Fly line care?

[LuckyNed 0]

I am up to about a dozen fly lines, and beginning to wonder if I shouldn't pull them off the reel and let them "relax" for the winter. Do any of you guys recommend this? What method do you use to prevent massive tangles?

[DFoster 0]

Welcome to the site Ned.  I do not remove my lines from my reels.  I did buy a used Hardy reel last year and no matter what I did I couldn't get the coil memory out of the line it came with and had to replace it.  I'm not sure how long it was unused on the reel, it may have been years.  If you using good fly line then memory shouldn't be too much of a problem after a few winter months of non use.   For me I buy good quality fly line, clean it with soap and water at least twice per year.  I also use fly line dressing on them a couple times per year.  So far no issues.

[niveker 0]

I don't take my lines off for the winter, but I do usually clean them once or twice a year at least.  I just un-spool them into bucket with warm, soapy water to let them soak, run them through a rag in my hand into a dry bucket.   Repeat if they're really dirty,  then back on the reel.  Sometime I'll soak the rag with a product called 'ProtectAll' before I run the line through.  I know that's heresy for a lot of people, but it hasn't seemed to cause any problems for me, and it does seem to get  a little more grime off the line.  I will occasionally get a tangle, but if I go slow and pay attention, they're easily taken care of.  I don't really have a problem with memory in my fly lines and some of them are easily more than 5 years old, probably more as I don't date them.

Like Dfoster, I have bought older reels with line installed for who knows how many years.  I soaked them (the line) in very hot, almost boiling, water to get the memory/impressions out of them, which seemed to work better than I thought it would.  Not really sure if I would do that to one of my own lines though, LOL.  

 

 

[mikemac1 0]

The great majority of today’s fly lines has some configuration of a monofilament core.  When you pull line off the reel and it retains the tight coils (cause of tangles), it is the mono core that has set (very temperature dependent).  I learned a long time ago to “stretch” the line from the tip to well into the running line the first thing every day on the water.  This can be done with short pulls through your hands or if you have a partner in one long pull.  Fly line cores average about 25# strength for most lines.  They can take a lot of stretching pressure.  A stretched line will now lie at your feet in big coils instead of those annoying tight coils.

[skeet3t 0]

I also dry my lines after a session on the water. I take off the line and backing in loose coils in the bottom of a bus tub that restaurants use to clean tables. Then next morning, I wind it back onto the reel. I dry the backing on the premise that water will work through the line on the reel.

[JSzymczyk 0]

when I lived in northern Maine and Alaska, with very long winters,  I used to carefully wrap my fly lines off the reels onto 5 gal buckets, after cleaning them, to store for the winter.  I have absolutely no evidence that it made the slightest difference.  

[LuckyNed 0]

2 hours ago, JSzymczyk said:

when I lived in northern Maine and Alaska, with very long winters,  I used to carefully wrap my fly lines off the reels onto 5 gal buckets, after cleaning them, to store for the winter.  I have absolutely no evidence that it made the slightest difference.  

That is about what I was considering, as I am in Montana. With everybody's input I am now thinking I can just pull the lines off each reel, clean them, stretch them, and wind them loosely back onto the reel, and accomplish whatever good it might provide.

Good info, Thanks, guys!

[Philly 0]

I leave mine on the reel over the winter.  Usually I clean the line in the late fall before I put the reels away.  Didn't get a chance to do it this, but I'm replacing the floating lines on my 5, 6 and 8 wgt reels before the spring.  The only other time I'll clean my lines is after I'm done  fishing salt water.  I use the same lines for both fresh and salt water.  I just pull out the line in the shower and rinse them for about 10 to 15 minutes.