Hi All, We've all seen the hype where a given line can easily penetrate the wind, with manufacturers claiming it to be the ultimate line, etc....

The fact of the matter is though, that during the forward cast the rear taper comes into contact with friction from the air first of all.

Just how effective is the rear taper?

Best regards

Stuart

I assume you are referring to WF lines?

There is no answer to your question without asking what the design and purpose of a particular fly line is.

A fly line must meet a certain mass criteria for the first 30 feet. Within that first 30 feet, for a WF line there must be a short tip section of about 6", followed by a front taper, body, rear taper and then running line. The rear taper, body, and running line placement can vary so that it is within or out of the first 30 feet. If it is out of the first 30 feet, you can do with it what you want, because only the mass of the first 30 feet is considered to classify the line.

If the rear taper is designed to be a section of the first 30 feet of line, you cannot simply change a rear taper without changing the front taper and body to accommodate the change in the rear taper. You may even have to change where the running line starts.

If the rear taper is beyond the first 30 feet, any change will change the relative proportions of the front taper and body to the rear taper. So asking the question of how important the rear taper is by itself to the design of a fly line is a nonsensical question because it is part of an integrated design whether the rear taper is within or outside the first 30 feet.

What is the purpose of the fly line? Is it to present small flies delicately on spring creeks or is it to push an air resistant bass fly and delicacy be d*mned? So form and function are intertwined, and if you change the rear taper with the secondary changes in the front taper and body; you can make the line better for one purpose but worse for another.

Then comes the question of how long the cast is. If the cast does not included the the entire head of the line so that the rear taper comes out of the guides, how can it affect the cast? Even if it comes out of the guides, how long is the taper compared to the rest of the line that is out of the guides? Does not the relative proportion of the rear taper to the entire aerialized line determine the relative effect of the rear taper?

I don't see how there can be an answer to your question.

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Hi Stuart,

It acts not unlike the tail on a kite. It stabilizes the main body of the line when you are putting the line out some distance over the actual belly length. As in long range casting. Without the back taper a WF line would not arrive in a reasonable straight line without some careful feathering of the shooting line through your hand.

You can do a small experiment and see for yourself what the effect is by making up a shooting head from a inexpensive DT line. If you cut the line at 30ft you have a very blunt end that attaches to the shooting line. If you cast with this line you will see immediately that the blunt end of the fly line tries to overtake the middle of the line. To prevent this you have to retard the shooting line slightly so the line doesn't arrive in a heap.

Now try the same thing with a WF line that has a good length of back taper and you will see that the line is much more stable in the air and needs very little feathering of the shooting line to have the main body of the line arrive at its destination in a straight line.

There is also another purpose that the back taper fulfills. Some lines have a very long back taper design that allows you to vary the length of the belly and taper you can carry outside the rod top without having the hinging overhang effect of a line with a short back taper. It makes a fly line with such a profile a much more versatile easier handling line. It allows you to aerialise and vary the length of belly and taper combined at a point that you feel comfortable with.


David.

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a really good way of putting it.