Gorge Fly Shop Blog: Search results for BUYER'S GUIDE TO STILLWATER FLY LINES

Sometimes fishing late pays off with stunning lake sunsets. (photo by Callum Brock)

Lake fishing seems like it should be simple, I mean, growing up as a child and going to the local lakes was pretty simple, especially when fishing over planted fish. However, now, knowing what I know, it can be quite technical. As Callum from the shop here says it..."Lake fishing is the perfect example of how simple it can be or how complicated you want to make it." I couldn't agree more.

That being said, it's amazing how technical stillwater fishing can be and it can make your head spin trying to choose which lines to use/buy. Anyone who loves to fish lakes knows what I'm saying. Honestly, I mean no offense, unless you're a stillwater ninja, the need for all the different types of stillwater lines out there seems uneccessary. I hope to try and simplify things here and hope that I'm successful. When it comes down to it, most often I'm fishing a couple to three lines at the most. Especially if I am fishing from a float tube or pontoon and space is limited and I can't carry extra rods or a bunch of spare spools. On the other hand, if I am in my drift boat, then I will carry more in case I need it.

FLOATING LINES:

RIO'S Elite Stillwater Floater:

RIO Elite Stillwater Floater.

RIO Elite Stillwater Floater Taper Profile

When fishing stillwater (lakes) having a full floating line that performs well is a necessity. I personally like a floating line that can serve as an all-around multi-purpost line. Unless I'm fishing out of a boat and have much more room for extra rods with different specialized lines, a multi-purpose all around line comes in real handy.

The RIO Elite Stillwater Floater has been specifically designed to easily cast long leaders, and will turnover indicator rigs with multi-fly set ups we commonly use while Chironomid fishing. This line has the ultra-low stretch ConnectCore Plus core that provides unbelievable sensitivity for those sometimes subtle takes for a quicker reaction time when setting the hook. The Stillwater Floater also has a Hang Marker which allows you to estimate when to stop your retrieve and fish the "hang down" which can be extreamly effective. This line additionally has the SlickCast coating for incredible casting and durability as well and the MaxFloat Tip, which helps keep the tip of the line from sinking as many floating lines tend to, especially when dirty. The Elite Stillwater Line works well fishing from a boat or from shore.

NOTE: It is always a great idea to carry a few of the RIO Fly Line Cleaning Towelette's in your boat, pontoon or vest when fishing lakes. If your floating line starts to sink, they are a blessing and you can get a quick cleaning and your back to full floating.

RIO Fly Line Cleaning Towelette:

Airflo SuperFLO Stillwater Floater Fly Line:

Airflo SuperFLO Stillwater Floater

Airflo SuperFLO Stillwater Floater Taper Profile

Airflo's version of the stillwater floating line has their classic Delta Taper which is great for casting multiple fly set ups for distance with minimal disturbance on the waters surface, which helps prevent spooking fish. Airflo lines are made with a durable Polyurethane coating and are 100% PVC free. This has proven that the lines last longer over time. In addition, the FLO technology has made it possible to create thinner diameter running lines in comparison to their older lines. This is a huge improvement because the newer lines are super slick and have minimal friction when going through the rod guides.

Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Anadro Stillwater Indicator:

SA Amplitude Smooth Anadro Stillwater Indicator Line

SA Amplitude Smooth Anadro Stillwater Indicator taper profile.

The Scientific Anglers Amplitude Smooth Anadro Stillwater Indicator fly line has become a pretty popular Chironomid line when using strike indicators. I like this line alot. It roll cast really well and is easy to see with it's alternating Hi-Vis bands near the tip. Even in low light conditions, I can easily track it. I also like the fact that it is one and a half line sizes heavy so there is no need to upsize the line for your rod. This also takes less effort to roll cast because it easily loads your rod so that you don't have to "make it" or try to "force it" to roll cast. With every rod that I have used this line on I just get the line that matches the rating of the rod. In other words if you have a 6wt rod, get the 6 weight line and you're good to go.

NOTE: One thing to note is that indicator specific lines tend to take up a lot more room on your reel because of the fact that they are sized heavy. Instead of a standard 6wt line being put on your 5/6wt rated reel, you're now trying to put a line that is more like a 7.5wt line on that reel. So your backing capacity will need to be adjusted accordingly. We also typically use longer rods like a 9.5' or 10' rod and sizing up on the reel is a great idea for two reasons, #1 it will balance out the rod better and #2 it will have the capacity to hold the right amount of backing and the indicator fly line. Make sence?

Beautiful Bow Bow, caught with a Chironomid and a sinking line.

SINKING LINES:

Let's face it, when fishing stillwater, having sinking lines is critical to consistent success, especially when fish are not activly feeding on or near the surface. This is where it can be overwhelming, with so many choices of different sink rates available. Some manufactuers even have different stages of intermediate sink rates which we will discuss shortly. This is where having multiple spare spools make sense to me, especially when fishing from a float tube or pontoon. If you can easily change the spool to accomadate the techinque or sink rate you need, then having spare spools uses up less space than having seperate rods for each depth or tecnique to get the job done.

