Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Scientific Anglers Wavelength Titan

When you hear the word "Titan" do you think about fly lines? Or Saturn's largest moon Titan, Or the Titan Missile that was in use for more than 45 years that included early manned space flights known as project Gemini, Or the Greek Mythology were the Titans are giant deities of incredible strength who ruled the legendary Golden Age. The common denominator of the word Titan is clearly defined by size, strength and power. Can a fly line really be compared to such greatness!

Wavelength Titan

Wavelength replaces the Textured series. A short history...first came Sharkskin than Textured. Textured was a softened up version of Sharkskin. In 2014 Sharkskin was refined into Sharkwave. For 2016 Textured gets refined into Wavelength. Within the Wavelength Series you will find MPX, Titan, Trout, Nymph/indicator, Grand Slam and Tarpon. For the purpose of this article I am just going to focus on the Wavelength Titan and Sonar Titan sinking lines.

Wavelength Titan

Titan

Titan came out a few years back after all the hype of the Sharkskin/Textured lines had come and gone. I said it as soon as I fished with the Titan that this was probably the best ever of the textured lines that I have ever fished (and I've fished them all) but unfortunately no one will be willing to try it after so many mixed reviews regarding Sharkskin. I liked the Textured Titan and continued to use it despite the hazing I took for fishing with a textured line. After a couple years it gradually grew a steady following. In that period I found several other dedicated users with similar opinions about the line. S/A noticed and decided to lock in this taper and expand on it. Look today and you will find this specific "Titan" taper in the Wavelength, Mastery and Sonar Series of lines. I think that says something for it. It's here to stay. What makes this particular taper successful is while in general it is a bumped up shooting head type of line that provides easy turnover of large flies it also incorporates enough rear taper to make it far more friendly and versatile than other shooting head lines. More versatile in the way of easier mending, more flexible pickup / cast positions, better shoot-ability with its textured surface and just more friendly fish-ability.

Conquered with Titan

In general most shooting lines are very straight forward, you strip in to the head, make your cast, strip back in to head and repeat. This is great when all you're doing is bombing distance cast. But the problem with this is what happens when you get that surface strike and go to set the hook...Swing and a miss! You want to get that fly back on the target as quick as possible but your standard shooting head line has you scrambling to strip back to the head to make another cast. Your traditional shooting head line is in the thin running line section and cannot transfer the energy properly to get the fly back to where the strike occurred. You struck out! Titan gives you that little added benefit of getting your fly back and getting the hit with a little bit of added rear taper that allows for a more flexible pick up point. Titan also requires less energy to lift off the water due to it's reduced friction from the textured surface allowing you to utilize that energy into the backcast for increased rod load enabling an easier long forward re-cast back to the specific target. I have witnessed and done this time and time again and the benefit is clearly evident especially when you are target specific fishing.

The best uses I have found for this line is predator fishing such as bass, pike and musky. It can be a good carp line if your bugs are on the big or weighted side such as in the picture above. That is a great lakes carp caught with a weighted craw pattern. Titan was perfect for that catch. It can also be a great trout streamer line both from a boat or wading, easily handles nymph/indi fishing from a boat too. I'm sure you could find other uses as well. Tell us what you use it for in our comments.

In my words Titan is a modern powerful big fly, easy turnover taper that excels at shooting distance and yet retains some handling properties of a bumped up general purpose fly line.

Specific Textured Characteristics - The Good, Bad and Myth!
Titan is a textured line and while texturing has some great characteristics it has also has some bad rap mostly originating from the original Sharkskin Series of lines. Let me address the good, bad and mostly myth about these lines.

Tamed with Titan!

They will cut your hands! While the original sharkskin was very roughly textured the Wavelength lines are no were near as sharply textured as sharkskin was. Is the textured surface noticeable, sure! My take on this is you are going to be handling and stripping line all day than you really need to wear some stripping gloves no matter what line you fish with whether it smooth or textured. If you can't stand gloves than get some Stripping Guards by Buff. The payoff of gloves or stripping guards with any fly line is better strips and no line burns.

Noisy in the guides! Again nothing compared to the original sharkskin lines. Do they make a little noise, yes! Is it a problem, No! It's actually a benefit that I will explain next.

Less friction! Textured lines strip easier, haul easier and lift off the water easier. I would question anybody who wants to make an argument about this! I very much appreciate less friction after long days of repeated target casting and stripping line.

Higher floating! Not only is this a great feature in itself but also contributes to easier lift from the water.

Shoots farther! I want to mention that not only it this noticeable with a new line right out of a package but textured lines continue to shoot great day after day and year after year. My original Textured Titan line is 5 plus years old with countless hours of use and still shoots and performs great!

Heat resistant! I don't know if this has anything to do with the textured surface but I noticed this past summer in mid day high temps when a couple of my OTHER lines where reaching melting point and NOT behaving well while wilting in the mid day heat but my Titan continued on shooting with no trouble at all. Likewise I have fished it right down to freezing temps and still handles good.

The sinking Sonar Titan's have arrived!

New for 2016 for Scientific Anglers is Sonar Series. Sonar Series indicates any premium S/A lines that sink!
Three Titan options here that I want to spend some time on. First understand that all Sonar Titan lines have a textured surface. This alone clearly separates them from the other Sonar Series lines which have a smooth surface. Personally I think the next 3 lines I describe have a significant place in the future of sinking lines due to the popular taper design and the benefit of the textured surface.

Sonar Titan Clear Tip
Think powerful clear streamer tip!

Sonar Titan Clear Tip is a weight bumped, powerful taper for easy turnover of big flies, three color for easy length determination, textured for easy pick up and long distance shooting-ability and formulated to suit most temperate environments.

Sonar Titan Intermediate

Many Streamer Anglers are discovering the benefit of going all in with full intermediate lines. Getting the running line under the surface improves your connection to the fly and allows for truer swimming action of streamers.

Sonar Titan Int/Sink 3/Sink 5
Triple Density Sinking fly line! I am already hearing major buzz following this line. It's starts with an intermediate running line section that seamlessly transforms into a type 3 sinking mid section that flows into a type 5 sinking Titan tapered head section of line. Triple Density, full sinking, powerful Titan taper, braided core, made for temperate environments and textured for reduced friction allowing for easier pickups and longer cast. Streamer anglers even if you're not a textured line fan you might ought pay attention to this one. We could easily be looking at a game changer!