OK....been addicted to fly fishing for about 4 years now. I have progressed to wanting to tackle some bigger flies and bigger fish. I recently bought a 9ft 8wt rod and am pairing it with an 8/9 Okuma Integrity reel. Now I need to choose a line.

I will be fishing this rod mainly for bass, but would love to head down to the coast an get into some salt. I understand from reading that saltwater specific line has a different core that makes it stiffer in anticipation for warmer waters and climates. Will a saltwater line perform ok for freshwater bass or should I just go ahead and get 2 different lines?

Any suggestions for a fly line used mainly for bass but could pull duty on the coast is appreciated.

Thanks in advance

There are many much more experienced fly anglers on here who can better answer your technical question, but to make their jobs easier:
Where do you plan on fishing in the salt? Back bays for tailing reds and specks, in the surf, or off a jetty or boat? If the answer is 'd, all of the above', then that makes a difference in line suggestions.

You are correct - saltwater specific lines often have a very stiff core. I have been laughing at some of my friends down here recently because they don't have any fresh water lines to put on their reels in this chilly weather. The result of chilling a tropical line is a curly mess that casts about as well as weedeater line. If you plan on doing a lot of fishing at this time of year you may consider going ahead and getting multiple lines for fresh and salt application merely because of that reason.

The short answer is yes, you can most certainly pull double duty on a tropical line for bass and bay applications and even some surf work assuming you're smarter than I am and don't put in a lot of time on the water during the cold time of year

TWO LINES!

In fact, you really should have more than that if you want to cover most of what you'll run into fishing for bass and TX coastal flats:

WF8F - general bass fishing
WF8F/S- sink tip for bass fishing
DT8F - tight spaces bass fishing
WF8F tropical saltwater - general purpose saltwater line
WF8F cold water saltwater - general purpose in winter
WF8F/S saltwater sink tip or even slow sink rate full sinking line
WF8F/S coldwater version of that like the Striper Express

In addition to all those other lines, you're going to need to start cooking meth* to pay for them and the reels that will hold them.

But seriously, folks. With the exception of fishing in water in the 50s and cooler, I've been really happy with my Rio Saltwater line. Personally, I spend a lot more time fishing for bass on days when the temperature will make most normal fly lines wilty and sticky than I do in colder temps. The caveat to that is that I haven't fished the NaCl water with it, so I can't really say how it would perform there.






*I was going to say get a third job, but that would take up valuable fishing time. You've got to think these things through.

I'm mainly interested in fishing the bays for reds. I've always wanted to do that. I got to duck hunt near Rockport on the bays this year so now I really have the fever.

How well does saltwater line float in fresh since I assume it is denser? I guess I probably won't be able to tell much difference.

Thanks guys......headed to Cabelas to buy every line they have based on Ken's suggestions (just joking Ken)

well, see, Ken already HAS all the toys, which makes it easier for him to say that. (and yes, I'm a bit jealous... but don't worry, I'll get there one of these days...) Anyway, I have fished freshwater floating in the salt and had no problems, as well as fishing saltwater line in fresh with no problems.

To get started, I would recommend choosing one or two lines that you are comfortable with. The list Ken mentioned will cover the water column from top to bottom; figure out where you'll be fishing most, and go with the line best suited for that. I would stick to the general weight forward lines for now but there may come a time where you try a specialty line such as a redfish or tarpon taper and just love it - you'll just have to cast as many lines as you can and see. Tough assignment, I know... but we do what we must, right?

Yeah, y'all seem to have gotten the message. The hint was in the first two words of my post: "two lines!"

I was being a smartaleck to make the point that if you can afford 2 lines, there is no 1 line that can do both jobs nearly well enough to short-change yourself.

CAN you fish a saltwater line in fresh water? Well heck yeah! CAN you fish a freshwater line in the salt? Sure you can! But there are very good reasons why there are saltwater and freshwater fly lines. It's not hype. They are very different lines with very different properties. So get a WF saltwater floating line and a WF bass taper freshwater line.

FYI, you don't buy a bunch of reels to hold them all. You buy extra spools for 1 reel. No sense wasting money.

....... or you use shooting head systems and eliminate extra reels and extra spools ....

Sometimes extra spools cost almost as much as whole reels.