Doing stuff with fly lines

I used the (comparatively) favourable exchange rate (as an excuse) to get in replacement fly lines for those that have died or been abbreviated due to kingfish rampages … and a bad cast that left me horribly hung up.

On the write off pile:

Teeny TS-350

Teeny T-400

And on the abbreviated-no-longer-know-the-head-weight heap:

SA Streamer Express (short) 350gr

The Teenys bother me a whole heap less than the SA, in that they are a much less expensive line and I don’t feel guilt using them around structure like buoys and rocks. The standard T series (T-400) was a pretty horrible line anyway, all fat and yukky. The TS-350 was sweet and lasted much much longer than the several T-200s I’ve chewed up in the past couple of years (on kahawai, very small kingfish and trout). Funny how sometimes in a range of gear there’s one model that hits a sweet spot. Peter Morse (drops a name!) once said that he thought that in the Sage Xi2 range, the #11 was THE ROD. Given that model was the first SWF rod I ever bought, I was quite chuffed (especially as it was a bit of a guess when I bought it in a closing down sale).

Anyway, so I sat down the other night to put braided loops on the front and rear ends of the new lines. I decided to go with the SA Streamer Express long in 450gr and step it up to the Tibor Gulfstream living on the #12 CTS custom rod. And the other line was of course a Teeny TS-350.

The rear loop on the fly line needs to be big enough to pass the entire reel through, so that when changing out lines when in the field it’s reasonably easy to do by passing the big loop through the small loop on the backing then taking the big loop over the reel/reel & butt section of the rod. Assuming here that you’re not carrying spare spools (I don’t, they are heavy and space consuming). The front loop needs to be a smallish loop with a long enough line inserted section for the Chinese Finger Trap principle to be able to work.

An hour and a bit later and I was done. Will have to go and test the loops on something soon before it gets cool and the kingis bugger off up north...