Two Products I Like

It’s always nice—for a couple reasons—to find fly fishing products that work well.  They prove a pleasure to use personally, and when suggesting them to customers there is satisfaction in knowing you are recommending and providing quality products.  Here are two that I think are excellent.

First, the Rio Gold fly line.  This is perhaps the best combination of a slick, moderately hard finish, decent taper and supple core that I’ve seen in a long time.  A slick finish on a fly line obviously contributes to casting ease, at all distances.  As for the tapers Rio put on these lines, they’re fine.  (These days, there is too much emphasis placed by manufacturers on changing tapers as line weight changes.)  Suppleness is an often overlooked feature in a line, yet it is an essential quality—maybe the most important of all—for easy handling while fishing.  Too many lines today resemble coiled spring steel, owing to their persistent memory.  A line that is too stiff is the primary cause of the many annoying tangles we experience when using them.  The Rio Gold does not suffer this fault.

John Harder of Rio told me last week that they’re working on an even softer core for this line, which he expects to be out late this year.  We’ll be keeping an eye out for it, and will pass judgment after we’ve tried it.  Meantime, if you’re in the market for a new line, consider this one.  It is available only in a weight-forward design.

Scientific Anglers has gone through countless iterations of leaders and tippet material over the last few decades, but I think they’ve finally arrived at something better than average.  I’ve been using their Freshwater monofilament tippet material for about a year now, with excellent results.  (I do not fish fluorocarbon.  It is a non-biodegradable material and, in my opinion, shouldn’t be in the environment.)

This  S. A. monofilament is strong, supple, knots well and mikes out accurately, which pretty much sums up my requirements for tippet.  (Prior to switching to S. A. I used both Orvis and Rio monofilament.  Both remain fine choices, though occasionally the Orvis would snap for no apparent reason, and some spools of Rio miked out heavy.)

I have had no issues with the S. A. material that I could not attribute to my own angling missteps, and I recommend it unequivocally.

Try one or both of these products sometime and see if they work as well for you as they have for me.

After all, successful angling depends on quality tackle.  Every single item of it.