cortland comp line

[Kenny Dean]

anyone have this new line from cortland? if so any thoughts? likes? or dislikes? i have the heavier of the 2 they offer and so far i like it..

[Dejon Hamann]

Heard some good things about it and I'm really intrigued.  What properties do you like?

[Loren Williams]

Ken,

I have the 140 and 160.  So far I prefer the 140.  Still playing a LOT to try and dial in a versatile system but so far I am greatly enjoying the line.

I also have a mess of their indicator mono in .014, .013, and .012........really, really excellent product that should be on the market soon if it is not already.  I'd love for them to make it down to .008 or so.

[Kenny Dean]

Ken,

I have the 140 and 160.  So far I prefer the 140.  Still playing a LOT to try and dial in a versatile system but so far I am greatly enjoying the line.

I also have a mess of their indicator mono in .014, .013, and .012........really, really excellent product that should be on the market soon if it is not already.  I'd love for them to make it down to .008 or so.

i had ordered the line directly thru them..very nice to deal with on the phone too i mite add..i was told he would contact me about that sighter material but i havnt heard anything yet..the only thing i did notice if tossing one small fly say size 16 on 5 or 6x i think a long leader set up for me was better..but i must say i like fishing so much more with fly line out of my rod tip now..that line is sooo limp its really amazing.

[Kenny Dean]

Heard some good things about it and I'm really intrigued.  What properties do you like?

the inner core dijon makes it extremly limp..it is very different from anything else ive used before.

[Jim Frazier]

the taper is further back making it lighter on the head so there is not as much belly in the tippet . It mimmicks the old silk line that so many guys used cause of its limpness.  The streight sighter material is about 1-1/2 months out and it is awesome ! like i said a while back "you long leader guys can now chop em back quite a bit !

[Paul Bourcq]

I spoke with Joe Goodspeed of Cortland at length about this line much earlier this year.  Its basically a very skinny front tapoer.  Similar to there old deep nymph running lines.  So 10-11 feet of it is very skinny and supple, almost like mono.  The core is very low stretch.  They worked hard to get the fusion between the core and the line.  So with the skinny front taper you dont get any drag or line sag with a higher rod tip angle.  But unlike straight mono it will very much cast a dry fly without working to death.  I like the 140 grain made for the 3 weights.  I have used mine since nationals of this year.  It is a really really nice line.  Although 140 grains would imply a 5 weight, its actually a 3 weight line.  As far as I know they offer it in 140 grain and 165.  It won best line at the euro tackle show.  I like it!

[Alain Barthelemy]

I have been using the lighter grain line for a while and also like it.  A few more observations:

(1) The line is (purposely) designed to be less slick than typical.  This lessens its tendency to slide back down through the rod guides, forming slack loops and sacrificing contact.  The line stays put.
(2) The fine tip of the line offers less resistance to strikes, especially when short line nymphing right under your rod tip (and using the line itself as an indicator).
(3) It is a stealthy, drab olive color.
(4) The very supple core reminds me a Dacron backing, except in a lighter break strength (imagine the limpness of 14lb Dacron).
(5) The tip of the line is small diameter (probably around 0.025-0.030in, but I haven't measured it).  This means if you nail knot the leader butt section to the fly line, the resultant knot is small.  I have not tried the "No Knot" method with this line; the line is expensive and I don't want to chew up the tip.

The Cortland bicolor sighter material is ok, but not as bright as you might be used to.  The yellow is bright, but the other color is more of a fluorescent red and slightly transparent.  The red is similar to the JMC DTK color.  I am surprised Cortland just did not copy the Siman bicolor manufacturer (but this may be due to proprietary restrictions).

P.S.  Lots of people ask me about metric conversion all the time.  If you type "0.025in in mm" into the Google search box, you will get your conversion.  This works for just about every unit.  The search box also functions as a calculator.

[Loren Williams]

I've been talking a bunch with Joe...I guess I am an oddball in that I feel the front end is too limp and creates a bit of a hinge between it and the leader.  I imagine the goal is a more fluid transition.  While the taper is designed not to belly under it's own weight (and it wont with substantially heavy flies), the limpness is counterproductive.  I also dislike the line sag between the guides, coupled with the less slick coating, it makes shooting line a bit of a chore and I am too lazy for chores. The line will sag on mid range presentations with light flies where an angler probably would want immediate contact and his line off the water.