RIO Elite Sub-Surface CamoLux Fly Line

RIO's CamoLux Sub-Surface Line

CamoLux Taper Profile

I probably use the RIO CamoLux sinking line the most. It's a full interemdiate line that sinks at 1.5-2 inches per second, and is perfect for fishing near shore or in shallower areas or even when slow trolling. This line works really well when fishing Chironomids without an indicator and utilizing a super slow figure of eight retrieve.

The beautiful thing about this line is that the weight forward taper makes it pretty easy to roll cast or overhead cast and it has a hang marker to let you know to stop stripping and start slowly raising your rod tip up to fish just under the boat. This can be extremely effective.

The CamoLux comes in line sizes 4wt to 8wt and has a camo tone color scheme and the ConnectCore Plus technology. Another option of this line is the RIO AquaLux, which has the same taper and sink rate as the CamoLux but has a Clear/Translucent Green color scheme.

SA Scientific Anglers: Sonar Stillwater Clear Camo

SA Sonar Stillwater Clear Camo Fly Line

Intermediate Versions: SA's Sonar Stillwater Clear Camo line with AST (Advance Shooting Technology) is famous for this technology which is an aditive that is impregnated into the line and creates a super slick line that cast like a dream and it enhances the lines durability. This line has also been built on the very popular MPX taper and it is a full intermediate sinking line that sinks at a rate of 1.25" per second, allowing you to fish just under the surface and choppy water and it is a full line size heavy, so there is no need to line size up. This line is perfectly suited to fish nymphs and streamers in your favorite lakes when you're not trying to get deep fast. Offered in line sizes 4wt thru 8wt line sizes.

SA Seamless Density Lines

Deeper Sinking Versions: SA Sonar Stillwater Seamless Density fly lines are designed to provide straight line presentations to your subsurface flies with a seamless transition between the sink rates. These lines are based off the SA MPX taper and are two line sizes heavy for casting multiple fly set ups. Offered in S1/S3, S3/S5 and S5/S7

Airflo: Sixth Sense Stillwater Fly Lines

Intermediate Versions: New to us is the Airflo Sixth Sense 2 with Power Core and a smooth running line. A few have started to show up in the shop recently. The line boast low stretch of 6% and has hang markers at 10', 20' and 40' so there is no excuse to not fish the hang and feel confident you know exactly where what your depth is. Just in the intermediate versions, they have three different options, #1 Slow Intermediate at .5" per second, #2 Mid Interemdiate at 1" per second, and #3 Fast Intermediate at 1.5" per second. I personally would never fish all three of these, BUT if you're a stillwater ninja like I mentioned before, you might need all three. If I had to settle on one of the three, I would just fish the normal intermediate which is the Fast Interemdiate at 1.5" per second.

That said, I could totally see fishing the slow intermediate for instance in the very shallow weed beds along the shoreline where fish are cruising. Being able to keep your fly in the zone would be pretty important in that instance. A line that sinks too fast, requires a faster retrieve if trying to fish in shallow water, therefore giving the fish less time to decide to eat. Other manufactuers like RIO and Scientific Anglers have a Hover and Midge-Tip verstion of these slower sinking "intermediate" rates of .5" - 1" per second.

Airflo Sixth Sense Sinking Stillwater Fly Lines

Sixth Sense Taper Profile

Airflo's Sixth Sense Stillwater sinking lines come in a variety of sink rates. If you need a line that sinks deeper than the intermediate sink rates, you can choose from either Sink 3 (3ips), Sink 5 (5ips), Sink 7 (7ips) and Sink 8 (8ips). Comes in line weights from WF5/6 TO WF8/9. These lines are very subtle and easy to manage, which is really nice and helps cut down on the line coiling on retrieves. These are also great for slow trolling or a slow figure of eight retrieve.

NOTE: The Airflo Sixth Sense sinking lines DO NOT come with a tip section loop at the front, there is a loop that attaches to the backing but not one up front.

RIO: Lake Series Fathom Sinking Lines

RIO's Fathom Sinking Line

RIO's assortment of Lake Series lines pretty much have you covered for any situation you might find yourself fishing. Just like Scientific Anglers and Airflo, RIO has put a lot of thought and effort in helping stillwater fisherman become better and more consistent anglers. From full floating lines, to Hover lines, to Midge Tip lines to Sink 3 to sink 7 lines.

One cool thing about the different colors for the different sink rates is that, if you can remember, just by glancing at the reel, you will be able to tell the sink rate by the color. Honestly I am a big fan of the sinking lines since I use them the majority of the time, which makes sense also because the trout spend their majority of time below the surface.

Parablolic/Cleansweep sinking lines:

These lines get even more technical. Designed to sink in a "U" shape allowing to fish different depths in a single cast and retrieve. Wether you use the RIO Fathom CleanSweep or the Scientific Anglers Sonar Stillwater Parabolic Sink line, you will be fishing effectively. These lines help cover the more water per cast than a typical sinking line because when you strip the fly in, you go from shallow, to deep, level out a bit and then go from deep to shallower as you retreive. Sounds pretty effective doesn't it. Well, you should try it and see what happens.

