Fly Line

[CSB1 0]

Its been a few years and now I have the time to get back out fishing. I'm looking for a good floating line to use on Panfish. The rod is a Sage Graphite II 690 DS. Its 9'0", 3-1/2 oz.. It calls for a #6 line. I really don't know much about the "Tapers" and what I used years back on my other rods were just a level line. Just looking for a good all around floating line. Should I stay with the #6 Wt. they recommend or go up or down? Any suggestions??

Thanks, CSB

[Crackaig 0]

You can do a lot worse than a Barrio line. I bought one (a GT90 6wt floater) about 3 or 4 years ago to "try it out". Haven't looked at anything else since. It is also a lot cheaper than many of the lines around today. The price includes worldwide shipping.

Cheers,

C.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

Get the cheapest Scientific Anglers line you can for 6wt WFF. They are perfectly suited to panfish cause panfish don't need delicacy or precision or lonngggg casts.

[flytire 0]

check out cabelas fly lines

 

definitely worth the price for panfishing

[vicrider 0]

As to your other question, I'd stick with the 6wt. This would allow you to use small poppers and nymphs for panfish but throw some bigger bugs or streamers for bass if opportunity arises. Any good weight forward line will serve you well. With the high price of big name lines today and a specialty line made for anything from carp to tarpon there is no bluegill line yet. Lots of good lines out there under $50 while specialty lines push $100. If you find a good buy on a DT line it would serve you well also. Basic floating line will do fine for your use also.

[flytire 0]

I too recommend a 6wt line. that's what I use for panfishing.

 

plus you might need it for that big bass that likes eating poppers

[vicrider 0]

Flytire, years ago I was fishing a bog lake in WI where you could throw next to bog and it was several feet deep. I was throwing a smaller bass popper and bluegills would suck the feathers in and kind of pull it down a little. I'd just twitch it away so not to ruin the cast. Through one right next to bog and popper got pulled down with hardly a ripple. Twitched the fly away and rod god pulled out of my hand. Figured it had to be one of the northerns in the lake but turned out to be a bass probably a bit over 5#s. 45 years ago and that is still my biggest bass on a fly and was the gentlest take I've probably ever had from a bass.

 

I have caught a few bass in the 7-8# area but on standard tackle. Using a flyrod more here I might run into one of those on the long rod yet.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Vic, the two biggest bass I've caught on fly so far were both 4 lbers. One ate a #10 white sponge spider 20 yrs ago and the other ate a #8 foam blockhead bream bug last year. Both sipped it like a gill and made me think I had a state record bluegill until they jumped and showed themselves. Was using a 4wt and 5wt respectively.

 

Kirk

[FlaFly 0]

I'd go with fisherboy's idea... for panfish (I assume you mean bluegills and other breams, maybe crappies too) any floating level or WF line is fine, and I'd just use mono leader, about as long as your rod. A 6 WT is a lot of rod for panfish... you'll enjoy catching them more on maybe a 3 or 4 WT, that is unless you consider bass to be panfish. And there's probably nothing wrong with trying out a 5 wt line on your rod. One of my rods is a 6 that I only bought because it was a real bargain, and I use 5 on it.

 

I've been using level or WF 5 wt line for years for bluegills, up until now using only poppers or rubber spiders. I'm using Cabelas lines now. I've always used a glass rod, so I can't say how using a 6 wt graphite will feel. Poppers have a certain amount of drag pulling them out of the water, and wind resistance on the false cast, so I'm used to a hesitation at the back of my cast. I'm sure graphite will be entirely different.

[mikechell 0]

Vic's story is similar to my first Florida bass over 4 pounds. Fishing a bluegill popper and getting splashy, explosive hits from medium sized gills all day.

Then, on one cast, I put the popper next to the grass and it just disappeared. No splash, not even a ripple ... it just wasn't there. I figured it had actually snagged a weed and submerged, so I snatched at the line to strip it out of the weeds. I was immediately surprised by the line slipping through my fingers as the bass surged. Nice fight, nice fish, softest take I've ever witnessed.

 

Only one of my rods is equipped with heavier than 5 weight line. It's got 7 weight, to throw larger flies ... and I hardly ever use it.

[TxHCBP 0]

Get the cheapest Scientific Anglers line you can for 6wt WFF. They are perfectly suited to panfish cause panfish don't need delicacy or precision or lonngggg casts.

 

In my rather limited experience, I've found that the environment dictates the length of the cast. One of my favorites a few years back was a pond of roughly 100ft x 140ft, where I had only ~15ft of bank to cast from. The rest was all thick with brush and overhanging saplings (mostly willow). With my 5wt, I could reach a lot of good water, but some of that required lengthy casts.

 

I'd stick with the line the rod was made for (6wt), but practice both short, delicate casts out to 20-30ft, as well as longer casts in the 40-60ft range. That way you're prepared for whatever you find in the way of environment/terrain.

 

As far as delicacy or precision being required by panfish, that also has always (in my experience) been dictated at times. In a small to medium sized pond that isn't fished much, you may find the 'gills will take anything, even if it's been splashed down like someone threw in a paddleboard, or, on much-fished water, they may be really spooky, requiring a soft, quiet delivery. So be prepared for either extreme or anywhere between, but always assume they're spooky at the first, then take your lead from the fish. They'll tell you what they want & will tolerate.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

+1 on Cabelas lines. They're about all I use now--very happy with their performance and you can't beat the price. Check the Clearance or "Bargain Cave" section on their website, sometimes you can pick up last year's lines for less than $20. Their lines were being made by Scientific Anglers for a while; not sure if they still are.