Around 10 years ago I inherited a reel, (well, several reels actually), from an uncle who had lived and fished in Vancouver, Canada before coming back to England.

This particular reel, a K P Morrit Intrepid model, was well used and had line on it, but it wasn't something I'd be likely to use so I just put it away in a box of other 'old' reels.

Well, this morning I was digging out some stuff for my cousin who has decided to 'have a go at fly fishing' and was wading through my old reel box, (no point in giving him a new one at this stage), when I picked up the old Intrepid and though "this should be light enough as a starter reel" so I decided to pull the old line off it as it was at the very least 10 to 15 years old and replace it with something a little newer in 8 weight to match the rod I'm giving him.

Imagine my amazement when the line came off without a single coil. Not one. After all these years on the reel it was completely straight and soooooo supple. No stretching required at all, and no cracks to the coating either.

So I put it back on the reel and attached it to my little 4 weight and popped into my back garden to have a little flick with it....




I was amazed just how well it cast, and how gently it floated down to the ground. Better by far than any of my existing lines, (and I've got some really expensive and supposedly 'good' lines; believe me).

It's a straight line with no taper whatsoever and appears to a braided core of some sort surrounded by a very thin coating.

here are a couple of close up pics....







Can anyone help with the identification?

I'm certainly going to be putting it on a better reel and giving it a try in the wild. I think it should perform really well on a stream or small river.

Any info on this line would be greatly appreciated as, in all my years fishing, I've never seen anything quite like it.

TIA and best regards

Peter

No one?

None of our older members remember using anything like this?

Is it really a fly line? Or something my Uncle got hold of and used to suit? I know he mainly fished for Salmon at Vancouver Island, but the line and reel it was on don't look quite up to that.

Is this post in the right forum? Or should it be elsewhere?

I do, (am very old member!).
What is interesting, is the backing looks like is made same way!
perhaps you are right re something your uncle put together!
Anyways, only two lines i have had looking remotely like this were a Kingfisher level floater, made in late 60's early 70's, but was darker green, and were the next advancement after silklines!
only other one i have had that looks like it was an airflo fast glass intermediate, again level taper and made late 70's early 80's.
regards
bert

Many thanks Bert.

I had several of those Airflo Glass Intermediates when they first came out - indeed, I still have one on a reel, but the core construction on the Airflo is different, the core is much much thinner on the Airflo and the coating much thicker. Also, the Airflo's were prone to memory coils and always needed stretching or several false casts before fishing.

Could a line from the 60's/70's still be as supple and crack free as this? I wouldn't have thought so, so I'm coming to the conclusion that it is indeed something my Uncle cobbled together. My wife seems to recall that my Uncle moved and gave up fishing in the mid 80's so it couldn't be any newer than that.

I popped over to Thrybergh Reservoir yesterday, just to try it out and it cast exceedingly well on my little 4 weight rod. Caught 5 decent rainbows, (all fully finned so not recent stockies, and all returned), which was great fun on such a light outfit; and the line performed very well indeed.

I can now confirm that it is indeed a floater, and it floated extremely well too. The backing does look very much like the core of the fly line in construction and is nail knotted to it.

One thing is for sure, I'd love to find a modern day weight forward fly line as thin and supple as this and with absolutely zero memory straight off the reel after years of storage.

Next job is to weight it and see what AFTM rating it works out to be.

Poor Old Fisherman Steve sez

The line is probably a Level Gladding Floater and is from the late 60's - early 70's

It might be as low an AFTM as a level 4# but likelier a 5# .

The other line it could be is a cheap AirCel which Barrie Welham was bringing in around then and selling under another name . At the time his company was making the reel so there could be the tie in !

Best wishes

Steve P

Many thanks for the futher suggestions Steve.

Knowing when my Uncle fished, and where he fished, (Canada), it does seem possible to be from the mid to late 70's timewise. If it is then it seems incredible that it is still so supple and uncracked after all those years; even more so the amount of time I know it has spent on the reel following his passing away.

I've now had the chance to weigh the first 30 feet and that comes in at exactly 6.5 ounces, which I make to be 100.3 grains which puts it in the 3 weight category if my maths are correct.

Haven't got a 3 weight rod to try it on, so maybe it's a good reason to get one