- Has anybody handled or cast this line?
At $99.95 :shock: I’ll let you go first
looks like the sa version of airflows ridgeline. i love my ridgeline, and its cheaper 
Castwell took it to the fish in. All who tried it said it worked very well excellent in fact. LowtechJoe said He got an extra 30 feet with his cast . It is pricey about a hundred bucks.
There will probably be a few comments on it after the FI.
He cast 30’ farther and it’s because of the line??? I find that difficult to believe.
I?ve had the opportunity to give it a spin; here are my thoughts: The version I tried was a prototype and the taper was based on the GPX line, same taper, same weight, and almost the same color. I found it fairly noisy when the line is stripped through the guides. It wasn?t as noticeable when shooting though. Because it had been lawn cast quite a bit before I got to it, so perhaps it may have been a tad dirty. I was able to get an extra 10 ? 15 feet out of it, perhaps I was ?on? that day, I don?t know. My first thought was; with all the little bumps that it has, I would think that it would pick up more dirt then regular lines and fill in the low spots pretty fast. I wondered about cleaning a line like that, but didn?t ask. Then I found out how much it costs, and decided that whatever ?distance? benefits there might be, it just isn?t worth the $99. As I understand it, there will be several versions of it, GPX, Trout, etc.
I have been told by the guy that was testing it for 3M that it does in fact float better then any line he?s had, at least that?s what he said. I was not able to try it on water.
This all occurred 3 weeks ago, so what ever version I tried is very, very new.
There you go
That’s what he said.
It is a heavier line than he has been using plus he was able to shoot it better.
Some people do better with certain lines than they do with others which might help account for a 30 ft increase in distance.
Yes, three weeks ago up in Michigan. The shop had a prototype Orvis Helious (sp) 5wt rod lined with the sharkskin. I was given the rod for the moring fish.
It does shoot line, very well. I couldn’t get past the noise though…it really rakes across the guides. It made me wonder about long term effects…?
In short, i really liked the rod ($750 price point) and probably wouldn’t buy the line even if it was priced at $60.
$850 for rod and line… :shock:
JC brought a 6 wt with him to the Idaho Fish In and a lot of us had a chance to try it out. The offical name for the line is the Ultra Trout. It’s a light green in color, and definately produces a noise as it shoots through the guides; a bit like a silk line in sound.
As for gaining distance with the line, it shoots much easier than a standard line and that accounts for the extra distance. At $99.00, it will be a long time before I add one to my arsenal. If I were into distance casting competion, it’s the line I would want. JC says it floats much higher on the water and is easier to pickup, although I did not get a chance to try it on the river so can’t comment on that.
I also had a chance to try the new line at the Idaho Fish-In, as did VEE. Is it noisy going through the guides? Yup, a tad bit more than silk. Can it add distance to your cast? If you shoot line it can add a pretty fair amount of distance. On my cast it added about 25 to 30 feet. To VEE’s cast, about 15 to 20.
At $99 it’s a bit pricey, but VEE wants one for her 5 weight, so that’s at least one, probably 2 lines that will find their way to our house.
One thing that did happen. The line has a factory loop at the end to attach leaders with a loop to loop connection. The line we were test casting had a break in the coating just above the loop after several days of casting on lawns and gravel roads. Don’t know if this is a big drawback, bit I’ll be cutting the loops off our lines when they arrive.
REE
I’m back on-line and I don’t know how. Our computer crashed and we had to buy a new one. I think we are here on a trial version of Yahoo and AOL, but we are MSN customers. Go figure.
