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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 23, 2020 17:40:26 GMT -6
I’ve had an issue lately with the fly line on my dry fly rod. The end wanted to sink, and greasing it up still didn’t stop it from sinking. That is not desirable for casting and makes mending really hard. It turns out there was a cut in the cover of the line about 30” from the end. That allowed the braided core to get waterlogged and not float. What I had to do was cut off about 3 feet of line and make a new loop. The following video is one of the best I’ve found for welding loops in fly line: Welding Loops in Fly Line - VideoThe only thing the video doesn’t show is how difficult it is to remove the heat-shrink tubing after heating/cooling. I managed to remove it with a very fine tipped scissor by forcing it under the tubing and snipping maybe 1/16” on each side and then peeling it back ... over and over again. Also, if you don’t have a nice heat gun you can use a candle - but you really have to be careful with that method. You need to hold the tubing above the flame far enough so that the tubing doesn’t blacken at all. None. (Learned that the hard way!) The tubing to use is “Polyolefin Clear 1/8” I.D. Thin Wall 2:1 Heat Shrink”. I was able to find it at Grainger. The package had ten (10) 6” tubes in it. That should be enough for welding 20 loops. Heat-Shrink Tubing - GraingerGood luck! |
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Post by mirvc17 on Apr 23, 2020 20:32:42 GMT -6
Nice.... as I mentioned in my frustrating outing at Waterton Canyon last spring, I cut my fly line with a pair of flies that came lose off my pack...I’ve found that fine tippet can cut through fly line coatings quite easily. You’re lucky, 30” shouldn’t affect casting that much. Mine was much further down the head of the line, resulting in a line I had to toss in the trash.
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Post by golferjeff on Apr 23, 2020 22:29:51 GMT -6
Darrell, I am sending all my fly lines to you to cut, weld, and snip. They all sink!
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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 23, 2020 22:52:49 GMT -6
Nice.... as I mentioned in my frustrating outing at Waterton Canyon last spring, I cut my fly line with a pair of flies that came lose off my pack...I’ve found that fine tippet can cut through fly line coatings quite easily. You’re lucky, 30” shouldn’t affect casting that much. Mine was much further down the head of the line, resulting in a line I had to toss in the trash. I’m pretty sure the cut in my line was caused by tippet wrapping around and then slicing in. (Due to poor casting mechanics, but that’s another story.) In reality there were two cuts - the one 30” up and one right above the original loop. At some point the tippet must have caught right at the transition to double line thickness and dug in. i was so excited to make a new loop that I decided to cut enough line off to eliminate both problems. In hindsight, I probably could have cut the old loop off, replaced it, and then melted the cover at the upper one with a short piece of tubing, letting the near-liquid cover flow together to repair the cut. I really think that technique would fix cuts in the cover anywhere as long as none of the cover has completely ripped away. |
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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 23, 2020 22:56:36 GMT -6
Darrell, I am sending all my fly lines to you to cut, weld, and snip. They all sink! I’d be more than happy to cut and weld on new loops! I need a good excuse to buy a nice heat gun anyway.  |
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Post by FlyAndStream on Apr 23, 2020 23:25:09 GMT -6
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Post by danimal on Apr 24, 2020 20:15:14 GMT -6
Those con-artists at Grainger made me buy a 12 ft. spool of it last year. Oh well -- I guess I'll never have to buy any more. LOL
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Post by danimal on Apr 24, 2020 20:18:27 GMT -6
Darrell, I am sending all my fly lines to you to cut, weld, and snip. They all sink! I’d be more than happy to cut and weld on new loops! I need a good excuse to buy a nice heat gun anyway. ^^ This -- a quality heat gun makes a huge difference. |
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Post by golferjeff on Apr 24, 2020 21:35:54 GMT -6
AA-Ron, sink tips and dry flies don't go well together! |
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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 24, 2020 21:36:26 GMT -6
Those con-artists at Grainger made me buy a 12 ft. spool of it last year. Oh well -- I guess I'll never have to buy any more. LOL I went with the cheapest pack I could find (online, of course, with curb-side pickup). If you think about it though, I got 10 pieces that are 6" each, so that's 5 feet. It's not like you have a major excess and now I know who to call if I run out! |
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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 26, 2020 18:03:07 GMT -6
I managed to give my repaired fly line a workout today at the Lower Illinois River. It worked perfectly and floated like a cork!
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Post by danimal on Apr 26, 2020 20:53:55 GMT -6
I managed to give my repaired fly line a workout today at the Lower Illinois River. It worked perfectly and floated like a cork! Nice! And good to hear from you today Darrell! I got a late start but wound up chasing smallies on Evansville Creek (tributary of Baron Fork) in far eastern Oklahoma. You'll have to meet me up there sometime! |
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Post by glitchmo on Apr 26, 2020 21:05:03 GMT -6
While not directly relevant to floating lines I was looking into repairing/replacing my intermediate line that broke (again... but that a separate story). I eventually settled on one of these Rio Fly Fishing Braided Loops... www.amazon.com/dp/B001T6KRWA?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_shareWhich I’ve so far been pretty happy with. |
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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 27, 2020 9:06:48 GMT -6
While not directly relevant to floating lines I was looking into repairing/replacing my intermediate line that broke (again... but that a separate story). Ha! I never thought about actually wanting it to sink. |
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Post by glitchmo on Apr 27, 2020 16:13:30 GMT -6
Well the inter is on my 8wt, which is basically just used for saltwater/striper streamers. But I really like it for that application; you get just a little deeper and the surface chop doesn’t cause slack all the time.
But: I’ve cursed myself and now the loop on my WF5F is starting to fail too (after two years of pretty heavy use, but still). bleh.
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Post by darrelln09 on Apr 27, 2020 19:09:25 GMT -6
But: I’ve cursed myself and now the loop on my WF5F is starting to fail too (after two years of pretty heavy use, but still). bleh. Well ... get yourself some Polyolefin tubing! It's really not that hard to do. |
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Post by jonbo on May 6, 2020 19:25:14 GMT -6
Looks hard to spell. Definitely unpronounceable.
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Post by darrelln09 on May 7, 2020 11:05:02 GMT -6
Looks hard to spell. Definitely unpronounceable. Having a Scandinavian accent helps spit it out.  |
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Post by b2flyer51 on Jan 2, 2021 15:44:24 GMT -6
A small touch of UV glue with the DIY weld technique works well.
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