I have a new fly rod, rated an 8 weight. It tests CCS ERN 9.

What should be the rated weight of the fly line I purchase for this rod? 8? 9? Other?

If I were you, and needed help with this; I would go to my local fly fishing shop and ask them to put the correct line on your reel.
Bring the rod and the reel with you when you go.

Best wishes

Depends on the distances you plan to fish. For most common big water uses most anglers would mate it with a 7 or 8 weight line.

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If you can tell me the brand I could probably tell you more but I would not line it with more than an 8 wt just as it is labeled. If you are a proficient caster and can double haul then yeah a 7 wt might be even better. WF or shooting head?

I plan to fish 50 feet from my feet.

Roger, what would lead the fly shop to the correct line other than putting lines on and trying them out?

At 50 feet you will be OK with an 8 wt. just as it is listed.

Unfortunately this can be a very subjective thing. I own a gang of 8wts, glass and carbon, and some of them really work well with a line that does not work all that great on the others. I have friends that have the same 8wts as me, and they like different lines on their rods, heads are different, like a Rio Gold compared to a Cortland Bass Taper.

What I would do, if you have some friends in your area that also have 8wts, try their lines on the lawn or line Roger said, visit a fly shop, they may have several 8wt lines spooled up on reels for that purpose or their client reels which they may use for guiding.

The unfortunate thing is that there is a gang of good lines out there, but the cost of them is tough to stomach when searching for the one that "feels just right"

If you want to just roll the dice, try a standard or 1/2 weight higher rated line on it. It will probably work just fine at the distances you describe. If your going to use "bass bugs", the Bass Tapers turn them over very well when mated to the proper leader.

Fly line prices have gotten out of hand. There is no reason to buy a $100+ line but the choices in decent lines in the $40 to $50 range are disappearing fast. It is becoming a boutique sport all over again. Where is TFO when you need them???

Bill Hickey Wrote:
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> Unfortunately this can be a very subjective thing.
> I own a gang of 8wts, glass and carbon, and some
> of them really work well with a line that does not
> work all that great on the others. I have friends
> that have the same 8wts as me, and they like
> different lines on their rods, heads are
> different, like a Rio Gold compared to a Cortland
> Bass Taper.
>
> What I would do, if you have some friends in your
> area that also have 8wts, try their lines on the
> lawn or line Roger said, visit a fly shop, they
> may have several 8wt lines spooled up on reels for
> that purpose or their client reels which they may
> use for guiding.
>
> The unfortunate thing is that there is a gang of
> good lines out there, but the cost of them is
> tough to stomach when searching for the one that
> "feels just right"
>
> If you want to just roll the dice, try a standard
> or 1/2 weight higher rated line on it. It will
> probably work just fine at the distances you
> describe. If your going to use "bass bugs", the
> Bass Tapers turn them over very well when mated to
> the proper leader.

YES - VERY subjective. The only way a fly shop can help you is to let you try various fly lines.
Distance fished has very litle to do with it.
To complicet the issue - different casters have different needs. Some like lines with long heads (40') where you have to be good to feel the rod load - some, like me, like lines with short heads that load FAST - BANG!!.

Where you fish willi fluence your choices. I frequently fish steep beahes on Cape Cod. I want a short head so I'm less likely to hit the beach on my bac cast - and the fish you fish for will influence your choice. Spooks fish = a line that will land lightly. Generally that means a long headed thinner line vs a fat short head.

Your rod will be one of the greatest determinators - stiff - you will have to overlive it to a #9 or even a #10.
Lastly - your experience as a caster will also have a big influence.
Sorry to say that you will probably be spending a lot of $ experimenting.

Mike is right that you should tell us more:
Brand and model of rod. What type of beaches will you fish from.
Herb
CTS

Fly shops generally have demo lines that you can try. Try them out and pick the one that works best for the flies you use

The line or lure weight a rod will cast is not all about rod power. Action plays a role and so does the person doing the casting. Power is not casting weight. This is why I asked what brand the rod was. I might not necessarily put the same line on one of the SW Winston's as I would on a SW Sage even if both are ERN9.

Will be fishing bones on flats, distance actually varies a lot between probably 30 and over 50, but I'm not good at casting much over 50. Small bead chain eyed flies, rod is Eternity 2 so it has a fairly fast action for fly rods. I am not an expert flycaster, but am getting better and am pretty confident in the 30-50 foot range.

I am not familar with the Eternity models. If you are only casting 30 to 50 feet and if it is a very fast action rod I would maybe go to an 9 or even a 10 wt. line. If the rod is soft in the mid area stay with an 8. Most rods of 8 wt and above for saltwater are rated for casting long distances I would say 65 to 90 feet.

Cortland Amplitude Bonefish Taper is all you need to start off.

Is that simiilar to Rio Bonefish Shooter?

Cortland Amplitude Bonefish Taper is all you need to start off. A fast action blank with an ERN of 9 will easily throw this line with authority.

You must be talking about scientific angler amplitude bonefish? Cortland has a bonefish taper but amplitude is SA

I fish an 8wt Eternity2 for Bonefish in the Bahamas and really like the Rio 8wt Bonefish quick shooter for the rod!

OK, folks, I'll fess up. It's not a new rod and I have tried a number of lines on it and know what I like. I wanted to see how you folks would approach the issue of a new rod and what line to use, and to see if you would bring CCS ERN into it. Thanks for your ideas. I appreciate your participation. Some of you came very close very fast and for what I consider the right reasons.

As I said, the rod measures almost a nominal 9 ERN. I started with a normal 8 weight salt water line and had trouble with it. Then I went to the 8 wt Bonefish Shooter.

Phil E, I used a Rio 8 wt Bonefish Quick Shooter line for a couple years after having trouble "getting started" with another 8 wt line. I couldn't get started getting line out efficiently until I put on the Quick Shooter. And short casts were problematic for me. I weighed the Quick Shooter and it's a line that's up in the spec range of 10 weight lines. It solved my getting started problem, but it felt heavy with a lot of line in the air, and it hit the water sort of hard.

I have since changed to a 9 wt Orvis bonefish line, and handle it quite well. I have gotten over my early troubles and find the line good not only up close but at longer distances.

I find it interesting now that I have my casting skills up off the novice level that the line that works best for me is a line that matches the ERN of the rod. I think that is exactly what Dr. Hanneman had in mind when he came up with ERN. I'll give my idea of ERN's development. It was an extension of IP that was intended to match a power rating of the fly rod with the nominal fly line specs so that one could reasonably expect a 9 ERN rod to cast a 9 weight line. And he coined the term ELN, effective line number, to coincide with the standard line weights. A "nine weight line" would have the ELN of 9. 9 ERN rod/9 wt line/ELN 9 line. See figure 1 here: [www.common-cents.info]

It depends on the person doing the casting and Dr Hanneman said many times that you could not depend on a rod and line having the same number and balancing correctly. All my rods have an ERN at least 1 to 1.5 number higher than the fly line I find best with it and I'm extremely competent at casting a fly rod.

But it's all really beside the point if we're still taking about how to list rod power per the CCS. According to Dr. Hanneman, The CCS uses AA for action and ERN for power. That's the long and short of it.

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