RIO Versileaders for Trout, Steelhead, and Salmon - New for 2022

Versileaders come in configurations to match single hand, trout spey, steelhead spey, salmon spey and work well for single hand, scandi and light skagit applications. Four different densities including clear floating, clear intermediate, medium sink, and fast sink, in each of three size categories including 7' Trout, 10' Medium, and 10' Heavy. 

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Airflo Polyleader Sets

Many uses for Airflo Polyleaders. They are a great compliment for two hand spey as well as single hand spey. Skagit or Scandi. Steelhead and trout. We sell complete kits for steelhead and trout in 10' sets and they include a leader wallet to store them. 

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Airfo Trout Polyleader Complete Kits

Are you looking for a complete versatile system for trout single hand, single handed spey, or trout spey? This might be the only kit you ever need. Everything from floating to extra fast sinking all in a zippered wallet. Always have the tip you need to get your fly in the zone. 

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Airflo Sink Tips - Get Down with the Flo

Go with the Flo!

Airflo builds simple to understand high quality sink tips. Let me make a statement right now and get it out of the way. Airflo builds all their CCT Sink Tips and FLO Tips on LOW STRETCH 30lb Airflo Braided Power Core Technology. They have always used a Low Stretch core for all their sink tips.

Airflo Custom Cut - CCT

Airflo - CCT

Airflo's Custom Cut Tips are level, 20' sections of sinking line designed to be cut in the middle to make two tips. Each tip has a factory welded loop at each end, so you can cut the tip into two lengths, (Example: 9' & 11'). Available in T10 and T17 densities, these tips sink like bricks and are the perfect companion to Skagit lines. Besides being a high quality sink tip the advantage of CCT is you get 2 tips for pretty close to the price of one. The trade off is you must be able to tie your tippet to the cut end. See video below.

Features - 

• Looped on both ends
• Built on Airflo 30lb LOW STRETCH Power Core

Specs -

Item	Length	Tungsten - Grains / Foot	Sink Rate (ips)	Loop Color
CCT200	20'	T10	8"	Black
CCT330	20'	T17	10"	Black

Airflo Custom Cut Singles - CCT Singles come in 10' and 18' lengths and are designed to be cut to length. I like to use 10 footers right out of the package. Just nail knot a butt section onto the end and you're ready to go.

Features - 

• Color coded loop on head end
• Available in 4 sinking densities
• Built with Airflo 30lb LOW STRECH Power Core Technology

Specs - 

Item	Length	Tungsten - Grains/Foot	Sink Rate (ips)	Loop Color
CCT-T7	10'	T7	7"	White
CCT-T7	18'	T7	7"	White
CCT-T10	10'	T10	8"	Orange
CCT-T10	18'	T10	8"	Orange
CCT-T14	10'	T14	9"	Brown
CCT-T14	18'	T14	9"	Brown
CCT-T18	10'	T18	10"	Black
CCT-T18	18'	T18	10"	Black

Nail Knot! What's that?

Tie Fast Combo Tool

Welded loops have without a doubt made our fly fishing lives easier. But what if your line or tip doesn't have a loop or you break a loop on the stream. Knowing how to tie a nail knot can save your day. A nail knot can also let you build your own custom tips for various fishing needs. You need two items to complete the task. A Nail Knot Tool and some leader material like 20lb Maxima.

Video - How to tie a Nail Knot and Perfection Loop

FLO Tip Kit

Airflo FLO Tips -

Airflo FLO Tips are designed for a smooth transition with 2.5' of intermediate material and 7.5' of T-sink These Intermediate to sink tip tips help smooths out your cast and keeps you in the zone longer. Looped at both ends for easy transitions. Available separately or as a Kit. Kit comes with all four size tips in an Airflo zippered wallet

Features - 

• Color coded loop on head end for easy identification
• Looped on both ends for easy rigging
• Built on Airflo 30lb LOW STRETCH Braided Power Core
• Available individually or as a complete kit with tip wallet

Red From Airflo explains the FLO Tips

Specs - 

Item	Length	Tungsten-Grains/Foot	Sink Rate (ips)	Loop Color
FLO-T7	10"	T-7	7"	White
FLO-T10	10"	T-10	8"	Orange
FLO-T14	10'	T-14	9.5"	Brown
FLO-T-18	10'	T-18	11.5"	Black

Airflo FLO Tip Kits - All four FLO Tips and they come with a Airflo zippered wallet

Airflo Leader Wallet
These mesh wallets let you switch out tips and not worry about storing them away wet. Easy way to keep all your tips in one place and organized. I like the green contrast color on these wallets because it makes them quick to recognize in your pack. I have extras for various other leaders such as Airflo Polyleader selections.

