Rio Indicator Line
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Has anyone had a chance to try the Rio Indicator Line? I am intrigued by this line for some reason. Sounds like a good idea to me. With most of the fishing I do here in Texas, I watch the end of my fly line as much as anything to detect a strike (talking about warm water here) and this line sounds like it might be just the ticket. Just hoping to get some feedback before splurging for one.
Never tried the Rio indicator line but do use Rio Gold on two of my reels and haven’t had any problems with the tip sinking.
Jeff
I use the Rio indicator line or my GL steelhead nymph rigs. It’s actually has a really nice taper and is probably the best nymph lines I’ve used. SA has a similar line (with an orange tip, too – both of which are a good concepts, but not really practical) and that line works very well as well.
Shane, I thought the indicator tip would be a great tool as well. However, I have never found that it works all that well. Most people I know that use either the SA or the Rio nymph line, usually cut the orange tip off because they think it spooks the fish – which is an entirely different argument. My point is, the bright tip is not really a strong feature of the line.
Shane –
I have used the Rio Nymph for the last four years as my primary trout line. It has an orange tip. To be honest with you, I find the colored tip useless and usually black it with a magic marker. The problem is, by the time a trout has taken a fly at least nine feet from the indicator tip, tugged on that fly, and transmitted the tug to the tip (thus making it twitch as intended), the trout is almost always gone when you set the hook.
Indicator nymphing works best when there’s a weight connected directly to an indicator float, over a short distance of tippet, so that when a fish takes, the motion of the take is transmitted to the indicator as quickly as possible. With these colored line tips, that just doesn’t work very well. Moreover, you could just as easily accomplish the same thing with any orange line. Thus, unfortunately, I believe the colored tips to be a marketing gimmick and of no practical use.
However, obviously, I like the Rio lines. The Nymph line is a knocked-down Clouser taper that does really well being roll-cast, and handles weighted two-nymph rigs with balloon indicators with aplomb. It’s my favorite trout line, period. I like Rio’s coating, which is hard and almost pebbly and lasts a reasonable amount of time. It never seems to get as gummy as any of the competitors’ coatings even when the line is very old.
As far as tip sinking goes, in my experience, all fly line tips eventually sink, and it matters not a whit to how they fish.
Zach
scott, I have used the line extensively for about 3 years and i never really pay attention to the line as much as i do with a strike indicator.
what you need to know however is that the taper is the most efficient double rig/splitshot/indicator tossers on the market.
If you do not like the orange, color it or cut it off. In years past (think Cortland 333 days) the trend was for fly-line to be bright yellow, white or orange and guys still caught fish so go figure.
Shane,
When we were talking about this type of line the other day the topic changed before I could mention that Rio also makes an indicator that will turn any line into the indicator tipped line.
I’ve been using the new Rio indicator nymph line on a Sage 599. Was using it a few weeks ago in terrible (windy) conditions with 3 tungsten bead heads and a wool indicator. The advantage in those conditions was that the orange tip meant you could pick up your indicator in amongst the froth.
The way fly lines are manufactured and then packaged means that the tip section has less bouyancy than the belly. If the tip of your fly line keeps sinking (and it bothers you) use a micrometer to determine where the tip becomes the front taper and cut it off. You don’t really need it…..
Morsie
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