All that said, it has tremendous possibilities for the angler who knows what they want to do with the line and how to tailor their leader and casting.

[Clyde Olson]

Is this line available, and if so where?

[Jim Frazier]

clyde ,

be about a month or month -1/2 , your gonna like it trust me ! Pauls report on it is spot on to what i said along time ago about it on here . It changes nymphing greatly !!!! The Bi-color indies are awesome too ! No more blood knots with 2 pieces of 15lb amnesia - AMEN !!!!!!

[Andy Larkin]

Great reviews and Oh man.. am I ever dying to try this line.

Has anyone given it a go using the hends 900cm camou leaders yet?  I've been using a DT2 rio "trout lt" line on my hanak 3100 for my euro nymphing needs and am satisfied thus far.. but.. as most of us know.. one can never have too many lines!

[Alain Barthelemy]

The line itself takes the place of the super long leaders.   The line is designed for use with much shorter (less than 18ft or so total) leaders, but still provides the stealth and accuracy of the pure mono.  I have said for years that the Camou 900cm leader is essentially a monofilament fly line.

[Jim Frazier]

Alain ,
 when the line was first brought up here a month or so ago my exact comment was "now you long leader guys can chop em back a bit" . Fly line telegraphs strikes alot better in my opinion and never really understood the whole streight mono thing myself but thats just me and i am not a comp. fisherman.

[Dejon Hamann]

I'm just wondering if I'm expecting the impossible.  I mean, a long level mono "leader" is so effective because it has basically zero weight... the exact opposite attribute you need in a leader to "turn things over". Maybe there is no happy medium and I'll just have to settle on being a "2 rod" guy, but my current line of thought is I need to nail down my "comfort zone" where a nymphing leader breaks into something with a taper - i think this is approximately 15-30feet.  Thus providing the best compromise between zero-sag nymphing at a certain distance and then enough taper to deliver an unweighted presentation.

Looking forward to at least trying it out, but Loren's comments about sag lead me to believe it's just a line replacement for the Hends leader.

[Mark Ferringer]

I have been using it for a few months now and absoloutely love it. With a little finesse it will even toss dries if the situation calls for it.

[Loren Williams]

Looking forward to at least trying it out, but Loren's comments about sag lead me to believe it's just a line replacement for the Hends leader.

Dejon,

In a nutshell, I think that is the intent behind the line.  To forsee the eventual banning of ultra-long leaders and the requirement of using fly line in the cast.  Not sure Cortland picked the Hends leader specifically.

I like playing with new technology, tweaking, and trial and error.  Who knows what one might learn!

In my opinion, with the correct leader, this is one wicked dry fly line in addition to all of the nymph applications.

[Clyde Olson]

An e-mail(info@cortlandline.com) to Joe Goodspeed has the comp nymph line and indicator material in the mail to me.  As everyone has said Joe is very nice to deal with and keenly interested in feedback.

[Paul Bourcq]

Clyde, as touched on before the longer belly on this line lends itself well to all of the spey series of casts.  It controls nicely and is kind of like a heavy scandi line in terms of feel.  It works great with any dynamic tension stuff and Im sure with your spey pedigree you will enjoy throwing it.

[Joey Walraven]

for you guys that are using this line and having some success, how have you changed your leader setup?
still pretty new to the competitive scene..just curious how this comp fly line will change things.

[Loren Williams]

I wonder how emails Joe has received now asking for free lines.....ugh.

[Dejon Hamann]

It was a grey area for me since it's the corporate umbrella email.

[Joey Walraven]

lol..not me, i didn't ask for anything for free..
just curious on the leader setup with the comp line..

[Clyde Olson]

Ditto, Joey.  Line came to Georgia and $ 75. went to NY.

[Joey Walraven]

clyde, lol..yeah, i went ahead and ordered some of the sighter mono too..so $88 for me lol. should be here tomorrow!

have you had a chance to try it out? after talking to joe at cortland about it, i rigged up a 5.5 leader tapering from
.015" down to .010"..then the sighter.  we'll see. can't wait to try it out this weekend.