The Cortland Compact Sink fly line has quickly become a favorite in my trout arsenal. I’ve been fishing this line for about 3-months now in a variety of different scenarios and conditions. I fished it while wading in a few Montana rivers, from moving rafts and in a lake environment for several days. I have the 240-grain setup on a 6-weight and I have just left the rod strung up because I’m using it regularly. It would be a great trout streamer fly line on a 7-weight as well.

The thing I’m loving about running the 240-grain is the versatility. It doesn’t sink too fast for a good chunk of the stillwater fishing I do but it gets down quickly and performs great in rivers. I just ran the Blackfoot river in Montana for 2 days and this was the primary fly rod we used throughout the trip.

My friend is an experienced spey fisherman and he was really impressed with the running line. It doesn’t kink or coil and shoots incredibly well. He wanted to know if they sold the shooting line separately for his spey and switch reels. If you fish sink tips often, you know the frustration associated with a bad running line. The Cortland Compact Sink fly line does not have any issues in that department. It casts and shoots through the guides very well.

I’ll keep this review short since there really are no complaints or issues with the line. It has a 28-inch head with a step down to the shooting line. The transition is seamless and it doesn’t have that hard stop between the lines like many sink tip configurations. It comes in 200, 240, 275, 350 and 425 grain options which basically covers 5-12 weight rods and everything from trout to muskie. It runs around 90-bucks and looks like it will last for a very long time.

And yes, I caught that bull trout on the exact line in this review.