sharkskin Line- good/bad

[Tajue17]

have any of you heard if the sharkskin line is burning grooves in some guides? I have some 5# sharkskin which i like how it casts and I want to try some of the new 350gr streamer express for stripers/blues/albies but I don't want to mess my rods up..

send links or let me know even if you just heard something.. thanks for any info,,Taj in Mass

 

[Ard]

Our Sharkskin guy is mojo, I don't own any but come to think of it probably wouldn't use one on any of my old rods that have old fashioned wire guides. I would think the new guides on modern rods will handle it.

Ard

 

[driftless]

Tajue,
I am not sure if the line will damage guides. I have a sharkslin on a 5wt also. I do know hat it will wear a groove into your fingers if you strip streamers for any length of time!

 

[Tajue17]

yeah I'm hearing of some finger problems with it but honestly even dacron has cut my fingers up.. anyway I bought some sharkskin 5# at LL beans outlet store for 30.00 brandnew and I was amazed at how effortless it casted using such a lighter stroke I over casted into the bushes many times on the stream (swift river in Mass)

anyway now i notice they have a intermediate and a fast sinking line in the sharkskin but I use the TCX and I already know sage takes 2 months to the day to fix it (smashed the tip off with a clouser ) and I really don't want to get into messing it up anymore if I can help it.


I did bump into a guy in the vineyard who loved it on his 9# and didn't know of any problems but I was hoping there where a few people using it,, I guess I'll have to go for it and hope for the best.

thanks for the posts

 

[mojo]

Damn good. If it wears out your guides then your fishing too much.:shocking:
Hard chrome guides will last years.
I think the urban myth was perpetuated by XXX Fly Line Company and others.
If SS has "scales" then only a little bit is touching the guides.
Put on your old trusty Cortland Peach and drag it through the guides and tell yourself how much of THAT line is touching the guides.
The stuff floats like no other, you false cast less because it shoots farther.
And so your fly is on the water more.
I've got some that's now two years old and it's like it came out of the box. SA says it's self cleaning, but I still clean it. 5 years from now, I'll probably have the same line and ask me at that time.
As for stripping streamers all day, I don't care if what you fish with, your skin is constantly wet, any line you use will put the hurt on your digits. Being a service technician for a large construction rental company for the last 31 years, my hands aren't model hands like George Costanza's. So I don't notice it.

 

[Jackster]

I use Sharkskin extensively on my 5 weight rods. It is simply amazing technology.
I will say that I've had it cut my finger when a stripped it through the soft skin that is found in the crease of most normal human being's fingers. When I alternated the stripping area's on my hands the cutting stopped.
In testing a new rod and the new (at the time) Sharkin line at a fly fishing show few years ago, over the two days we used the brand new rod we noticed definate divots in the epoxy made by the Sharkskin line (the only line the rod was ever strung up with)

That's all I know about that!

 

[Tajue17]

okay I'm going to get it I'll get the saltwater floating, intermediate and the shooting taper quick sink,, I have to use 3 spools for whatever situation I'll encounter fishing the New England coast..

have any of you used a stripper sleeve on your finger,,, curious if it catches on that material.

 

[Joni]

Good question. I use them because all lines get to being like squeaky in my fingers during the summer or warmer months at times. I haven't noticed any snagging so to speak.
But then the line doesn't bother my fingers without the guards.

 

[kglissmeyer1]

Does anyone know of any good buys on Sharkskin lines?

Kelly.

 

[mudbug]

Does anyone know of any good buys on Sharkskin lines?

Kelly.

Ebay for $70 is the best I have seen.

 

[MoscaPescador]

I remember talking with Bruce Richards, the former Scientific Anglers lead designer about guide wear. SA has a machine that tests guide wear with fly lines. There was just as much wear on the guides with Sharkskin as a standard finished line meaning the wear was very insignificant.

I have put over 50 fishing days with a Sharkskin GPX on my 5 weight. So far no line burns on the guides.

That rod also saw about 10 fishing days with a Sharkskin Ultimate Trout Taper when the line first was released. I had to retire that line early. Sharp rocks and fly lines don't mix.

MP

Edit: You can use Stripee finger guards, or you can tape up your fingers with athletic tape. I usually wrap my fingers up. I don't have issues with the line catching on both items.

 

[Tajue17]

Does anyone know of any good buys on Sharkskin lines?

Kelly.

check any LL Bean "Outlet" stores if you have any around OR if they have an outlet website check that but I got the GPX in 5 weight brandnew for 30.00 and i couldn't find a thing wrong with it and think it was there for the box not looking so good but the LLbean outlet in Maine near the white mtns had a bunch,, its a 200 miles from me ohterwise I'd go back and buy them all up and pass on the deal.

 

[BigCliff]

have any of you used a stripper sleeve on your finger,,, curious if it catches on that material.

I frequently fish a WF6F SS Magnum line with a stripper sleeve. It catches velcro like a champ, but the SS line passes over it well. I've got an old stripping guard glove from Waterworks that actually has a better material for the stripping guard, but I don't use it as much because the suede palm gets soggy.

 

[FrankB2]

I cast a Sharkskin Trout taper when they first came out, and it was fine. Lines are getting to be awfully expensive, so I decided not to buy it. As Mosca pointed out, lines can be smoked pretty quickly.

 

[wonderfulremark]

I just put a Sharkskin Ultimate Trout line on my 4wt. It casts very nice and is very delicate. Good for dry fly fishin!!

 

[Tajue17]

Frank I bought the GPX sharkskin , SI quad tip in 7#, SI striper floating in 10#, and SI trout in 4# all brandnew for a 90 bucks! plus got a brandnew 50 dollar simms backsaver belt for 15.00, a pair of fleece fingerless simms gloves for 20.00, and a wool vest I'll use for hunting..

check this out they also had 6 Sage XI2's in 14# brandnew ( I could not find a thing wrong or any sign of use) for 275.00 each!!!!! remember the 14#'s have the forward grip and are perfect for small tuna -- if I wasn't there on vacation with my family I would of spent triple that.

they also had a bunch of brandnew Tibor backcountry reels (and the next size down reels) w/ extra spools for 1/3 of the regualr price!!!!!

LL Bean outlet store,,, you cannot just drive by anymore!!

as for my original question I went ahead and ordered the 10# Sharkskin floating with the magnum traper, the 10# sharkskin floating with the sinking clear tip, & the 350gr sharklskin streamer express,,,, I'm going to try my TCX 9# with this line and wanted to overline it to 10# which works for friends so I'll make a post back here on what I think overall of the lines just in case someone does a search in the future. friends said duct tape or electrical tape that they leave already around the fighting grip in the back works perfect for the fingers if they get into alot of fish.