I am looking to replace a couple of lines. I was taught that weight forward were the most versatile; cast the head, shoot the running line. I have been looking at taper charts for various lines and I find that many "trout" lines have heads 40, 50 feet long. Most of my fishing is within 40'. How would these weight forward lines have any advantage over a DT line in this situation?
You have gotten great replies and your intuition that a DT "could" be a better option is correct.
Here's the deal. WF lines are the more popular than DT lines so fly line manufacturers have concentrated on WF lines. What WF lines offer are more tapers. So if you want a taper that is not available in DT, you need to buy the WF line. For example, a bass bug taper might come only in a WF line.
I buy WF lines when I use the lines rivers and for wading lakes. I have to be able to reach out beyond what I can with a DT when I am wading a lake. So my lines that are 5 wt and above are WF.
"While the old school of thought was that DT lines were a good choice for economic reasons (you could turn them around when you wore out one end), that was more theory than reality. The simple fact is that by the time most anglers got around to switching them, they were too far-gone."
There is a solution:
For 4 wt and below, I use a DT line, cut in in half and make my own “WF” line.
I save the other half and use it when the first half wears out.
Before WF lines were "invented," fly fishers on the west coast made their own "shooting head" fly lines. Early on, they would cut the front section of a DT fly line and use monofilament like red amnesia mono as a shooting line. Later, when running level fly lines became available, they used that.
When I began fly fishing, I didn't have much money. Both my wife and I fly fished, so it required two of every piece of equipment. One place I could save was to make my own fly rods, so I made two graphite rods from a Fenwick HMG blanks.
I also made my own WF fly lines from a single DT fly line and Cortland running fly line. It is very simple. Cut the DT fly line in half. Remove the coating from the back end with acetone and form a loop with the core by forming a loop and whip finishing it with nylon thread. Then coat the whip finish with flexible Pliobond cement.
Do the same by cutting the package of shooting fly line in half and forming a loop with it's core using the method above.
Connect the two loops and you have a home made WF fly line. You can reuse the running line and replace the section of DT fly line as it wears out.
I use Cortland 444 running line that comes in 3 diameters so you can tailor it to the Weight of DT line you are using. Cortland may not be making running lines since they reorganized, so check other makers for running lines.
If you do not need two WF lines, you can keep the half section of DT line on the spool and store it in a ziplock bag for later use.
With this system, you can make the front section as long as you want. Don't even put the Dt line on a reel. Cast the front half of the DT line until you get to the "sweet spot" for your casting stroke to shoot line. You can cut the line there and connect the running. Then you will have a customized WF line that is fitted to your casting skill. In essence, it is like "cutting back" the DT line until is perfect for your casting style.
It seems to me that the
Welded Joint Repair of joining two section of fly line could make 2 relatively seamless home made WF fly lines from a single DT fly line. Once you fine tune the front section of DT, you can weld the running line to make a seamless custom WF line.
The running line portion of WF fly lines rarely wear out completely. I'm thinking that the next WF fly line I throw away, I'm going to use to see if I can cut it and weld it back together. If that works, I have some DT fly line that I can measure and cut to see if I can make a welded WF line a DT and the old WF running line.
Here's what Bruce Richards of Scientific Anglers has to say about WF vs DT lines:.
Double Taper Versus Weight Forward: Which is Really Better? | Fly Fishing Info Center