RIO's CleanSweep Lines - Slow & Fast Sink - Avail in 5 through 8 wt lines.

Scientific Anglers Sonar Stillwater Parabloic Sink Line

Available in 5 thru 7 wt lines.

As you can probably see by the length of this article that there are a lot of options of fly lines for stillwater fishing. I'm just scratching the surface without really going in to super detail about each line. This is where it is good to call the shop if you need to get deeper into it.

As a kid, I loved how it seemed simple to go lake fishing. Never gave it much thought. We just went and fished and whatever happened, happened. Now that I'm older and more inclined to think about why I am not catching trout in a lake, I am very pleased that we have the assortment of lines to choose from. Turns out, that having your fly at the right depth and the right time makes a huge difference.

Well, nuff said. Hope you got something out of this. If you have questions you can always give us a call at 541-386-6977.

GFS Team

John G.

PARTING SHOT:

Beautiful Rainbow couldn't resist a Chironomid and a super slow retrieve on sinking line.

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I guess I could've named this revised edition, Revised Addition. I felt compeled to add to my previouse article titled: Buyer's Guide to Specifically Designed Stillwater Fly Lines since there has been a new line introuduced that came out shortly after the piece was written. That new series of fly lines where created in partnership by Phil Rowley and RIO, to bring us some exceptionally nice, and to be honest long needed floating, Interemdiate and Hover type lines. Not that we didn't already have these types of lines available, it's just that these new lines feature new upgrades.

First off, what makes these lines unique right off the bat, is the integrated tippet ring into the front of the fly line where you would attach your leader. This has virtually eliminated the loop to loop connections that tend to irritate some fisherman, especially when using techniques which require bringing the loop to loop connection inside the guides at the top of the rod. Techniques where longer than normal leaders are used is my case in point. This also allows for easy changing of the lines, without sacraficing existing leaders.

If you've ever searched YouTube for information regading stillwater/lake fly fishing tactics and or techniques, chances are you've already watched a few or more of Phil's educational videos. I know I've personally watched nearly every one, and more than once. Phil knows his stuff and anyone can gleen from his knowledge. His experience and expertise bring credit to his creation of these lines. You can have confidence in what he says in the videos and apply these techniques using his lines for stillwater success.

"I love fishing lakes using long leader presentations. For years, loop-to-loop leader connections have made these presentations challenging. We now have a solution. As a devoted stillwater fly fishing, these Ambassador lines are a game changer, making long leader presentations a breeze. The smooth leader-to-line connections of these lines slide through my rod guides smoothly, not only when threading the rod and preparing to cast but, most importantly, allow me to bring long leaders into the rod without binding at the tip to land fish efficiently. With loop-to-loop leader-to-line connections removed, on the water line changes are now a breeze. Having these lines in my kit bag gives me a critical presentation advantage." - Phil Rowley | RIO Ambassador

These new lines are offered in 6 and 7 weight versions, for the most popular rod weights used in stillwater fly fishing. I recently got out on one of many of our local lakes to give these new lines a go. Although I didn't use everyone of them, I did use the "Stillwater Floater" and "Aqualux" versions. Lake fishing has been pretty good the past couple of weeks, although I have had to live vicariously through others who have actually went out. Although I am jonesing to get out and use my brand new Outcast Pac 1000 for the first time, my current schedule has not allowed me to do that. That issue will be resolved soon because I am taking a few days off to specifically fish! So no more excuses. I will update when I get back...

Ready to roll - Loads up nicely in the bed of my truck.

...Well, I'm back. Spent a little bit of time fishing the lake recently with the new RIO Ambassader Series Phil Rowley lake lines and I am in love. The lines performed flawlessly and were a joy to fish. Due to conditions I mostly fished the new Phil Rowley Aqualux line, although I did spend a bit of time fishing dries on the surface with the Phil Rowley Stillwater Floater as well, and enjoyed a few fish on the dries. The dry fly bite didn't last for too long and then I was back to using a parabolic line, that worked well.

Super Happy with the Outcast Pac 1000. Perfect for lake fishing.

Just like the new RIO Abassader Series Phil Rowley Lines, my new OUTCAST PAC 1000 worked stellar on the lake and my customized rod holders also worked great, not to mention the view was stunning. The Pac 1000 was super study and stable. I am a big guy at 6'5" 240 pounds and it was literally the perfect size for me. At one time I had two eagles flying overhead and an Osprey caught a fish right next to me, I only wish I could have gotten his catch on film. It was pretty cool!

If you're an aspiring stillwater fisherman or a seasoned verteran, give the new RIO lines a go and seriously consider a pontoon or float tube, they are worth it. I am a firm believer in things new and improved and especially if it makes me more efficient and or effective, and these lines do that. If your tired of fishing on the bank and want to me more effective in covering water and hard to fish areas, look at the Outcast series of pontoons and or float tubes, you'll be glad you did.

Thanks for reading.

GFS Team

John G.

PARTING SHOTS: