Superabundance of fly lines: A rant

[jgrossing]

Over the last few years I have grown increasingly frustrated about the number of different types of fly lines available. It seems to me that this is confusing and frustrating to many anglers...including me. Some might say that this is an example of how fly line producers are striving to serve the diverse needs of many different types of anglers. Others would say that this is an example of marketing gone wild. I fall into the latter camp.

How bad is the problem? Well just for fun I spent 5 minutes looking online for RIO floating fly lines that are available online from fly shops.. (No offense to RIO. I suspect that my findings would apply to many of the other fly line companies, as well.) Here are the RIO floating fly lines that I could buy:

1. Grand
2. Gold
3. Selective Trout II
4. Trout LT
5. Avid Trout
6. Mainstream Trout
7. Bass
8. Smallmouth bass
9. Windcutter
10. Steelhead/salmon
11. Pike
12. Tropical Clouser
13. Tarpon
14. Windcutter spey
15. Outbound
16. Carp
17. Reedfish
18. Skagit Light MOW
19. Switch

Really? Do we need almost 20 different floating fly lines from a single company? How will we know which one to buy?

One of my pet peeves is that the boxes don't provide enough information to make an intelligent choice. For example, is the Selective Trout II appropriate for general purpose trout fishing in the West? I couldn't tell, and RIO customer service didn't know either. I made a mistake and bought one, and found out ($65 later) that it is not. Maybe I'm just not very clever, but RIO could have provided enough information so that even a fool like me would get it right.

If RIO (or any other company) feels the need to produce this many different lines, then I think it should be incumbent on them to provide clear information about the suitable uses for their products. For example, is fly line X appropriate for use with fast action graphite rods? medium action rods? bamboo?

There. I feel better now.

[ScottP]

If you're not sure, you can ask the folks at your local flyshop, or forums like this. You'll usually get steered in the right direction.

Regards,
Scott

ps - I wonder myself how much different a lot of these lines are

[JohnScott]

... I started using Rio when I started fly fishing almost nine years ago and that is the only brand I use.

Personally, I think the Selective Trout II is an excellent fly line for general use in Idaho and Montana, and for me, I think it would work well in other parts of the West.

There are several things that have happened that bear on the situation you are describing, at least as it relates to Rio.

First, because of the growth of Spey and the addition of Simon Gawesworth to the Rio staff, some of Simon's ideas about Spey lines have crossed over into designing conventional fly lines. Or so it has seemed to me as I watched it happen over the past five or six years. That is just my impression, and maybe Rio would have something markedly different to say in that regard.

Second, when Sage decided to do the bass rod thing, their sibling Rio wanted to compete in that specialty, also.

Third, the growth of interest in fly angling for carp had a similar effect, adding new designs to Rio's line. I can tell you that one of my friends down in Idaho Falls helps coordinate the annual carp weekend down there and one of our mutual friends is the General Manager of Rio in Idaho Falls ( at least as of a couple years ago ). It's not hard for me to imagine Kinley talking to John about what he would like to see in a line designed for carp angling.

I think Scott's recommendation above is excellent advice - the part about bringing the question to the BB. Of course, I would have recommended the Selective Trout II or LT lines, so there you have it.

John

P.S. And then if you want to get into price point ( read Mainstream ) or rod action ( read Grande ) .....

[DG]

You could always ignore all the advertising and hype and stick with one line, which is what I try to do. Just because something exists doesn't mean you have to factor it into your life, after all. You might find yourself in possession of more of your own money, even.

[TyroneFly]

The number of fly lines available is directly related to fly fishing evolution towards specialization. Not a bad thing, but certaining confusing. The recommendation of using the bb is a good one. With the wealth of knowledge that resides here it just makes sense to tap into it. I know I have called on the gang here for help in choosing fly lines and I have yet to be dissappointed.

I do agree with your point about the manufacturers need for doing a better job of descibing the suitable of a particlur line.

[Marco]

Manufacturers do describe the line's possible application ( at least some do). I just wish they would microlabel each line for ease of identification.

Mark