Anyone tried the newest version of the Rio Grand?

[John_N]

Much to respond to:

I don't think that's what he meant by "I don't get it". Most of get why half weight lines exist, but why make a line full weight heavier, and label it as the lower rating? If I wanted a line at the higher weight, I'd just go out and buy one at that weight.

My feelings exactly on that point

This is for people who go out and buy the "experts only super mega-fast high performance over-hyped fly rod of awesomeness" and find out they can't cast it because either A.) They aren't very good casters, B.) They are fine casters but have a relaxed stroke, C.) They are using some rod designed for casting the whole line in saltwater on some creek full of 8" brookies and can't get the rod to load at 15 feet instead of 75.

I see all three cases ALL THE TIME and it drives me nuts. Rather than buying one of these lines, I wish people would just get a plain-old medium or medium-fast rod they can actually cast at normal fishing ranges and get a normal-weight line for it.

LfC, while I agree with you on much of that, I think you might be painting with too broad a brush. I've never been a fan of the uberfast rods, especially years back when the manufacturers were racing to top each other with the newest, fastest "cannons". I'm anything but an expert caster, but most of them from that period were absolutely lifeless to me and DID require lining up to perform for many of us, especially at closer ranges. I own and love several medium and medium-fast rods (including fiberglass) that I like best with "normal" weight lines. At the same time, I have several rods that a lot of folks rave about with "normal" weight lines that I happen to like better with the extra half weight of the old Rio Grand or SA GPX. Some of those are rated medium fast by their manufacturers (though how they arrive at these arbitrary labels could be a topic unto itself), while others are rated fast, but are clearly not the lifeless, broomstick fast of some I can think of from the past. I don't think that's a crutch, but maybe I'm wrong on that. I just always liked the little bit of extra loading from that additional half weight on certain rods, notably at close ranges. In some cases, I've spent time casting the same rod with a true-to-weight line, one of the half weight heavier lines and a third line a full line weight up and have just found that the half weight line has hit a sweet spot (for me) that the other two haven't. I know this is one of those "to each his own" things, but I just don't see why Rio would take that intermediate option off the table.

Sagefisher - Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the text you underlined is almost exactly the way Rio marketed the Grand all these years prior in it's half weight heavier iteration. That's part of what makes this strange to me. It's touted as serving the exact same purpose as always, they've just added yet another half weight to make it a full line weight heavier than it's rating. I don't think "the modern, fast action rod" has gotten any faster in the last couple years. If anything, I think the manufacturers have come up with tapers and materials to make many fast rods load better than they ever have at short ranges, which would seem to lessen the need for additional line weight rather than call for even more of it. Oh well, what do I know?