In closing I want to mention that I also appreciate Airflo sink tip options being few and simple. I usually find 2-3 tips that will cover all my needs in the specific waters I fish. Remember this, how far you get your line to sink is not just determined by the weight of your sink tip but also how you mend and control your swing. 

Another great read is Sink Tips, Polyleaders, Versileaders - A Buyer's Guide

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

Airflo Super-DRI Switch Float - Now in Stock!

Power Up your Switch Rod

In the two plus years I have been plying trout waters with switch / micro spey rods one thing came quite clear, we needed a specialized two hand trout line! After expressing my need to several industry professionals I finally not only found someone to listen but also learned that others had reached the same conclusion. Thanks to line wizards Tim Rajeff and Tom Larimer we now have a set of trout spey lines that will benefit us all for years to come. Dry line or sinking tip these fully integrated lines have established the new standard on trout rivers across the nation while enabling modern trout anglers to easily gain the benefits of two hand angling.

Airflo Super-DRI Switch Lines - In Stock Now!

Finally...a taper formulated for switch and small spey rods with the same feeling and performance you'd expect from Airflo's family of spey products.

New: Airflo Switch Lines with Tom Larimer from Rajeff Sports on Vimeo.

After years of splicing, welding, and testing "Franken-Lines", Tom Larimer and the Airflo Design Team have produced the best weight-forward, integrated switch line available today. The Super-DRI Switch is an ideal match for light switch and small spey rods, designed for anglers tossing surface patterns or swinging soft hackles and small streamers.

Based loosely on the popular Rage Shooting Head, the Super-DRI Switch has a compact weight-forward head designed specifically to compliment today's lighter two-handers, making loading the rod incredibly easy.

The innovative front taper is capable of turning over a variety of leader and fly combinations, and is also able to accommodate light sink tips. Perhaps the most important feature is the seamless joint between head and running line, making it easy to strip flies all the way to your feet. For easy rigging, each line is packaged with an Airflo 10' Floating PolyLeader.

Available in line weights 3-6, and grain weights ranging from 210-390.

Compliment your Airflo Switch Float with the ALL NEW Airflo Streamer Switch line designed especially for Sink Tip use. 

Switch Streamer - Designed for real sink tips!

An evolutionary step from our popular Skagit Switch design, the Super-DRI Streamer Switch features an aggressive front taper with a shorter, heavier head designed to make tip tossing a dream. Specifically designed to easily load modern switch and short spey rods, the Streamer Switch will help anglers of any level of skill or experience cast more efficiently and effectively.

New: Airflo Switch Streamer with Tom Larimer from Rajeff Sports on Vimeo.

 

The Airflo Switch Streamer is a complete head and line integrated together and includes a 10' Fast sinking replaceable Polyleader. Just add tippet and fly and your switch rod is ready. 

Specs - Short heavy head for turning over sink tips

Line Size	Color	Head Weight	Head Length	Sink Rate	Total Length
WF4	Pale Mint/Orange	300	18ft	Float	85ft
WF4.5	Pale Mint/Orange	330	18.5ft	Float	85ft
WF5	Pale Mint/Orange	360	18.5ft	Float	85ft
WF5.5	Pale Mint/Orange	390	20ft	Float	85ft
WF6	Pale Mint/Orange	420	20ft	Float	85ft

Get more information about Trout Spey Lines - No Perfect Answer!

Get more Trout Spey Buzz from Trout Spey Chronicles

Trout Spey Lines - No Perfect Answer!

I have put off writing this article for months now. It's not that I don't want to write it but I know as soon as I do some new switch line will hit the market and already this article will be old news. I know many of you are reaching out looking for this info so therefore I will wait no longer to publish what I know and we'll tackle the new when it gets here! For the purpose of this article I am focusing on trout size spey/switch rods.

For the latest info on trout spey lines be sure to read "Trout Spey" - New Line Options" posted on 8/16/2016

Trout Spey/Switch Rods

What are they exactly? Baby spey rods...Small switch rods... Smaller versions of steelhead rods...I'd like to point out that a switch rod cannot switch into anything! The rod itself cannot change! It is not a transformer! The action and power of any particular rod is fixed. To change what you do with a switch rod REQUIRES you to change the line to match the style of fishing you wish to do with it. With that out of the way let's now accept the fact that there is no one line that does it all, period! End of discussion! But here's the good news! With a little information, planning and practice you can tune your fishing conditions with various lines that will let you fish many different techniques with your switch rods.

