Fly Lines – Revised April 30/22

The Fly Line weight issue just got worse. Rio no longer lists the weight in Grains on their web site but does list it on the box. Now all you have to do is keep a copy of the standard published by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association [AFFTA] at hand to buy a fly line. A fly line marked 185 GR. is NOT a 6 weight line

Unfortunately, unlike most good stories, this one doesn’t start with a beer.I build bamboo fly rods and have for the past 40 years. I sell the rods that I make with a recommended fly line weight rating. As I personally use Cortland 444 Peach or SL lines, I was somewhat unaware what has happened to the fly line weights in the past years. A customer called and said, “This rod doesn’t cast worth shit! It was overloaded.” Well, I test-cast each rod prior to placing it for sale. The rod cast fine in my hands so I asked the customer what line he was using. “Scientific Anglers Amplitude Infinity model,” he responded. So off to Scientific Anglers web site and I found the model of line he was using. No damned wonder, the line marked 6 weight on the box was really 7 weight line according to the line description from the site.So that begged the question, how about other lines? A rainy day showed up, so I headed to the web sites of RIO, AirFlo, Scientific Anglers and Cortland looking over their fly line descriptions. I chose 6 weight lines to examine as 6 weight is a transition line between light and heavy trout fishing. Although they all presented the truthon their sites, the fly line box may not contain the line weight and could mislabeled by up to 3 line weights heavy. I checked only what I considered trout lines and most of them were floating types.

Scientific Anglers: 23 floating lines checked – 7 of them were rated correctly

                                   5 sinking lines checked – all of them  1>3 lines weight heavy

Rio                            18 floating lines checked – 2 of them rated correctly

                                  7 sinking lines checked –  all of them 1>3 line weights heavy

Cortland                   13 floating lines checked – 7 of them rated correctly

                                  7 sinking lines checked – 5 of them rated correctly -two of the lines

                                  were 2 lines weights heavy

AirFlo                       13 floating lines checked – 1 rated correctly

                                  1 sinking line checked and it was 1 line weight heavy.

So where does that leave the buyer? You are faced with two issues. Firstly the rods manufactured today are often rated 1>3 line weights less that what they

should be according to the internet chatter. However, you are saved as the line manufactures have bought into the rod makers game and mark most of their line lighter than is in the box.

Secondly the buyer will really be caught if he believes the internet chatter and buys a line one weight heavier for his new rod. Now he’ll have a 5 weight rod as marked by the manufacturer [ really a 6 or 7 weight] and looking for a line weight heavier, he buys a 6 weight as marked on the box and got a 7 or even 8 weight.

Why this happened, I haven’t a clue. There are industry standards for nearly everything in today’s world. Thankfully, the line and rod manufacturers don’t build nuts and bolts or any other of the myriad of tools, equipment or parts that make the world go around.

Further notes:

1] The standards for several Fly Fishing equipment are maintained by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association. See: https://affta.org/page/About 

2] Several of the line manufacturers have changed their offerings on their sites since I collected the line weight information in July 2021. However, the lines could still be and likely are for sale at retailers everywhere.

2] The data list for each of the manufacturer is provided on my web site  
http://www.bamboorods.ca/

2] For those doing their own research, here are the web sites from the four line manufacturers.

https://www.scientificanglers.com/product-category/fly-lines/

https://www.rioproducts.com/freshwater/fly-lines

https://www.cortlandline.com/collections/freshwater-fly-line

https://www.airflofishing.com/products/fly-fishing-lines/freshwater-fly-lines.html

Sci Anglers 6 weight
FLOATING FLY LINES
Amplitude Bass Bug	210 gr.
Amplitude Infinity	175
Amplitude MPX	175
Amplitude Double Taper	160
Amplitude Trout	160
Amplitude Anadro/Nymph	200
Amplitude Smooth Infinity	175
Amplitude Smooth Infinity Glow	175
Amplitude Smooth Creek Trout	185
Amplitude Smooth Trout	160
Amplitude Smooth Anadro/Nymph	200
Amplitude Smooth Anadro Stillwater Indicator	200
Amplitude Smooth Titan Long	210
Mastery Infinity	175
Mastery MPX	175
Mastery Standard	160
Mastery Trout	160
Mastery Titan	210
Mastery Bass Bug	210
Mastery Great Lake Switch	400
Mastery Anadro/Nymph	200
Mastery Double Taper	160
Mastery Expert Distance	160
SINKING FLY LINES
Sonar Titan Hover/Sink 2/Sink 4	210
Sonar Titan Int/Sink 2/Sink 3	210
Sonar Titan Full Intermediate	210
Sonar Titan Sink Tip	210
Sonar Stillwater Hover	185

Cortland  6 weight
FLOATING FLY LINES
Compact Float	200
Indicator Nymph	160
Big Fly	185
Finesse Trout II	170
Trout Boss	185
333 Trout/All Purpose	160
444 Sylk	160
444SL	160
Spring Creek	160
444  Peach	160
Tropical All Purpose	160
Modern Trout	170
Big Shot	200
SINKING FLY LINES
Compact Sink Type 3	200
Compact Intermediate	200
333 Full Sinking Type 3	160
Sink Tip Type 6	160
Sink Tip Type 3	160
Full Sinking Type 6	160
Intermediate	160

Air Flo 6 weight
FLOATING FLY LINES
SuperFlo Tactical Taper	160
Superflo Universal Taper	173
Superflo Power Taper	180
Superflo Elite WF	165
Superflo Elite DT not available in 6 wt.	N/A
Forge Floating	165
Velocity WF	Weight not published
Velocity DT	Weight not published
Super Dri Elite – WF	172
Super Dri Lake Pro	Weight not published
Superflo Xceed	180
Streamer Float	195
Nymph/Indicator	190
SINKING FLY LINES
Streamer Max Long	170

Rio 6 weight
FLOATING FLY LINES
Elite Rio Gold	168
Elite Rio Gold	185
Elite Rio Perception	173
Elite Technical Trout	162
Elite Predator Fly Line	198
Rio Gold	168
Rio Grand	185
Rio Perception	173
Technical Trout WF	162
Technical Trout	160
Streamer Tip Fly Line	210
In Touch 24’ Sink Tip	200
In Touch Xtreme Indicator	215
In Touch Salmon/Steelhead	160
Mainstream Trout DT	178
Mainstream Intermediate	178
Mainstream Trout WF	185
Avid Trout WF	185
SINKING FLY LINES
Camolux	Not Revealed
Mainstream Sink Tip	178
Mainstream Full Sink	160 & 178
In Touch Midge Tip Long	185
In Touch Hover	210
In Touch Camolux	210
Avid 24’ Sinking Tip	210
AquaLux Midge Tip	168