Lately I have been digging me some Airflo Ridge Supple Tactical and its successor the Super Dri Elite line on my med-fast Sage rods
Lately I have been digging me some Airflo Ridge Supple Tactical and its successor the Super Dri Elite line on my med-fast Sage rods
US Veteran and concerned citizen
I pretty much buy quality fly lines that are on sale. Fly lines are an expensive, consumable item that can be ruined fairly easily. Some fly lines last a long time and some don't. I would rather spend $45 on a fly line that lasts a year or two than spend $80 on a fly line that lasts a year or two.
Most RIO, SA, and Airflo lines that I have used have worked well for me. It is pretty easy to find a type of line that I want to use on sale.
My preference has been end of season sales where I've saved a few serious bucks. And then I take care of them, getting a lot of use and years out of the discounted investment. I must confess that color has played an important part. Before my cataract eye surgery, white was very important in order for me to see it! I'm an old timey wet fly fisherman and I like olive drab green line for that undertaking. But when it comes to dries, my all time favorite has been Courtland 444 Peach!
Had 4 10' 4wt rods here a while back with 4 different 4 wt lines to see which I liked... or rather to see which I could tolerate.
A TFO BVK completely stole the rod show with all four lines, beating a Sage, Thomas & Thomas, and an Echo. The T&T was simply the worst rod I have ever owned or tried to fish or cast. And I tried many different lines and weights.
The lines were an AirFlo Ridge, a GPX Mastery Trout, a GPX Mastery Distance, and a Rio Gold.
The Distance line was put a lot of distance between itself and the rest of the pack and was by far the worst line on all rods. The AirFlo was easier for everyone to cast well with (a half-dozen very experienced casters) and by a clear margin. The other two sat together in the middle but some preferred one over the other a bit.
Since picking up several of the Ridges I think they are my favorite line for just about everything. I do not know of a brand or model of line I have not fished and do see big differences between lines in different applications on different rods... But I have switched to looking through AirFlo first when looking for a new flyline.
LOVE the SA Sharkwave GPX on my 6wt. The Mastery Textured on my 4wt is good but I'm considering changing that one over too. That Sharkwave is just awesome.
Has anyone used the Barrio Intermediate sink fly lines, made in Scotland? I'm told these are very good for nymph and wet fly fishing. And the price is reasonable, f27.00 or about $42.00. I'd like to know if anyone has used them? Thanks. Ron