GnuBee, I don’t know where my head was when I told you I got an extra 30’ on my cast with the new SA line. I was actually getting about 15- 20 feet. I don’t mind the noise the line makes and I surely do like the improved distance. However, my concern was piqued when I talked with an un-named member of our Fish-In who mentioned that he thought it was a line that was just plain looking for a place to find and pick up dirt. Upon inspection of the line, it seems to be shunk wrapped around a woven inner core. As such, only a small portion of the line touches the guides as it passes through them. The valleys in the line don’t seem to be nearly as deep as the valleys in the afore mentioned ridged line, so I’m leaning toward the notion that less dirt is picked up on the woven SA than the other brand’s ridged line. I guess the long and short of my point is that; If I had $99 to spend on a GOOD flyline, I’d go for the SA. And, clean it fter every day’s fishing. I really do like the increased distance of my casts.
Lowtech good to have ya back on line. Please put the recipe for dutch oven pizza Lasagna on here. There is a post in sound off about Features whats Cooking.
I bought a 12" lodge cast iron oven ( 3 legged model ) and would like to make that dish. Wow was it ever good! Whatever will you do for an encore???
So is this new line just another ridge line…or is it something significantly better to command the $$$$…?
Ducks,
Not another ridgeline, definately something different.
REE
I test cast the new S.A. Ultimate Trout Taper line with the Sharkskin technology surface last Friday.
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/e … /WhatsNew/
The rep. stated the production taper and weight will be very close to the original Master Distance WF design. Slightly compound taper with more weight favoring the front of the line and slightly lesser diameter to the rear half. The original Mastery Distance was my favorite taper design (prior to the release of GPX, XPS, XYZ variations).
The line will begin shipping Oct. 1, 2007 and should be available the second week of Oct. at your dealers.
I preordered two lines WF5F in Chartreuse and WF3F in Heron Grey.
The rep. stated the S.A. testing for durability was showing 10x life however, the UV resistance was identical to existing lines. I belive the official statement from S.A. is 3x the overall life extension wrt the Mastery series. Incidentally the latest pricing from S.A. and Rio for their premium lines is in the $62-$65 range, if the new Ultimate line has 3x life,it is well worth the $99 price.
My main interest was not in additional distance, the line is so slippery it will make reach casts, mending and any special wave slack line presentations much more efficient. The line also has an improved flotation wich I did not have the chance to test.
Rio is rumored to have a comparable line ready for release very soon,the competition in line designs is great for the consumer.
Regards,
FK
Well Gnu Bee, that recipe has been posted on the sound off board. I’ll be sending a copy to Lady Fisher if she wants to use it on the What’s Cooking page.
Later Buddy,
Thanks FK, I received a line a month ago and wrote about it some before the trip to Idaho. In actual casting on a pond I found the line went through the guides with less friction resulting in either longer casts or less effort for casts of regular lengths. The surface resembles embossing and does not contact the guides as much as a normal smooth line. It picks up from the surface quite dry with the many obvious benefits of that. I also mentioned that it did not ‘recoil’ when cast straight out, a very important feature when fishing frog-water. I reported that it casts farther, smoother. stays clean longer, floats higher than any line I have ever cast. Some folks must find things wrong with everything to show their superiority, hence, the ‘complaints’ of noise. Someone once said the line is more important than the rod; still true.
That would make it around $33 when compared to the lives of other lines and a real bargin, not to mention all the other benefits SA Sharkskin has to offer. I think I am going to put this one on my Christmas wish list. 
Sorry, my bad. When i read the original post i assumed he wanted an opinion, which to me includes both pros and cons.
I was able to get a 6wt Shark Skin prototype that came from the Denver Dealer Show just before I departed for the Lowell Fish-In.
I fished it for 5 days at Lowell on 6wt Sage XP.
It is the best shooting fresh water line I have ever used adding 25 ft or so to my distance cast. It is noisy going through the guides.
On the 3rd day of fishing the tip was sinking so I cleaned it and my fishbuds line that was also into its 3rd day of fishing with Glide. Multiple times more dirt came off the Shark Skin than my fishbuds line. I guess the bumpy feeling of the line surface picks up more dirt than other lines.
I have ordered a 5wt Shark Skin and looking forward to trying it on a medium action Winston LT.