Can you do it all with today's switch rods? The term "Switch Rod" implies that it is both a single hand rod and a spey rod but think of it in terms of the game of golf, that's like calling one golf club a switch club, same club that can drive your ball can putt your ball...I'm sure Tiger Woods can beat me in golf with only one club BUT! He would never agree that there would ever only be one club to do it all! And I Agree! Now with that out of the way I do believe our modern trout spey rods are closer than ever to what we want in a trout rod action.

What line do I need?

To make this as simple as possible I've decided to take it line by line and supply you the details of each including rods I have tried these lines on.

Airflo Switch Streamer

Airflo Switch Streamer

I put this line first simply because most anglers who are going to wield a two hand rod for trout are most likely going to swing or strip flies on sinking tips. This is your line! We're still waiting for this line to become available and it can't get here soon enough! My knowledge of it comes from fishing a prototype for almost a year. Tim Rajeff and Tom Larimer are the genius behind this line. The goal of the line is to appeal to trout anglers with shooting line integration and safely satisfy streamer angler needs with a line that is not afraid of T-Series sink tips. They nailed it plain and simple! Integrated with a Ridge running line the semi aggressive skagit style head handles T-7 and T-11 like a dream and if you need to lighten up it has enough finesse to behave friendly with polyleaders. Tom Larimer worked out the bugs of these lines to intentionally match them to perform perfect with the Winston BIIIx Microspeys although we have found they perform excellent on many different switch rods.
The Airflo Streamer Switch retails for $99.95 and comes with a Fast Sinking Polyleader to get you started. You will most likely want to go ahead and get an Airflo Custom Cut Single Sink Tip in the T-7 size.
Airflo Streamer Switch Specs -

Line Size	Color	Head Weight	Head Length	Sink Rate	Total Length
WF4	Pale Mint/Orange	300	18ft	Float	85ft
WF4.5	Pale Mint/Orange	330	18.5ft	Float	85ft
WF5	Pale Mint/Orange	360	18.5ft	Float	85ft
WF5.5	Pale Mint/Orange	390	20ft	Float	85ft
WF6	Pale Mint/Orange	420	20ft	Float	85ft

Current sizes give you a range from 300gr to 420gr. The 330gr is a great match on the Winston 4110 and equally as well for the sage ONE 4116. The Winston 5116 really likes the 390gr.

RIO Scandi Short VersiTip

RIO Scandi Short Versi-Tip

This short scandi taper line is an awesome switch rod line. I really like the tight loop casts it performs. It is a head system line so choose your shooting line. You can also buy this line as a head only and purchase the tips separately. The nice feature of the Versitip kit is it comes with the tip wallet and includes four matching tips. Floating, Intermediate, Type 3 and Type 6 sinking. Just as the name implies the kit gives you a ton of stream side versatility. Scandi tapers do a few things really well such as roll casting and overhead casting and of course spey casts great but Scandi Shorts do have some limitations to consider. They don't handle much more tip than the type 6 they are supplied with and they are limited to fly size. Where I have really liked this line is working with tandem soft hackle rigs. It presents well and the supplied tips let's you dial in just the depth you want to fish. While the Scandi Short works great in close I find the loop to loop to be a real pain for small water work. I've submitted a request to RIO to make an integrated version of this line but I have no idea if that will come to light.

Specs -

SKU	Line Size	Head Weight	Head Length	Color	Sink Rate
6-20659	#4 275gr	275gr	33ft 10m	Straw	Flt w/ 4 tips
6-20660	#5 320gr	320gr	33ft 10m	Straw	Flt w/ 4 tips
6-20661	#6 370gr	370gr	33ft 10m	Straw	Flt w/ 4 tips
6-20662	#7 425gr	425gr	33ft 10m	Straw	Flt w/ 4 tips
6-20663	#8 485gr	485gr	33ft 10m	Straw	Flt w/ 4 tips
6-20664	#9 540gr	540gr	33ft 10m	Straw	Flt w/ 4 tips

Notice this chart gives you the actual head weight and tip weight separately

The Sage ONE 4116 really loves this line. The fast tip of the Sage really compliments the scandi taper but I also find the line to work great on the Winstons. The 275gr is a great match up for the Winston 3106. The 320gr is my go to for the Sage 4116 and equally excels with the Winston 4110. The 370gr is enough grains for the Winston 5116.

