Fly line question.

[Smossy]

What's everyone running for western Washington fly line?

Running multiple setups?

[huntnphool]

 Depends on the situation. I pack several different spools, each with a different line, floating, intermediate, fast sink, fast sink tip, slow sink tip, etc.

[jackelope]

What are you fishing for and what time of year?
I usually know how I’ll be fishing before I head out. West side winter steelhead for example. I don’t know where I’d be using a floating line for that unless I’ll be fishing real skinny water somewhere. If you’re fishing the cedar during a caddis hatch you won’t need sink tips. For trout a 5 weight setup is tough to beat. For steelhead, the options are endless but they’re the fish of 1000 casts around here.

[boneaddict]

Give us some deets....  what kind of water

[spadebit]

Stay away from Rio.
It is over priced and wont last with even moderate use.  They have cut a lot of corners in the past few years.
Airflo or Scientific Angler is a better company. 

[Henrydog]

Between my kid and I, we have about 30 lines of varies brands and weights.

 I agree Rio has gone down hill, it used to be good stuff.  Never had luck with any Orvis line at any price point.  SA seems to load and shoot well. 

Honestly the best floating line I have ever owned was bought about 20 years ago, and it was Cableas Prestige PLUS.  Not the regular Prestige but the PLUS.  Not sure if they still sell it with the Bass Pro change but it will cast and float better than anything.  I have a couple of Teeny nymph lines that I like as well 

[Wanttohuntmore]

Let us know where and how you want to fish.   We'll set you up right.   Years of experience and more lines and rods that I care to admit.

[theleo]

If you're wanting take full advantage of what western Washington has to offer, then you'll need multiple setups. If you could narrow things down to species and water (lake or stream) it'd really help for getting useful recommendations. Scientific Angler WF-4-F covers the vast majority of trout fishing in streams that I do. The exception being my euro setup, and on that it really doesn't matter because my fly line doesn't enter the guides.

[boneaddict]

also what rods are you throwing it with would be good info

[Bill W]

floating line for chironomids and indicators.... type 2 sinking (or an intermediate) for dragon fly nymphs.

[npaull]

Single most useful freshwater fly line (if you had to pick one) is a clear intermediate sinking line in my opinion. Can use it almost everywhere, for almost everything.

[toxxic]

Following as I want to fly fish the Yakima next year!

[Pathfinder101]

Reading this thread it would appear that you need to invest hundreds of dollars in extra spools and a half dozen different lines.  If you are just getting started, IMHO you need 3 lines.  A floating line, a sink tip line and a full sinking line, all weight forward (WF).  That's one fly reel and two extra spools.  That'll getcha started.  If you have a favorite lake or river that requires a line that sinks faster or if you need to do a lot of roll casting you can always go get another spool with something specialized, but a 9 foot, 5-6 weight rod with a reel and 2 extra spools will get you through most situations.   
I'll agree with the post about Rio.  Overpriced for what you get.  I'd stick with Scientific Angler.   

[ctwiggs1]

Plenty of old school dudes only use floating lines.  It can be done 

[Afraiman]

i caught plenty of fish on local tributaries using regular floating line and a 9' leader.

[7mmfan]

It's hard to answer the question without more info on the intended quarry, location, and technique. All lines have a place, and there is definitely some overlap. You don't need much to start with, but you want to start with the right line for what you want to accomplish otherwise it will end up just being an exercise in futility.

[Smossy]

Was kinda just wanting a single general use to have in the trunk. I've got a fenwick 4/5 with a pflueger medalist.
Mostly gonna be used for trout. I got way to much fishing stuff (really not enough) Kinda wanted to limit the gear I own for fly fishing.

[7mmfan]

Here is what I would do. Get a 5 wt, weight forward floating line, and buy a cheap okuma fly reel for $25 or $30 and put a 5 wt 10' type 3 sink tip on it. Those 2 lines will cover you for 95% of all trout fishing scenarios.

If you can truly only get one line, get the floating. You can adapt to different scenarios with it.

Quality matters but it's not the end all. Find a Scientific Anglers or basic Cabelas line that's on sale and get after it. Just keep the line clean, and out of the sun when not in use and they will last a couple years.

[nwwanderer]

Love the old school gear, gave a similar setup to a grandson.  For your use I would go with the $10 kind, if you can cast it, it is perfect.  Anything more expensive will just cause heartburn when the mice chew it up in the trunk.

[Smossy]

The plueager medalist I bought came pre-spooled. So I honestly have no idea whats on it. The floating line on it feels cheap, but really I have no experience.
These are the answers I was looking for thanks fellas.  Been away for awhile busy busy with work, haven't even had time to fish sadly. Gonna be around alot more in the coming days though. Love the effort that goes into fly casting. I literally get mad( Im sure you guys know what I mean)that's good.. Still havent been able to get any distance on my casts but Ive donated like 40 flys to "nature" " Makes me work harder. Things get to easy from time to time and I lose interest.

[Wanttohuntmore]

Fly fishing is definitely a rabbit hole.   You can literally spend thousands on it and still justify one more purchase.   But there are ways to do it on the cheap.   If you want some ideas let us know what fish you are going after,  what water you are fishing,  and we'll spit out what we know works.  I've personally fished mostly steelhead with fly rods, some trout fishing,  and salmon.   I've not ventured into the salt though.   It can be done for really cheap, you don't need a sage rod and hardy reel.   That said,  your casts will benefit from a matching line to rod.  If not matched it can be a mess.

[7mmfan]

And dont worry about distance. Most quality fly presentations happen inside 40'. Outside that, control becomes quite difficult.

[jackelope]

One thing’s for sure. It’ll never get too simple with a fly rod. There is always something else to try.