One of my pet peeves with a fly line is you can’t test one out without spending a lot of money. During my exploration with fly lines fishing the saltwater on the East Coast of Vancouver Island, I discovered performances were very disappointing, and others often forced me to wear a finger guard as it eventually cut my finger.
Eventually, I found a line that had a low friction surface, and I didn’t have to wear a finger guard. It would last more than two years from the coarse fishing off our beaches, and it would cast with ease. It was a clear, slow, semi sinking line.

I stayed away from saltwater floating lines, as they were always a disappointment. They say floating, but I
found them ever slowly sinking. Not sure why in those days. Last year I read a small article on using a floating freshwater fly line on the salt waters. I was so impressed by this article. I started to research again.
What it said was – use a freshwater floating fly line, and you would get a better result on the salt chuck. The manufacture’s saltwater float lines are thin as the saltwater creates a buoyant condition. In freshwater, the lines are thicker as it has to have a stronger ability to float without salt holding it to the surface.

That made sense, but whom should I invest. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so I thought I would stay with the manufacture that hasn’t disappointed me in the last 15 years. Alas, the line I settle on that would perform on the modern-day fast rod was only sold in the United States. The costs were prohibitive after paying the exchange, shipping, taxes and duty.

So back again researching. A lot of my friends were using the Rio brand fly lines and convinced me to try it. I settled on the Rio Grand trout freshwater fly line. It was designed for fast rods and is one weight heavier than rated. So A 8wt would be closer to a nine wt. Its shooting head was 30 feet with a very narrow running line?

From Rio:

The RIO Grand is a full line size, more significant than the industry standard, and features more weight distributed towards the front of the line to load faster action fly rods quickly. The fly line has a short head that is easy to cast and built with “MaxCast” Technology, RIO’s ultra-sophisticated line coating that actively repels water for higher floatation, longer casts and more excellent durability. The RIO Grand is the best choice of line for the modern, fast action fly rod.

Front-loaded, short head

A full line size larger, to quickly load the fast rod

Built with a supple, cold water core and coating

Welded loops on both ends

I took it out one evening on the beaches and pulled off a good portion of the line and started my cast, eventually leading to the double haul that gets me a lot of power. The line performance was so quick that I ran out of the casting line that I had drawn off the reel, and as the line ran short from the powerful cast, it pulled the rod down, recoiling the fly line backwards. I was shocked. So I pulled six additional draws of line off the reel and cast again. I was amazed how smooth and with ease the line shot out and took all the extra fly line. To make things better, during my first test for the fly line, I landed a nice Pink salmon for supper.

Its an Excellent floating fly line for long-distance casting with fast action fly rods.