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fake lines

6K views 49 replies 19 participants last post by  ohanzee 
#1 ·
#18 ·
Seems ironic, if they’d only just stuck their own name on them, wouldn’t have been any issues and probably still sold loads.
Many of the big names don’t make their own lines.
I have very expensive lines that are garbage (noisy through the rings, wiry on a cooler day, tips just don’t float) and have sent plenty back over the years and cheap lines that perform flawlessly, with a lot falling in the middle! Price seems unrelated performance imho.
 
#35 ·
I’ve used Snowbee and Rio lines on still water for nearly 30 years and on running water also for nearly 10 of those. In between I have tried many, many other cheaper lines from the same factories presumably, that have all been inferior in some way.
The #3 XS or Rio Trout LT are the best floating river lines I have had hands down. The Rio probably just edges it.
 
#36 ·
Unfortunately like a lot things in fishing you pay for the name, as we all know there are loads: lines: rods: jackets out there that match and some even better than what the name people sell

they are all working on over 150 % profit or more

but lot people like to know they are buying a brand
A mate of mine owned a tackle shop in the 90s. The rep for Hardy's told him that there wasn't a fly line that cost more than £2 to manufacture, and that after that it was all down to marketing. (Add inflation, post 1990s.)

Col
 
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#37 ·
Couldn't agree more, I sold a reel recently with an £8 " mill end" Redditch made #5 line on it, the buyer asked me what the hell it was, as he had never cast or fished anything as good in 40 years and said it blew Rio and other expensive lines away. He was so dejected when I told him what it was.
I find a lot of expensive lines have far too long a front taper on them with too fine a tip- Very slow to load and why they sink, just not enough cross section.
your right 99% of the marketing hype is BS. Those fancy magazine full page ads? Who's paying those eh?? Us of course- in the over inflated prices!
 
G
#42 ·
Seems that I also bought one - and it was the best floater I have had. As others have said, I wish they were still available at £20 a pop. I'd buy them, whatever the name on the packet.

Col
If it was one of the "fake brands" which came out Northern Sport, they were made on the old Shakespeare machinery, operated by the same staff in the same town.

The lines were essentially a Shakespeare Worcestershire construction, with the profile and colour modified to match the "fake brands". They were already, legitimately, manufacturing and selling lines to proprietary brands, designed to their colour and profile.

After the court case, Northern Sport moved production to their headquarters in Canada. I don't know if they have re-instated production back in the UK.
 
#43 ·
The line I bought was a Guideline 4 Cast, bought off eBay from a renowned angler and TV personality. I paid £20 for it. It was a superb line. When I went to buy another, they were all gone and, looking elsewhere for it, they were suddenly £60! That's all I know about it.

Col
 
#49 ·
What’s the view on loops bonded onto the end??? Some are just doubled back line welded on and must upset the balance, others are super neat tiny little mono loops more like a hook eye and very useable. I tend to pass a 16 lb 5’ length of Kamoufil up the fly line maybe 5-8mm, then out through the side and secure with a five turn clinch knot.
This is pretty neat and lasts the duration of the line and seals the end. Gives a seamless turnover with no hinge or wake. I utilise a 1mm tippet ring to attach leader/tippet to 5 turn grinner knot sealed with a tiny bit of Deer creek fine UV resin. I often find a tiny clear size 20 or smaller attached as a dropper on just a couple of inches of tippet to the ring, can be deadly, where more than a single fly is allowed. Silver hooks work best here.
 
#50 ·
What's the view on loops bonded onto the end??? Some are just doubled back line welded on and must upset the balance, others are super neat tiny little mono loops more like a hook eye and very useable. I tend to pass a 16 lb 5' length of Kamoufil up the fly line maybe 5-8mm, then out through the side and secure with a five turn clinch knot.
This is pretty neat and lasts the duration of the line and seals the end. Gives a seamless turnover with no hinge or wake. I utilise a 1mm tippet ring to attach leader/tippet to 5 turn grinner knot sealed with a tiny bit of Deer creek fine UV resin. I often find a tiny clear size 20 or smaller attached as a dropper on just a couple of inches of tippet to the ring, can be deadly, where more than a single fly is allowed. Silver hooks work best here.
I went through a phase of welding my own loops, they are convenient and look cool, but for the job in hand they suck, I now use a Whitlock glue join and it is a completely seamless transition, only knot is on the fly.
 
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