I was wondering if there would be a way to convert the "old" size of a line into its AAFTMA standard weight.

The line is said to be a size G and weights 16 lb...what is this supposed to be?
A wt4, 5, 6 or anything else?

Any would help would be strongly appreciated on this topic.

Frantz

What you're going to have to do, is weigh the first 30 feet of the line and then find the corresponding match on the AFTMA chart.

The letters referred to diameter, one for the front taper, one for the belly and one for the rear rear taper. When plastic fly lines appeared, this was thrown into disarray and a new system based soley on weight was devised. There is no really good direct cross-reference between the two systems that I'm aware of.

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Frantz,

I have a fly line that came with a custom fly rod that I bought back in 1962. The rod was designed for a 7 wt. The line is a Newton Ghost labeled GBG (double taper with the tip with a G and the level part og the line being a G). It works very well with my rod. Now If I understand the old method, the lettering system was based on the diameter of the line. I was told that had been used when lines were made from silk and even woven horse Hair. The AFTMA was developed based on weight (or mass). Since the weight of lines using the old lettering system varies considerably, Trying to make a simple conversion is likely to be unsuccessful.

Your best bet would be to try to weigh the first thirty feet of the line and compare to the AFTMA standards. Good luck.

Mike Blomme

Tom, Mike,

Thank you very much for all your help I will try to weight the first thirty feet of the line and compare to the AFTMA standards.

Frantz

i can tell you this. a G is a level line with no taper

Larry, what do you mean by "level" with no taper, is it what we call here "parallèle" ?

Frantz,
A level line is one in which both the tips (or ends) of the line have the same diameter as the rest of the line. A HDH or HCH would be a line that tapered from a a D or C diamter in the belly of the line to an H diameter at each end. In AFTMA terms, a 5 weight DT line would have a level belly and taper to a smaller weight for the 30 inches on each end. For a weight forward line, the taper would be only on one end.

Today there are so many specialized lines with varying compound tapers, no one person can keep track of them all. In simpler times, one could go to a tackle dealer and by a Cortland Model 444 # 7 WF floating line or a Model 333 #5 DT line or any other manufacturers lines. You can also buy sinking lines with similar variations. Now we have shooting heads that can be attached to the main part of the line that allows you to choose the sink rate and the depth that the line will sink to.

As Elis discovered some times you need not buy all of these variations. A simple inexpensive line will allow you to fish for a large variety of fish without having a different line for each species of fish. Anyway all of this is some multiple of my 2 cents. I hope it is helpful.

Mike Blomme

Mike thank you very much for all your information, so what you call a level line is called here a parralel, and the most famous ones we used to have here were the Robinson.
So I think I will not use this G silk fly line because it may be too heavy for me.

Frantz

A G level line is going to be very light. Many older rods are marked something like HDH or E. An E level will be about equivalent to a 6 wt level.