Fishing for information

Sealegs50

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was recently sold a 50 yd length of old fishing line that was claimed to by white/green speck Cortland linen. The line was reportedly obtained from a spool with Cortland labels. I like the look and feel of the line. But I got a bit curious about it. The line is 0.031” in diameter measured by both digital and mechanical micrometers. It is comprised of three threads each of which measures ~0.016”, one of which contains a green sub-strand. My understanding is that Cortland and Penn white/green speck linens are 0.025” (please let me know if I am misinformed). I wrote to Cortland and showed the enclosed pictures. Their product manager responded with her belief that this line was not made by their company. Trying to remain open-minded about its identity, perhaps current workers at Cortland are not fully aware of characteristics of products produced by their company >40 years ago.

Does anybody on this forum have an idea the origin and make up of this old fishing line?
Is it actually Cortland?
Other ideas about potential manufacturers?
Is it linen?


The same thread was posted on the Ask The Cuemaker section, but there have not been many nibbles. Thanks in advance for any insights.

Greg
 

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maha

from way back when
Silver Member
looks like some kind of dacron or nylon twine for tying things up not fishing rod line.

irish linen came in different sizes and colors. what was used on most cues i think was the 28 pound class.
 

Fenwick

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was recently sold a 50 yd length of old fishing line that was claimed to by white/green speck Cortland linen. The line was reportedly obtained from a spool with Cortland labels. I like the look and feel of the line. But I got a bit curious about it. The line is 0.031” in diameter measured by both digital and mechanical micrometers. It is comprised of three threads each of which measures ~0.016”, one of which contains a green sub-strand. My understanding is that Cortland and Penn white/green speck linens are 0.025” (please let me know if I am misinformed). I wrote to Cortland and showed the enclosed pictures. Their product manager responded with her belief that this line was not made by their company. Trying to remain open-minded about its identity, perhaps current workers at Cortland are not fully aware of characteristics of products produced by their company >40 years ago.

Does anybody on this forum have an idea the origin and make up of this old fishing line?
Is it actually Cortland?
Other ideas about potential manufacturers?
Is it linen?


The same thread was posted on the Ask The Cuemaker section, but there have not been many nibbles. Thanks in advance for any insights.

Greg

Yes it's Cortland and it was used for fishing. I had it on some of my tip ups and my musky rods. I don't know if you can still buy it?
 

greyghost

Coast to Coast
Silver Member
looks like some kind of dacron or nylon twine for tying things up not fishing rod line.



irish linen came in different sizes and colors. what was used on most cues i think was the 28 pound class.



It was #27 to be exact


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maha

from way back when
Silver Member
irish linen was 9 strand 3 pound test woven together. three strand twisted like that is called cuttyhunk. and if this was fishing line it was used more as a hand line than a casting line..
 

Moet.1977

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Courtland

I'll c if I can get a couple pictures to up load of my old Courtland I got lying around so u can compare.
 

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greyghost

Coast to Coast
Silver Member
irish linen was 9 strand 3 pound test woven together. three strand twisted like that is called cuttyhunk. and if this was fishing line it was used more as a hand line than a casting line..



It was a spool line used specifically for fishing along with linen silk and cotton based woven and twisted strings...100% for casting.

Big open face for salt water reels will have them

Until the 50s basically when dracon and monos basically put natural fishing lines defunct.

Cortland is still around of course but they don’t make those fine flax linen anymore.


I mean you don’t think no one casted before plastics lol



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Lynch

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was recently sold a 50 yd length of old fishing line that was claimed to by white/green speck Cortland linen. The line was reportedly obtained from a spool with Cortland labels. I like the look and feel of the line. But I got a bit curious about it. The line is 0.031” in diameter measured by both digital and mechanical micrometers. It is comprised of three threads each of which measures ~0.016”, one of which contains a green sub-strand. My understanding is that Cortland and Penn white/green speck linens are 0.025” (please let me know if I am misinformed). I wrote to Cortland and showed the enclosed pictures. Their product manager responded with her belief that this line was not made by their company. Trying to remain open-minded about its identity, perhaps current workers at Cortland are not fully aware of characteristics of products produced by their company >40 years ago.

Does anybody on this forum have an idea the origin and make up of this old fishing line?
Is it actually Cortland?
Other ideas about potential manufacturers?
Is it linen?


The same thread was posted on the Ask The Cuemaker section, but there have not been many nibbles. Thanks in advance for any insights.

