Chucking bigger flies is a snap with the right line.
If you plan to fling half a chicken anytime soon, today’s fastest, powerful fly rods, and an aggressive (short belly)
specialty taper fly line can help you do that, without sending you in for Tommy John surgery.
Targeting largemouth bass, bull redfish, snook and many bluewater species can call for big, air-resistant flies. Big flies are typically hard to cast, because the rod does not load readily, especially on those typical short to medium distance “flats shots.” Without such a line, you can compensate by overlining your rod one size, shortening your leader and beefing up the tippet. But these short belly lines do what they are supposed to do. Though there are a few intermediate and full-sinking lines that have this type of taper to handle big flies, let’s look at strictly floating lines in this discussion.
On the flip side, a line with a short head (which concentrates the weight up front close to the leader and fly) won’t allow you to carry as much line in the air for those long-range shots. Air Flo offers its Ridge Bass Musky fly line for anglers chucking big, air-resistant bugs. In line weights 6 through 10, it was designed by noted bass, musky and pike fly fisher Pat Ehlers, who also designs fly rods for Echo. Its compact head is designed for quick rod loading.
Cortland Line Company recently released its Precision SL Big…
