

When fishing the 6wt line on a lake, one of my fishing buddies remarked that it felt like he was fishing with rope. While I like a lot of what RIO has going on with the new lines, I’m not a fan of how stiff they feel. Time will be the ultimate judge here, but to this point, I believe the new MaxFloat coating has made a big difference when compared to RIO lines of old. What I can say, though, is that the Slick Cast lines I’ve fished for the past few months float high and stay floating. Just about every line company has their own version of this, and to be honest, I’m not sure it makes a huge difference.

While I can’t say that I’ve noticed some monumental difference between my old lines and the new RIO ones as far as feel goes, I certainly did notice every time a trout tried to abscond with my flies.Īnd finally, these new lines feature an improved MaxFloat coating that’s designed to – you guessed it – help your dry fly lines stay floating higher and longer. Line cores that don’t stretch decrease line memory, and increase the feel an angler has when waiting for subtle trout takes. RIO has touted their lines cores for years as a major selling point.
#Rio gold in touch fly line series#
The Slick Cast coating is only available in the new Elite series of fly lines from RIO, but Slick Cast isn’t the only new feature that Elite lines have – they also sport a new ultra-low stretch Connect Core Plus. The Slick Cast coating makes RIO’s lines a bit more stiff, but I have noticed largely reduced line memory as a result of that stiffness. With both the RIO Gold and InTouch Trout lines that had the Slick Cast coating, I noticed a very similar performance to my favorite Cortland lines. And while it’s not a scientific indicator, anecdotal experience tells me that quiet fly lines generally shoot further and cast better. I’m partial to Cortland lines for a few reasons, but chief among them is their supple, quiet coating that doesn’t make a racket when casting. Seeing as fly casting is all about the transfer of energy, this is a pretty big leap forward if RIO’s findings are validated by in-field experience. RIO tested their new Slick Cast coating against other industry stalwarts (they didn’t name names, but I assume that Scientific Anglers and AirFlo were involved) and determined this proprietary coating reduces friction and enables the line to shoot more quickly and efficiently. The Slick Cast fly line supposedly has the lowest amount of friction ever recorded in a fly line. As far as RIO is concerned, they’re pretty straightforward here. It’s a great way to get folks interested in their stuff. Gear manufacturers love to roll out futuristic-sounding names for their products, and I can’t blame them.
