down lockers. Much to my relief there seems to be a fledgling interest in double tapers over the past 8 or 9 years and I no longer have to use WF fly lines just because someone in marketing thinks they are better.

I do not work in a fishing store and am not a tournament caster. I fish, I fish more than I work, so I have learned what works for me. I have always quietly resented it when some guy who spends way too much time behind the sales counter in a fishing shop starts telling me what works and what doesn't. Some of the advise (or sales pitch) I get them confused at times, might well be based on experience but I suspect that a good deal of it comes from technical handouts from the manufacturing reps. What the Heck, usually in these scenarios I just stopped in from the river after camping and floating it for days and the salesman in question has been there behind the counter! I don't know if it is ego or marketing but they often seem determined to convince me of the worthiness of something even though they are not out there testing the gear except in their time off. I can propel a big Salmon fly into the surf on Resurrection Bay just as well with my DT lines as I ever could with WF's. I also like the part about swapping the line end for end if I get a hankering for a new line.

Now I know that you could read this as cynical or negative in substance and perhaps I am both but I do know how my various lines have cast ever since my first level line in 1968 to my new 444 Lazar lines of today. Call me cynical but I don't think we need a bunch of different tapers of lines any more than we need 50 or more tints of white paint when we visit Home Depot with our wives! I know, variety is the spice of life, I just think we are being fed too many spices when it comes to some things. None of them are free either! If they were giving away fly lines so I could try them, I wouldn't have written any of this. I would have been writing a Thank You letter to the line Co. urging them to keep up the good work!

"Whoever first said, You can't judge a book by its cover, Never saw Playboy!" I said that first and you can quote me, Hardyreels

[Frank Whiton]

Hi Hardyreels,

Your likes are quite opposite to mine. I had my first WF line in 1954. I made it from a Newton (silk) double taper line. I had to cut off the front taper and splice on a level running line. So I still got two lines out of the DT. I have never used a DT line since.

I have one bamboo rod that has a down-locking reel seat. It worked fine for many years until I discovered up locking. Now I much prefer the up-locking. I like the better balance of having the reel closer to my hand.

When it comes to saltwater I guess you could use a DT but it would not be my last choice in a tapered line. I think line development has made me a better caster, or at least a longer caster. The same could be said for rods.

I am glad that line and rod builders are coming up with new materials, new tapers and new techniques. I think they make me a better fly fisher. I understand your position and I guess we are both happy with different things. I don't think the fish know the difference.

Frank