Greg

I'm from ND and grew up as a die hard ice fisherman like my dad. I remember my dad having stuff that looked either the same or eerily similar to that on his "bobber rigs". Ice fishing in ND is much different than most other states because it's typically colder, especially in the upper NW corner of the state. So, what that means is when you are fishing outside for longer periods of time, typically you need to fish with a tipup or something similar to make sure the spool and line are underneath the ice because it will be frozen every two seconds. For instance, in CO rarely do people even use tipups, they just set rods out on the ice(for various reasons). Anyways, my dads old rigs were basically a block of wood with a nail in the middle and a spool of this stuff or something similar over the nail. Then once the line is down and all set up the bobber will sit on top of the spool. Then when a fish takes it, you can see the bobber fall off the top of the spool and then the spool will spin on top of the wood if you don't get there right away and have it set up correctly. For some reason this particular line would freeze much less than even most types of tip up line sold today. It also had decent feel for how incredibly strong it was. I think he converted mostly to all tip ups and popups by mid to late 90's because it really wasn't an efficient or effective way to fish with the other options available. Anyways, I could go on all day about that, but seeing those pictures were incredibly nostalgic. I can remember how the line felt in hands when fighting fish. When I got older and started buying my own equipment I could never find that same line anywhere or really anything even close to it. In regards to your question, I have no idea if I the stuff my dad and I were using or stuff you have is Cortland, linen, etc. Good luck with your quest.
 

Black-Balled

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Cool post.

Azb is damn amazing place, every day.

I'm from ND and grew up as a die hard ice fisherman like my dad. I remember my dad having stuff that looked either the same or eerily similar to that on his "bobber rigs". Ice fishing in ND is much different than most other states because it's typically colder, especially in the upper NW corner of the state. So, what that means is when you are fishing outside for longer periods of time, typically you need to fish with a tipup or something similar to make sure the spool and line are underneath the ice because it will be frozen every two seconds. For instance, in CO rarely do people even use tipups, they just set rods out on the ice(for various reasons). Anyways, my dads old rigs were basically a block of wood with a nail in the middle and a spool of this stuff or something similar over the nail. Then once the line is down and all set up the bobber will sit on top of the spool. Then when a fish takes it, you can see the bobber fall off the top of the spool and then the spool will spin on top of the wood if you don't get there right away and have it set up correctly. For some reason this particular line would freeze much less than even most types of tip up line sold today. It also had decent feel for how incredibly strong it was. I think he converted mostly to all tip ups and popups by mid to late 90's because it really wasn't an efficient or effective way to fish with the other options available. Anyways, I could go on all day about that, but seeing those pictures were incredibly nostalgic. I can remember how the line felt in hands when fighting fish. When I got older and started buying my own equipment I could never find that same line anywhere or really anything even close to it. In regards to your question, I have no idea if I the stuff my dad and I were using or stuff you have is Cortland, linen, etc. Good luck with your quest.
 

Kickin' Chicken

Kick Shot Aficionado
Gold Member
Silver Member
there are a lot of differing opinions so why not add another.

I was told by someone I would consider knowledgeable on the subject that the "good stuff" was the Cortland lines with silk at 9 lb test. I do recall reading this from a few others, as well.

For me, the desired standard would be whatever Pete Tascarella is using on his cues. His linen wraps are small diameter and smooooooth as a baby's behind. :smile:

Coincidentally, I just bought two 50 yd spools of #9 silk from the 1940's that will be in in the next couple of days. Will let you know what I think when it arrives.

best,
brian kc
 
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Moet.1977

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Lol

The stuff sold by Pechauer is not Cortland.

Very funny little picture haven't responded because I don't log on every day I play pool on my
time off work.
Also I didn't buy this from Mr. Pechauer, care to guess again.
 

classiccues

Don't hashtag your broke friends
Silver Member
You have what appears to be a linen based fishing line. As far as the thickness, manufacturers varied. The explanation of 9-27 (9X3) is correct. When we worked with Klein to try and get it replicated, we came close. The maker would not do the two plain strands and the single strand with the green, which is important to the look of the product.
White with green spot dacron is a polymer based thread that is clearly different than the linen product.
Attached is a monster spool of the right stuff as it was sold to fishing stores. Courtesy of Rubino.

JV
 

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Sealegs50

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
You have what appears to be a linen based fishing line.
JV

Joe,

Thanks for responding. As much information as has been provided over the past 8 or more years on AZB, a great deal of it from you, I could not define exactly what I am holding. I think I am closer to understanding a bit more about linens. Unfortunately, there are still some potentially conflicting pieces of information floating around from seemingly knowledgeable folks that leave a grain of doubt over positive identification. `

After spending too much time on this, I believe my line is 12-thread, 3x4 line produced by a cable-laid technique. I have found other examples of similar looking fishing line described as Cuttyhunk that are white/green speck comprised of triplets of 4 thread minor chords. Those lines were sold under more than one brand name. I have not seen evidence that Cortland produced a white/green speck fishing line with 12 threads.

Greg
 

Sealegs50

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Many thanks to the folks who contributed to this thread. Your time and effort are appreciated.
 

greyghost

Coast to Coast
Silver Member
You have what appears to be a linen based fishing line. As far as the thickness, manufacturers varied. The explanation of 9-27 (9X3) is correct. When we worked with Klein to try and get it replicated, we came close. The maker would not do the two plain strands and the single strand with the green, which is important to the look of the product.

White with green spot dacron is a polymer based thread that is clearly different than the linen product.

Attached is a monster spool of the right stuff as it was sold to fishing stores. Courtesy of Rubino.



JV



Do you know the lea of the original thread?


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