Rio Fly Lines - Choosing The Best Line For Your New Fly Rod
Choosing The Right Line
Choosing a new fly line can be very overwhelming with all of the different options out on the market. Fly lines are a very crucial part of fly fishing and can make a world of difference in your casting and fishing. Correctly paired fly lines can make an inexpensive rod out perform a top of the market rod with the wrong line any day.
We will go over a few of our more popular lines from Rio's new line of lines and the factors to correctly pair these lines with your rod to maximize your fishing experience. Many factors go into these decisions such as action of rod and type of fishing you are gonna be doing with that setup.
Rio’s four lines I am going to talk about are the Rio Gold, Rio Grand, Rio Perception and Rio Technical Trout. There are two versions of these Lines, the Premiere series and the Elite Series. Both Lines are great lines with the only difference being the Elite series having low stretch ConnectCore Plus, the ConnectCore Plus provides a radical increase in line durability, coating smoothness and overall performance.
RIO GOLD
Rio gold is the best all around line they have to offer, this line is great for the fisherman looking to have the most versatility when fishing between dry flies, nymph fishing and streamer fishing. I have fished this line many a times from very small caddis to big articulated sex dungeons and been able to delicatly present the little flies and turn over the big flies. This line has longer head length at 47 inches which helps with casting control and accuracy so you can make those long distance casts and short distance casts with improved accuracy. The front and back taper of this line helps casting all types and sizes of flies. Rio gold casts well on all types of rod actions. I have used it on fast action rods such as the sage x to medium action rods like the sage LL and it performed great on both styles of rod. Highly recommended fly line for the angler wanting to maximize the most use out of one fly line.
RIO GRAND
Rio Grand is designed a full line size heavier and the taper is designed to easily load faster action rods. It has a shorter head at 38 inches with more weight loaded to the front of the line. This is also a great line for beginning casters because of the ability to feel the rod loading up. You really can feel the rod transfer energy in the head and be able to know when it is loaded. Another application for this line is for the fisherman looking to throw bigger flies such as streamers and hopper, salmonfly patterns. I have used the Grand mainly for fishing bigger rigs such as streamers and heavy nymph setups and liked how it was able to turn over the larger flies with ease. Great fly line for faster action rod models however if you have a more presentation style medium to slow rod this line would not be what you wanted since it is a full line size heavier.
RIO PERCEPTION
Rio Perception is the line designed for smaller rivers and lakes when you do not need as much long distance line control. It has a shorter head at 36 inches that makes it great for quick loading and versatility in fishing different patterns of flies. Another great all around fly line with the major drawback being that it doesn't perform as well for distance casting. These lines are great for quick shots from a boat and if you're needing to cast the line much farther than 40 feet from the boat on the Madison yell at your rower. I would highly recommend these lines for people who mainly fish from the boat. That ability to load quickly gives you ample ability to quickly get the line up and deliver an accurate cast to a rising fish or to a bucket that suddenly showed up. These lines are a little heavier grain weight with an example being the true grain weight for say a 5 weight is 140 the Rio Perception WF5 is a 150 grain weight. So this line performs better on medium fast and faster action rods but can be used on most action types of rod.
RIO TECHNICAL TROUT
Rio Technical Trout is the line that is best suited for anglers looking for a dry fly line. Personally this is my favorite line from Rio and definitely in my opinion the best dry fly line out right now. This line is the best choice for delicate presentation and line control for when the situation requires a stealthy long distance presentation. Of these four Rio lines this offers the longest head length at 52 inches. This helps this line be able to delicately turn over flies and present them at distance with improved accuracy. This is my most fished line in the summer for dry fly fishing caddis and mayflies and it is amazing how well it delicately lands the fly on a dime from short distance casts to long distance casts. This line can be used for fishing nymphs and emerger patterns as well but if you're looking for a dry fly specific line for targeting rising fish this is the choice. This line is a true size line and would work great with all actions of rods. I fish it on a T&T Avant which is a very fast action rod and it performs remarkably well on it just like it would on a slower action presentation style rod.
One thing is for sure that whatever RIO line you choose you're going to be happy with the tried and true results of one of the best fly lines on the market.
Tyler is a jack of all trades at the MRFC shop. You can find him holding down the front desk, selling top quality gear to customers, or helping with all the MRFC.com shipments. He's also working on jumping on the guide roster for MRFC this summer! Check back often for blog posts and more info by Tyler.
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