In fly fishing, what is the difference between backing and fly line?

April 1, 2006 7:54 PM

In fly fishing, what is the difference between backing and fly line? Is backing a necessity?

I just bought a fly rod and reel, and the reel needs string. I have never even fly fished before, so I am having trouble getting set up.

I went and bought some fly line. Most instructions I've found recommend that I should first attach backing to the reel, then tie the fly line to the backing. Is backing really important? Or can I just attach the fly line directly to the reel using an Arbor knot?

posted by Paul KC to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 comments total)

Your line won't be long enough if you don't use the backing unless you bought like 500' of fly line.
posted by fshgrl at 8:23 PM on April 1, 2006

[Gah, I hit post instead of preview] Anyways you want the backing to take up a lot of the space on your reel: it's cheaper than fly line, keeping your fly line in bigger loops makes it way easier to cast and it also makes it easier to reel in fast when you want to.
posted by fshgrl at 8:40 PM on April 1, 2006

Fly line is different from other fishing lines because the fly weighs next to nothing, so you are casting the line's weight, rather than the lure's weight. The heavy line only needs to be long enough to reach the maximum casting distance, with maybe a bit extra. So what happens when you hook a fish way out there? You need more line. If the reel were filled with heavy fly line it would be extremely bulky and expensive, so you use backing instead. Backing is also used on trolling reels because the pressure created from winding in hundreds of feet of monofilament with a salmon on the end can crack the reel, so you need some elasticity in the core of the reel, but that's a different scenario.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:03 PM on April 1, 2006

In most small stream fishing you will never use the backing. The flyline itself is longer than you can cast and even has plenty of length to let a fish run a bit when reeling one in. If you skip it and you end up hooking into a big fish who runs with all of the flyline and then some . . . ? As you can see, the lack of backing would show at the most inopportune time. Don't skip the backing, unless of course you have the line, the reel, the rod and the flies, want to fish right this instant and can not purchase backing today, then fish without it only until you can get some. It's quite inexpensive.
posted by caddis at 9:45 PM on April 1, 2006

Just throwing this out there (no pun intended) but do you have leaders in addition to your fly line?
posted by jimmythefish at 10:55 PM on April 1, 2006

You will rarely go into your backing while fishing small streams, but you really never know. If you fish for trout you rarely have to worry, but I have had pike whack my streamer fly while trout fishing and run downstream into my backing. When I fished salt water estuaries for small bluefish I occaisionally lucked into an adult and I was glad to have a lot of backing. I use regular monofilament (18 pound test) instead of the commercial braided dacron stuff available now.

If you have basic questions about fly equiptment, I suggest
any of these forums or blogs. A lot of the good fly fishing web sites are in the UK, Europe or New Zealand, the techniques may be slightly different but the basics are the same.
posted by zaelic at 1:28 AM on April 2, 2006

Thanks for all of the help everyone. I will be mostly fishing for trout on smallish rivers/streams. I think I will just tie the line straight to the reel for today and then go out and buy some backing before I go out again.

And jimmythefish, yes I do have leaders. Thanks for checking up on me though!
posted by Paul KC at 8:47 AM on April 2, 2006

Not only are most fly lines tapered, but the monofilament leaders are also tapered to be thinner at the tip, so they roll the fly out more smoothly (like a whip) rather than tangling. This is a bit like box springs for mattresses, though. I've caught lots of fish on straight leaders, since the tapered ones are pricey, and tend to get too big at the end as you snip to switch flies. Often I simply tie an additional thin piece of mono on the end with a blood knot. But whatever your equipment, few things in life are as satisfying as laying a dry fly 40 feet out on top of the ripple of a rise, where a Rainbow trout has picked a bug off the surface and thinks your fly (which you have tied to imitate the insects on the water) is his next meal. The dry fly should hit the water before the line, for complete stealth. Practise on the lawn, with a piece of yarn in place of the fly, using a roll cast to pick it off the surface.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:06 AM on April 2, 2006