I've only ever had boxed fly lines, mainly Shakespeare, Scientific Angler or Cortland but I see mill ends advertised all of the time. What exactly is a mill end? Is it shorter than normal or is it a second or what?

I think they're just seconds, I've had a few - some have been sound and some haven't been great but for what they cost it's worth the risk! I get them from Mullarkeys, £3.99 each.

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Started: 19/09/2010 | First fish: 11/12/2010 | Biggest fish: 8lb Brownie

Ha, good to see Mullarkey's still chugging out those mill ends, I'm still using a mill-end 'carbon medium sink' I got from them in about 1995!!

I bought a "mill end" from a "Coast to Coast" Hardware store in South Dakota in 1962 and still use it occasionally as I clean it up and it works fine. Certainly outlasted the stores who went out of business in the 1990s or maybe before that!

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The scenery in the Grand Coulee area of eastern Washington was worth the air fare on its own!