I'm still surprised to see that DT still exist! The only reason I purchased my last one (over a decade ago) was to cut it up into two shooting heads ...

To me, the answer is not which is better, but what is it for?

I think more important in not DT or WF? How am I going to fish it, and what is the head taper to support this? Thinking trout > Am I in a small creek and unrolling a small fly upstream to a brookie close in with a small window? or am I unrolling a BWO far out over a run. After, I determine the best head front, then does the first 35' of the head support line mending. With a 8' fiberglass rod, can I really properly delicate mend more 5x the rod length of line and leader. (Answer has been no, maybe some day, but right now I can mend to my satisfaction up to 4x (including leader))

I do not want for my trout rods (<5wt) a bullet head, which we see for parking lot casting - think RIO Elite Technical Trout

So I am looking at the shape of the first 40' (unless I am spey fishing), and even this, with my longest rod trout spey rod (Meiser 15'6' 5wt), I am using a 45' head.

So if we look at
* Cortland Ultralight - Head - 37' with a nice long front taper great for that BWO example.
* Guideline Fario - similar to the Cortland Ultralight - 35'
* RIO LightLine - short taper (think small river) and the effective head is 38' from he tip pf the rod.

If I look at my old favourite Cortland 333, I have 36' with a nice 10' front taper.

But sadly, though the Cortland 444 Peach WF has a nice 6' front taper the mendable body is just 28' and thus I would not buy; though I like the DT Peach.

Is there anything wrong with a DT - nope. I have them in Silk (Phoenix), Cortland and a nice old 3M SA - but the point is, I am interested in what is happening in the first 40', as I am not able to delicately mend a dry-fly drift with more than 40' of line out using a 8' rod.

Part 1 of 2

Part 2

So yes, I do have WF? Yes, when I want to shoot line and I am not delicately mending a line in a drift. So, I have

* Scandi head and the like on my Trout, Steelhead, Salmon Spey Rods - some as long as 63'
* Bullet heads to carry my shrimp patterns to Bonefish on the flats.
* Aggressive bullet heads for carrying Pike Flies to the edge of a weed bed after ice out.

Then am I interested in a head that loads the rod quickly from the boat, but not spook the fish off the flat? Or so heavy at front that it can carry a chicken to the awaiting Pike.


But like my previous post, I am interested in the head shape, but WF comes into play when I am wanting to cast a fly out to manage a swing or strip in.

IMHO - and I know some disagree - As stated many posts ago, I am support the manufacturers who post weights and profiles of their lines, as simple view gives me an understanding of what I hope the fly line can support, before I commit to buy.

The more a fishing situation calls for bulky/heavy flies to be thrown or chucked, and the greater the desired distance, the more a WF or specialty line with compact taper/weight concentration may be useful. The more traditional flies will be cast and manipulated by the weight of the line, the more suitable and versatile a DT line.

soooo, some people like them, some people don't, some people use other styles of lines, we all fly fish mostly because it's fun (didn't want to speak for anyone else there).

glad we could clear that up...

I love the DT but a couple of my rods really perform with a long belly WF so to me it has a lot to do with the rod........Aurelio

Not true! Us Florida fly fishers are having tons of fun!!!!!

Not true...

Just kidding. Happy New Year to all!

Days are already getting longer.

No, the trouble begins on this form in particular when someone posts a cryptic reply to a post and then take offense to something that is obviously meant to be a joke.

the trick is never assuming the worst but the best, and remember we're here playing on Tom's swings.

on topic - WF and DT is really simple - WF is made for shooting line, DT is made for turning over line.
In the range of normal trout fishing, the differences remain on the reel.
Fly fishing on the other hand, is marketed to appear complicated.
They figured out long ago they can sell us ego gratification and make us want more every year.

I still think that's a good idea, and yes, DTs are much harder to come by than they once were. Just this week I took out a new, inexpensive 3-weight DT that had already been cut in half to try on a rod that is still a work in progress. The objective was to find out how much line I could keep aerialized with good line speed and a tight loop. The next step is to cut the line at that point and tie in a running line...

I have a number of WF lines that I use only on very small streams, if the stream is very big, on any long cast I find myself trying to roll cast running line and it just sucks. Of course I've only been mucking around with fly lines for about 46 years, so still learning, but, so far I've never found a reason not to use a DT.
I can see that in a distance contest, WF might have some advantage, but, my fishing is all at less than 75'.

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Ideally you should be able to carry able at least 70'of dt line.