Clear fly lines

[Dalton Terrell]

Last winter I read a positive review of Monic's Henley clear fly line and decided to give it a go. The main use I had in mind was beach fishing for Snook, where the water is very clear and fish tend to be quite spooky, the thought is that the clear line would give me some advantage. I wasn't too familiar with clear floating lines, or really aware that they were made; I understand Courtland makes similar lines but the other manufacturers stick to clear intermediate or clear intermediate-tipped lines. I decided to order the 8WT line in late 2019, and more recently purchased the line in 10WT, though I haven't used the latter.

Despite not getting a chance to fish the surf, I did fall in love with the clear line for freshwater and backcountry saltwater fishing using it for the last year. I don't think there is a taper profile for this line anywhere, but I'd compare it to other all around saltwater lines--it's not a delicate long taper bonefish line, nor is it a bass or shooting head taper. The manufacturer says its half a line rating heavier than AFFTA standards, which is pretty typical, if not light compared to other manufacturers. The line is rated for 45 degrees and up, but I'd say it really shines in water 70 degrees and up, while it gets stiff and tends to tangle in colder water. Outside of the difficulties in cold, the line has been great; it casts and unrolls very well, and it seems more abrasion resistant than typical PVC lines. Unlike the typical white/blue saltwater lines, the clear line doesn't stain after a single day in the tanic waters of the everglades.

This line gives me a little more confidence that I won't spook fish. I don't think you could cast the line over the back of a laid up fish and hook it, but maybe it throws less of a shadow while casting and effectively lengthens your leader without hurting your cast. It's probably coincidental, but I've hooked my three largest backcountry snook to date with this line, loads of largemouth, several pike, tons of juvenile tarpon, and other fish in the last year.

For disclosure, I paid retail price for two lines from Monic, and have received no compensation for the review or use.

Anyone else have experience with these clear lines or those from another manufacturer?

Dalton

[Lane Thurgood]

Dalton, don't take silence as indifference. I'd never even heard of clear floating lines and indeed read an article that said they weren't really feasible because they couldn't be delicate enough. Your experience seems to bely that claim, though. Thanks for the report and I'm interested in learning more about them.

I have had experience with clear intermediate tips and I find them to be stiff and coiling in cooler water. But I do use them.

[Josh Cohn]

Rio Outbound n stuff like it has clear tips

[tperkins]

I've only used the clear intermediate, which I like, but it is prone to tangling. I had seen the cortland clear floating lines and been intrigued by them. Thanks for the intel about monic!

I just looked at Monic's website, and they do have a profile for it now. 25 foot belly, 5 foot front and rear tapers. Also only $65!

[Howard Abramowitz]

 I picked up an airflo ridgeline clear floating line (6/7 wt) a few years back to help add some stealth in targeting snakehead.  I wound up not liking it much.  

The line is a polyurethane instead of the traditional PVC, which has a lot more stretch, which I was not fond of as it reduces sensitivity and makes it tougher to get the line off the water. 

The ridgeline part means that the line is not cylindrical but has ridges, which in theory reduce friction between the line and guides when casting, but in reality catch a lot of particulate from the potomac and turn the line an olive/brownish color instead of clear.

Perhaps in a different environment, where more give and was desirable and cleaner water was present it would be a good option, and I could imagine some of those, but I didn't find the potomac to be a good fit.

Similarly, I was not paid for my review or use.

Howard

On Monday, January 11, 2021 at 4:00:56 PM UTC-5 Dalton Terrell wrote:

[Dalton Terrell]

I was mistaken, there is clearly a profile of the line on Monic’s site, I was looking at it on my work computer and the image must be blocked there.

On the tangle and coiling issue, I’ve found that the line starts to misbehave when the water is under 70 degrees, but is still manageable in the 60s. I’d assume it would be awful for trout fishing.

And to Howard’s points, I assume this line is similar to the Airflo in stretchiness... you can definitely feel it stretch, even grabbing a 6 inch segment and pulling between your hands. But I haven’t noticed it being more difficult to pick up line and haven’t had issues with setting the hook or feeling bites, but YMMV. Monic doesn’t specify the material, but asserts that it isn’t PVC. It may be polyurethane like the Airflo.

I guess this thread is useless without pics, here is a picture of the belly of the 8wt line. It’s pretty clear but definitely not magic—looks kind of like an offshore shock leader. It has five days of saltwater fishing since it was last washed with Dawn, with a mix of clear and tannic water but doesn’t look dirty. You can see a small nick in the line, probably from a snook having his way with me under the barnacle-covered mangroves... my normal lines seem to get more of these nicks and scuffs.

