Serious anglers understand the significance of a good fly line in proper working condition. Many might place its importance on the same level as the rod used to send it and the reel used to bring it back – hopefully with a fish pinned to the fly.
Just as you inspect and dress your fly, clean and protect your rod, and maintain your reel, so should you care for your fly line. Not only will you extend the service life of your line, but you’ll ensure it performs as designed when the time comes to put it to the test.
Line care and maintenance is not just something that needs to be considered after a day of fishing. In fact, there are a number of things to keep in mind when you’re out on the water actively fishing to prolong the life of your fly line and keep it doing what it’s meant to do (i.e. float as it should, mend easily, not tangle, etc).
Chris Walker, from RIO’s R&D department put together a short video a few years back that provides anglers with some useful information on how and why proper on-the-water line care makes a difference. Watch Chris’ video here.
Following Chris’ instruction can put you and your line in great position to perform, but occasionally, a little more TLC is needed to get the most out of your line and keep it accurately sending flies for many trips to come.
At RIO, we look at comprehensive line cleaning as a three-step process. Depending on how much attention your line needs, you may only need to perform one or two of these steps.
Step one in the process pulls the superficial dirt and surface grime from your line and requires nothing more than a little mild dish soap, a couple of buckets of water, and some clean rags. If clean buckets are hard to come by, then a tidy bathtub and a stock pot can do the trick. All that needs to be done to the line is a brief soak in some warm soapy water followed by passing it through a clean rag, then transferring it to a bucket of clean water before a final dry-off with another clean rag.
To view a classic video from us demonstrating the step one process, click here.
The second and third steps in cleaning your line can be performed when a line is especially dirty and the step one soap bath process didn’t get you all the way there. These steps will not only clean but will also condition your line and utilize a couple RIO products created to exclusively service our lines. The RIO Wonder Cloth and RIO’s Agent X cleaning solution are the tools for these steps. You don’t have to perform step one before using the RIO cleaning products for steps two and three, but we recommend it. Essentially, all you’re doing in these steps is a run-through of step one with these specific RIO cleaning products.
*Keep in mind, the Agent X cleaning solution is only meant for our floating lines; should you have a sinking line or sink tip, use only the soap bath and Wonder Cloth steps.
Part two of the previous cleaning video can be viewed here.
While we’re constantly advancing our materials science and application technologies to create new and better performing fly lines, not much has changed regarding their care and maintenance. The tips and cleaning processes that we outline in these old RIO YouTube videos still ring true today. So carve out a little time some afternoon when you’re not on the water and see what you can do to give back to your line. Remember, take care of your line and it will take care of you.
Click through the following RIO line care and maintenance products below to purchase now or ask for these next time you stop into your local fly shop.