Cortland 444 Lazer

[T7]

Anyone used one of these for night fishing? I have the standard 444 at the moment, is the lazer better?

Cheers.

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Nice enough lines T7, but not ideally suited for night-fishing in my opinion. The standard 444's are fantastic lines, but the lazer is more of a distance orientated line I think, with a longer head section, which isn't ideally suited for the shorter range work usually deployed at night - you'd need to get a good length of the line out before it started to load, and thinner head wouldn't cope too well with the bulkier flies. I think you'd be better off with a peach 444 or white 333, and just go for one line weight heavier than what's stated on the rod.

TT.

[Highplains]

I use double taper line for the small river Clwyd. I don't understand the use of any other line on the smaller rivers. Having said that I am an old codger!

Highplains

[T7]

Hmmm might stick with the normal 444 then. Shame, the lazers are cheap on ebay.

Any other recommendations for a WF8 floater? Alternatively anyone know where I can get a cheap 444?

[T7]

DT or WF

Highplains, I had a similar view to you until recently (DTs for better presentation), but I think it is a bit of a misconception.

IMO for small rivers a WF has an advantage over the DT as you can load the rod with a small amount of line outside the rod tip. (i.e. the short head at the front is out of the rod for short casts) With the DT you would never have the weight of the line outside of the rod tip due to the long middle head, so it is hard to load the rod properly. You could say that you could go up a line weight to properly load the rod, but then you might as well fish a WF.

Additionally I think the turnover is better with a WF than a DT, thus the 'better presentation' of a DT is in reality the flies falling in a heap, wheras with a WF the flies land straight and more delicately.

Having said all that I have used a DT 444 for my floating line work for about 10 years (the same line :}), but then most of my casting is mid range.

Anyone have any other thoughts?

[Teifi-Terrorist]

The cortland 333 is also an excellent line, especially for the money.

TT.

[Highplains]

Interesting T7. I have to agree short cast can be awkward, but I rarely need such short casts at night. Might be a flaw in my approach?

[T7]

Well depends on personal taste of course. As I said I've used a 444 DT floater for years without any problems, but most of my casts are made with the middle 'belly' of the line outside the tip.

Recently though, I have noticed when retrieving right into my bank (e.g. with a surface lure etc) then it takes a fair amount of false casting to get the first 10 yards or so of line out, which I guess is similar to fishing a small river.

I am happy to keep my DT7 for the moment but at some point I think I will treat myself to a WF8 for seatrouting...

[speycaster]

i swithched to an weight forward 8 this year it makes easyier casting for the wake lure and larger tubes feels a bit different though , i settled for the shaky worcestshire , its performed okay so far last year it was a slipstream line

[WCB]

I have a New Cortland 333 saltwater taper in a 8# for sale.

Its green and am looking or £10 + £1.50 postage

WCB

[Salmonella]

I 'inherited' a yellow #8 Lazer when I bought a second hand Abel a while ago; the line was on the reel.
It's a Lazer all right as I found the logo/identification spots on the front taper.

It casts okay and everything; but I think it's harder/stiffer than my normal Cortland 444.
I was going to keep it for SWFF, for which I think it would be great.

Does anyone know whether it's suitable for bonefish; or would it 'wilt' in tropical conditions?


Ella