However, after singing the praises of the line, I am noticing that it appears the mono core is starting to delaminate from the core near the welded loop. I’ll keep fishing it and report back if there is further damage.

Dalton

[Gregg DiSalvo]

Dalton, The snakehead comment has me intrigued.  I spend most of my time fishing 70 degree water and up for snakes in the summer.  They are super spooky fish which l=makes it difficult with a fly rod sometimes. I use Rio's big nasty line to throw big deer hair frogs.  It throws the flies great, but not the most subtle line.  

Having done some snakehead fly fishing yourself,  do you think the Monic would perform well in our local summer waters, particularly with snakehead?  Due to my affinity towards throwing oversized deer hair bugs, it may not be an option I suppose.  Thoughts?   

On Monday, January 11, 2021 at 4:00:56 PM UTC-5 Dalton Terrell wrote:

[Dalton Terrell]

Hi Gregg,

I’ve actually only landed two snakeheads to date and both were using the Monic line. Neither of these fish were sight casted, and I did spook every snakehead that was sight casted—so it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of the line’s stealth factor.

For casting deer hair bugs, the Monic line works fine but won’t match the big nasty or other bass lines. My second and larger snakehead came on a large deer hair bug, kind of seen in the picture below—you also see remnants of the clear line. The first snakehead I caught was on a heavy lead-eyed purple and black streamer, you might notice the fish wasn’t actually hooked, he just didn’t let go of the fly until after landed. When I set him down on the SUP to grab my pliers, he just opened his mouth and flipped off.

The bigger challenge for snakehead fishing on the fly is to find a way to replicate the super weedless frogs that conventional guys can throw deep into lily pads without regard, which is also facilitated by the small diameter of braided line. I don’t know that any fly or fly line can do this task as effectively as spin gear.

Dalton

[Gregg DiSalvo]

Awesome, thank you.  Yeah, I'd love to be able to sit adjacent to a grass or weed line, cast 30' and strip it back along the edge without spooking every fish between me and where my fly lands.  Basically, do what braided line does.  Some fish don't spook, but i find most do.  My big nasty is getting old, so may try to switch things up.  

The fugly frog pattern I tie is pretty damn near 100% weedless.  I can throw it deep in the spatterdock or weeds and it doesn't snag.  The only problem is the fly line is heavy and will spook some fish as it bends the spatterdock as I strip it back through.  I throw some dahlberg divers with a mono weed guard too, but those don't really work terribly well.  

I tie it on gallups belly bumper hooks which also work great as weedless streamer hooks.  I bought a pack of the new Ahrex hook with the deeper, more traditional texas hook profile to try as well.  The deeper bend will keel the fly better, but may mess with hookup rates on topwater.  Don't know.  

Anyway, if we ever get through covid and get back to beer ties, I'll bring you a fugly frog to try out. 

[GRB]

Haven't posted here in quite some time, so I've been catching up with the forum. This thread caught my attention, as I've been replacing some lines this winter. As background, one of the lines I needed to replace for my 9wt was an intermediate line. Looking at several options, I kept running across clear lines by a few manufacturers. Now, I'm using the 9wt mostly in saltwater environs for stripers, bluefish, and, hopefully, false albacore. Fishing mostly in Massachusetts (South Shore, Cape Cod) and Tidal Potomac, Chesapeake Bay area in this area. I didn't really pay any attention to clear fly lines, as I know stripers, unless on the flats and/or in skinny waters, are predators that are not usually line shy. So I decided on an SA Sonar line called Camo Intermediate. It gives me the grain weight I want, has a longer belly than the abrupt Titan tapers, is designed for cold and medium temps, and is fully integrated (see taper schematic below). I had no idea what "Camo" meant until I loaded the line on my spool. Some of you may already know, but Camo for this line means clear through the belly to the rear taper. I'll re-post as I get some experience with this line, but I find clear fly lines somewhat fascinating, as I'm not sure how much a difference they make for the heavier weights. Maybe for bonefish, but I continue to believe that while lines are termed clear, they may not be so much to the fish. Time will tell . . .

[Yambag Nelson]

I use clear intermediate lines for pond brook trout fishing and believe they make a huge difference.

Many of the better tarpon guys in the keys use clear lines.  i personally can't say I've seen a big difference there but if those guys think it does it probably does.