Hello
I'm new here but I'm enthusiast of this forum: thankyou very much, I'm a long time ultralight flyfishing lover and find a forum like this is great!

I weighed my lines years ago, when sage 00 appeared on the market and, like wcsage, I was really disappointed to see that the sage 00 in real was an AFTMA #1. And now I see, thanks to you, that even the 000 is a #1...bah...

btw, my ultralight lines are:
- Scientific Angler Ultra2 Mastery DT2F is about 5,26 grams, then about 81 grains
- Sage QDT 1F about 4,96 grams, then about 77 grains (perfectly in the AFTMA #2 range )

(For who loves "truth", I bought even a micrometer to measure the tippets and I see that find a measure who correspond to what is wrote by the producers is about impossible: what is wrote is about ever smaller.)

thanks to everybody
roberto

So that's why my Steffen 2/3 wil fish the QT DT!.

Jim

No surprise Zigo- sage/rio has been lowering the bar for ul lines since last year. In effect the sub ones are all 1WT lines.

Les

Just a heads up on weighing lines; keebranch put me on this a while back; the little Umpqua fly line scale is worth the money; quick and easy way to weigh lines; pretty accurate and sometimes you can find on on -ebay for less than $10 bucks. I use the ruler method as some have mentioned; I put a small black mark at the 30 foot length, then mark all my lines by what it weighs, not what the manufactor sez it weighs; many of my 6 and 7 lines were 7 and 8 lines; many 4's were 5's and many 5's were 6's. Funny, but all my 1,2,and 3 lines weighed at manufactors weights; course you still have to cast the line and sometimes the rod is heavier than the factory sez it is; so the end result is still a little controversial, but at least you know what's up-p-

I've just finished building my One weight rod, a TXL-F sage, and am starting to get a couple of one weight lines for it. The lines are a Barrio Small Stream WF1F, and Orvis Superfine WF1F, and a line from China --a WF1F. The weight and diameter data may be of interest to other UL flyrodders.
Orvis Superfine WF1F --first 30 feet weighs 75 grains, Tip diameter is 31 thous, belly at 31 thous, and running line at 31 thous----this is esentially a light weight level #2 line.
The Barrio Small Stream WF!F--first 30 feet weighs 88grains, tip diameter is 33 thous, belly at 36 thous, and the running line at 33 thous. This is a heavy #2 weight line at it's first 30 feet but it is designed for shorter casts in smaller streams so I measured it's weight at the end of the rear taper (24 feet). It came in at 71 grains---a heavy #1 or a light #2.
Surprisingly the China line weighed 68 grains for the first 30 feet with the diameters as follows: tip 27 thous, belly at 34 thous, and the running line at 27 thous.
I hate to say it but the China line is the only true #1 weight of the bunch---and the line diameters are appropriately small as desired in a UL line.
As the weather warms up I'll get a chance to fish these line and form, hopefully, a better opinion of them.
Regards
BobA

I thought I'd resurrect this thread here. It's got me fascinated to see the line weights and recommendations for pole weight.

I've got a new 1wt coming in and now already looking at a couple extra lines to try. I see the "Chinese" lines off eBay for around $15 a line in the WF1F range and I've found another cheap WF0F line I'm going to try. I'll have to weigh the lines when they come in and report back. I could see how helpful it might be for a noob like me to have a few lines actually weighed and know which was heavier then trying to match that info up with how it may feel on the rod.

Did some weight check ons some of my lines.

Barrio Smallstream WF 1, 89,0/69,1* * measured on 24ft/7,32mtr (head lenght)
Barrio Smallstream WF 2, 113,6/88,6* * measured on 24ft/7,32mtr (head lenght)
Barrio Mallard DT 3, 100,8
Barrio Smallstream WF 3, 128,1/106,5* * measured on 24ft/7,32mtr (head lenght)
Scientific Angler Supra WF 3, 106,2

It seems that most of these are heavier then they should be according to Aftma ratings. Barrio Smallstreams are short belly lines so I also checked the actual weight of the belly according to manufacturers specifications.

What has happened to the standard practice of weighing a fly line over the first 30', excluding the level tip. to determine the correct rated weight of the line? If for example the Barrio Smallstream WF weighs 128 grains for only 24 feet, then 30' would weigh more like i50 grains, right? So therefore the "3-weight" would at least be on the heavy side of a 5-weight, according to my figuring.

According to the chart on the AFFTA website, 128 grains over the first 30' minus the level tip is between a 4- and a 5-weight. Finding out the real weights of many fly
lines has made me increasingly suspicious of some top name manufacturers, also leading me to dabble in making my own lines. If one can spend big money buying somebody else's mistakes, why not make your own lines (and possibly mistakes) and have some fun at it?

I am casting a short 180gr line on my TFO 2 weight I totally believe that most rods will easily and comfortably cast lines three weights plus heavier than recommended.