S/A Adapt

Scientific Anglers Adapt

Scientific Anglers you almost got this line right! So close! I liked this line and I wanted to really like this line! The Adapt (like the Airflo Streamer Switch) is an integrated line with a somewhat aggressive skagit head. The thin diameter running line really flies through the guides and the textured head stays on top of the water better than most others I've fished. The problem is the front taper. It's fine if you are fishing tapered leaders but the problem starts when you add a sink tip. The line tapers down too small to retain enough mass to turn over a sinking tip. The result is struggling to turn over your casts. Polyleaders work decent with the Adapt line but forget fishing T-Series tips. I actually modified my line by cutting the tip back and welding a new loop to the end. The difference is huge. But who wants to chop their brand new $86.95 line. I'm sure out of the box it would make a good nymph/indicator line.

Order #	Line Size	Head Length	Sink Rate	Total Length
120500	280gr	22ft	Float	100ft
120517	320gr	22ft	Float	100ft
120524	360gr	22ft	Float	100ft
120531	400gr	22ft	Float	100ft
120548	440gr	22ft	Float	100ft

The 320gr works well with the Sage 4116 and Winston's 4110. I also have the 360gr and that's the one I chopped the tip off the head. I took off 2.5' and that amount scale weighted 18gr so I ended up with a head weight of 342gr and T-Series sinking tips were no longer an issue after my modification.

A note to the manufacturers - As a line company y'all need to decide if your switch line is made for leaders or tips. NOT BOTH! And please stop telling us they will do both! I've been around the river long enough to know that the "MIDDLE GROUND" fly lines do not do anything good! There is no one line for all switch rod applications. In reference back to earlier in the article remember a switch rod cannot switch into anything. We must switch the line to match the technique desired from our switch rod. We have a serious need for technique specific switch lines.

RIO Switch Chucker

RIO Switch Chucker

I had high hopes for the Rio Switch Chucker and in some ways it delivered, others not so much! A full integrated head / shooting line was a welcome addition to the RIO lineup and received great attention upon it's introduction. Unfortunately I feel like this line falls into the trap of "One line does it all." First the good about the Switch Chucker, it's pretty easy casting provided you stay within some parameters. Tapered leaders or VersiLeaders (Polyleaders) are happy but T-Series not so much. Now when you get to larger sizes of this line it will carry some light T-Series like T-8. But when it comes to 4 and 5 weight trout sizes it no longer likes a sinking tip. Besides not carrying a sinking tip easily I have two other complaints with this line. 1) In low light it's hard to see the color transition between the head and shooting line and 2) The incorporated handling section slows down shooting part of your cast. This handling section is 14' of thicker running line directly behind the head and is intended to make it easier to grip for cast and mend for nymphing. I guess if nymphing is your purpose for this line than you might find this to be a benefit. Stick to leaders, polyleaders or nymph/indicator rigs with the Switch Chucker and you will be happy!

RIO Switch Chucker

I tested the #4 325gr on both the Sage ONE 4116 and the Winston Microspey 4110 and the grain weight matched up with both rods really well.

RIO Switch Line
I'm not going to spend any time with this line other than to say this is a great choice if you use a switch rod to nymph from a boat. Don't expect to enjoy spey casting this line! End of discussion!

Skagit Heads
RIO, Airflo and S/A all make skagit heads down to trout rod sizes. For big rivers, sink tips and full on swinging flies these skagits work great. The RIO Max Short comes in sizes all the way down to 200gr. S/A Skagit Extreme comes in sizes down to 280gr and although S/A does not designate these as short or switch heads these smaller sizes do have shorter lengths suited for the shorter rods.The Airflo Skagit Switch starts at 360gr which can help your 5 weight and up switch rods. I don't spend much time with these skagits. Yes they work but they are really just downsized steelhead skagits. Two hand trout anglers like myself are really looking for a line designed for my game and not just an adopted line that already exists.

Overhead casting lines

Many anglers have found great use with switch rods for making long casts from beaches or jetties.
I've heard many accounts from east coast striper anglers to west coast sea run cutthroat anglers of the use of switch rods for overhead casting. Typically we find in most cases that a 2 line size bump up will get you in the ballpark for matching these lines to switch rods; so for example if you have a Sage ONE 11'6" 5 weight switch rod then a Rio Outbound in the 7 weight size will get this rod happy.  I like the fact that RIO posts the grain weights of their lines but please keep in mind that lining a switch rod for overhead casting is a lower grain weight window than lining the same rod for two hand spey casting.

RIO Outbound
One line that really jumps out for this purpose is the Rio Outbound. Not the short but instead the original 37.5' Outbound. Outbound's have shorter than normal heavy heads for deep rod loading and seamlessly attach to long thin diameter running lines for maximum distance. They come in Floating, Intermediate and a Type 6 sinking tip attached to full intermediate running lines for the ultimate in a sinking line.

