03.05.23 New fly line for a tough river....

     Got my latest Orvis dump yesterday. After getting new backing on my reels the other day I saw it was time to replace the frayed, nicked, and weakened fly line(s). I'm not your "new backing, new line, new waders" each year kind of guy. Although, I'm starting to think more along those lines. I was going to order a new Orvis PRO Depth Charge line in 450 gr which had served me well last year. Gets my fly down, got some big fish on it, but it also, I think, contributed to me losing a lot of flies. 

     Then I thought about the good old days when I guided on the Upper Delaware. Most anglers wanted dry fly action and would have no problem waiting for the hatches to start and the fish to rise. Others, to my chagrin, wanted to nymph up fish, productive yes, but torturous to me. And when conditions were right, meaning the water was up and alewives were spilling over the Cannonsville Reservoir, streamer fishing came into it's own. For that fishing I would use a Hydros 7wt with a Bank Shot line, which is a floating line with a sink tip.  

     Why was this a good line for me? It's quick, compact, and shoots line. If you're hitting the banks on a moving drift boat which is cast, two strips, repeat, then this was my go to line. No need for several false casts as the business end of the line got you there. So I started thinking how many flies I lost last year while wading casting a 450 gr line on a 12 wt rod. You see, the sinking line will get down, but you have to strip it back up river and in, and the jungle that lies below most New Jersey rivers are a line and fly eater. Old cars (more on that later), boulders, concrete, rebar, trees, 55 gallon, drums, shoes, and whatever else you can imagine either lays on the bottom or comes off the banks and down the rivers. 

     I looked it up online and saw they offered it up to to an 11wt, which comes with a 435 gr sink tip. I don't know if that may too much for a 10wt, or too light for the 12wt. I have an 11wt H2 that it will pair up nicely with, by the numbers, but I need all of my 12 weight for fishing bigger rivers. Don't run out and buy it, just sharing my continued journey. A full Depth Charge line is great for a boat though, that you can take to your Cart on the Orvis website. 

      So looking at the river yesterday it was pretty much what I thought it would be, brown and bumped up. It's just actually just off color a bit but the river has doubled with all the rain and snow the northern parts of the river got this week. We were around 9,000 cfs, down from a mean of under 16,000, but we just bumped up to just under 22,000. Water is good, and I'll take this all day at this time of year. We're two days away from the Full Worm Moon of March. That means we're a month from the Full Pink Moon of April. Which, if you're a moon angler, can be good. 

Go check your lines, all 100 feet of them. If they're cracked, hinged, have changed color, texture and subtleness, it may be time to invest in a new one before you get going this season.