Does grass casting damage fly line? - Question

[Silver Creek]

Will casting fly lines on grass shorten the life of the fly line?

[Ben_D]

Yes!!

Ben

[Bernd]

Hi SC,
yes, significally.
Most of my lines don't stay longer than maybe three moth on grass. Three is long already, casting daily that is.
On the water they may stay a year or longer.
Greets
Bernd

[Silver Creek]

I asked because I also believe that grass casting damages fly line; but on other BBs I visit, there is some disagreement.

[Lasse Karlsson]

Any use will damage a flyline, stripping it in over grass will speed things up a bit compared to only stripping it in over water, however clean grass is better than very dirty water :p And stripping in over coarse concrete is probably one of the worst

Cheers
Lasse

[ennio]

I'm interested to know where they fail after using on grass. I presume you clean your lines.

I have a "car park" line: this line came to me 2nd hand. I've used it on a tarmac/asphalt car park for at least 24 months, not every day, but many, many (maybe 200) times. It is still going strong ... unless I'm not doing "it" properly.

Andrew

[Lasse Karlsson]

Hi Andrew

Can I guess that that line is with something other than PVC for a coating

Cheers
Lasse

[ennio]

I think it's PVC Lasse; it feels similar to my Rio, SA, Barrio lines.

I give it (and the rod rings) a clean and lube from time to time. I practice carry and presentation casts (the car park size allows me to cast only 70'-80' ... Oh, and my skill level). I do try to minimise dragging it across the ground, but don't care too much about the head because that isn't passing through my rod rings repeatedly.

Maybe my standards are low You might take one look and bin it!

Andrew

[ennio]

... so the thing with grass, and wearing out the lines. How do they wear out; and can regular cleaning extend the life of lines used on grass?

I did use those SA line pads to scour dirt off after giving the line a good soak in water with a tiny amount of fabric detergent. I'm now using white kitchen scourers http://www.caraselledirect.com/_.....1815-1 as they are much cheaper and appear to do a similar job. (I use white rather than green scourers because I can see when the line is clean)

Andrew

[Paul Arden]

Clear waters with no algae I may get a season out of a floating line. Waters with algae/sandy or muddy edges, or warm boats, I can get as little as six weeks! Grass, if I get a month this is a long time, and I've killed them over one long muddy Shootout weekend many times.

The coating becomes non-slick and they initially crack and lose their coating around overhang/hauling area. By which point they are damaging your rings.

Cheers, Paul

[Bernd]

Hi Andrew,
what kills lines the most is the line speed.
The faster your haul will be the faster the line will be gone.
On long carries we need high line speed. Though if we mostly carry long lines (water or grass) the lines often wear out in that part where your avg. carry is just inside the tip ring. As the guys already said: All kind of (dirt) particles fasten the process.
Those lines I use on grass for long carries wear out damned fast.
Those which I only use for short line presentation on the water may stay for years.
In my experience there is not too much we can do about. Cleaning the line when casting on dirty grass or water with lots of dirt in it... how long does it stay clean? Just a few casts... So that does not really fix the problem. Sometimes it can even get worse since the line dressing can result in more dirt hanging on the line as well.
Greets
Bernd

[Silver Creek]

Anyone who has ever gotten a grass cut knows that the edges of grass are sharp and if they catch your finger at the right angle they will cut through your skin.

I think it works the same way with fly lines. Literally thousands of blades of grass rubbing and some catching the fly line just the right way to cause micro cuts. Then these micro cuts can collect dirt and/or catch on other blades of grass.