Airflo Forty Plus
A 35' shooting head seamlessly attached to Airflo's famous ridge running line for extreme distance. The Airflo Forty Plus comes in Floating, Intermediate, Type 3, Type 5 and Type 7 sinking tips. The Forty Plus is built on Airflo's Low Stretch Braided Power Core for increased sensitivity and overall strength. Like the Outbound a 2 line size jump up will usually put you in the game.

Can you use standard single hand lines?

No! and Yes!
As sure as I say "No you can't", I'll have 10 comments waiting for me from those who say "Yes you can!"
What you have to remember is switch rod weights do not match single hand rod weights. A 4 weight single hand line will not load a 4 weight switch rod effectively. Shooting head lines like the Forty Plus and Outbound are already bumped up way beyond single hand rod specs and still a 2 size bump up is usually needed to satisfy most switch rods. If you find a single hand line that cast well on your switch rod then you now basically have a really long single hand trout rod. Think, when was the last time you needed to make a 100' cast to a trout?! Never! I have found some of the shorter small trout speys like the Winston 3106 Microspey to overhand cast quite well with a RIO Grand WF5F line but I'm not ready to trade in my 4 weight dry fly rod. Personally I think we will have to see even shorter switch rods to obtain quality overhead presentations. I'm not saying it can't be done...It's just not the best tool for the job!
Let's summarize:
Overhead casting switch rods for distance...Yes!
Overhead casting switch rods for delicate trout presentations...No! Not really!

What's an integrated line?

Fully Integrated lines are just like what we know of as standard lines like a RIO Gold or S/A GPX. The weight forward head and small diameter running line are seamless just like a knotless tapered leader. Shooting line / Head systems are two separate lines. The Shooting (or often referred to as Running Line) is the thin section of level fly line similar to the back end of any fly line. But that's it, they cannot be used by themselves. You must attach a Head to the front to complete the line. The heads and shooting lines attach via a loop to loop system. The advantage of an integrated line for a trout angler is that stripping in close for say a following Brown is not hindered by a loop connection hanging in the rod guides. The disadvantage of course is you don't have the option to change heads quickly like steelheaders often do to adapt to changing conditions. If you fish large water and only swing flies then the loop of a head system won't bother you. But in small water or short overhead casting or stripping a streamer on a following trout, the loop to loop can become the difference of a hookup or not!

What is the difference between T-Series Sink material and  Polyleaders?

T-Sink (T=Tungsten) is a level low stretch braided core coated with a tungsten powder mixture to create a sink tip. The numbers T-7 thru T-20 represents how many grains of tungsten per foot. Such as 10' of T-7 would total 70 grains or 7 grains per foot. It's the easiest sinking tip system to understand. Both RIO and Airflo build low stretch core T-Sinking material. These Tungsten tips is what most steelheaders are using today looped to skagit heads.
Airflo Polyleaders and RIO Versileaders are similar products with different names and are quite different than T-Series. The first major difference is that these are leaders in such that they have a taper built in just like a standard knotless tapered leader. How that is accomplished is where polyleaders differ from leaders. A polyleader starts with a level nylon core usually 24 lb for most steelhead sizes. Then a poly coating is applied starting at the butt end and thinning out toward the tippet end. In this coating tungsten powder can be mixed and applied making it a sinking polyleader. The advantage of polyleaders is 1) they turn over better than regular leaders, 2) for spey casting dry lines they provide better water surface tension for improved anchor points, and 3) with sinking densities they allow us to gain the advantage of a sinking tip with a floating line. With all these advantages why not just use them in place of Tungsten sink tips? Well there is a major difference. Polyleaders just don't sink as good! Probably partly due to the nylon core and another reason is the thickness. Sink tip diameter plays a major role in how fast a tip sinks. Braided core is thinner therefore the overall diameter of the tip is thinner creating greater sinking ability. Polyleaders certainly have their place in our world of fishing but I would like to see some changes. Can a polyleader be built on a braided low stretch core? Can we build even smaller T-Series than our current T-7 size for the needs of a two hand trout angler? I would like to see T-5 and T-3. For now my Tips wallet includes a 10' T-11...10' T-7...Extra Super fast sinking polyleader...Fast sinking Polyleader...Slow sinking Polyleader and an Intermediate sinking Polyleader.

More information on the sinking tip/polyleader subject can be found in Sink Tips, Polyleaders, Versileaders - A Buyers Guide

Give us your experiences and examples of lines you have used and what you think. We welcome your thoughts and other readers do too. The subject of switch lines is far from being a closed door and the future still holds much room for new and improved.

Trout Spey Chronicles - More articles about Two Hand Trout Fishing

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"Fly Fish the World with Us"