New Rio Fly Lines For Fall Fishing: Rio Perception and Rio Short Head Spey

Our assortment of Rio lines is behind the counter, come on in and chat us up. 

Rio Products has come out with a few new lines recently, and they're worth checking out for fall trout and steelhead fishing destinations.

Rio Perception: A high-floating line without sloppy stretch to hook more fish!

First up is the Rio Perception trout line. They've reduced the stretch that contributes to sloppy mends and missed hook sets, added a cool 3-tone color scheme so you know where the front taper and rear taper are for accurate casts, and designed the whole thing to shed water and float high for easy mending and handling. They've also added an easy-to-identify tag on the front taper so you can pair up the right line with the right rod even after a season in the gear closet. 36+ ft. head and an all around taper offers superior performance for dries, nymphs, and streamers. MSRP $89.95.

Check out the vid (love these bungee sound effects): 

Next up is the Rio Short Head Spey. Rio characterizes it as a great line for those interested in honing their skills beyond fast-loading Skagit and Scandi heads, but we think this one will work if you're just getting into spey casting this fall on our local rivers. It features a mellow taper, mid-range grain weight and a 40+ ft. head which works great with shorter, 10 - 13 ft. spey rods, small rivers or tight quarters. You'll see these on Columbia River tribs this fall for sure. Comes in 5/6 - 10/11 floating, with MSRP $89.95 for the integrated line (includes head and running line).

Rio Short Head Spey: a great line for dry line fall steelhead

Line Size	Color	Head Weight	Head Length	Sink Rate	Total Length
5/6F	Blue / Straw	430gr	40ft / 12.2m	Float	100ft / 30m
6/7F	Blue / Straw	470gr	42ft / 12.8m	Float	110ft / 33.8m
7/8F	Blue / Straw	520gr	44ft / 13.4m	Float	110ft / 33.8m
8/9F	Blue / Straw	580gr	46ft / 14m	Float	115ft / 35m
9/10F	Blue / Straw	650gr	48ft / 14.6m	Float	120ft / 36.5m
10/11F	Blue / Straw	730gr	50ft / 15.2m	Float	120ft / 36.5m

Come on into the shop and check 'em out, we've got our lines behind the counter, so don't be bashful and feel free to chat us up about where you're going fishing and we'll give you our best recommendation. We also carry Scientific Anglers, Airflo, Cortland, Nextcast spey lines and a smattering of specialty lines so we can get you what you need no matter the application.

All this line talk confusing? We offer casting instruction and spey instruction to demystify the world of fly lines and tighten up those loops.

Product Review: Fly Lines for Fishing Streamers

Rio Outbound Short with Int. Tip - $79.99

After chatting with us behind the counter, you may get the idea that the staff at the Avid Angler has "problems" with streamers. Addiction might be a better choice of words. Start talking about swinging and stripping streamers, and our eyes glaze over with a crazed, far off look. Weird names of flies like "Zoo Cougar" and "Butt Monkey" are spoken. Behind the vice, normal-sized flies become monstrous aberrations of marabou and rabbit fur with beaded eyes and articulated shanks. Hands shake on the water after an encounter with a big, meat-eating trout. There is just something about that grab.

One of our favs for all around use is the Rio Outbound Short with an intermediate tip. It's a super heavy weight forward line with a ton of mass in the 30 ft. head. A #5 line is weighs in at 200 grains, so you better believe this line will turn over a big streamer and drop it in the zone. The last 15 ft. of this line is a clear, intermediate sink head (intermediate sink rate means it sinks at 1.5 - 2 inches per second), which strikes a nice balance between fishing and casting. An intermediate head is all you need to put your fly in the strike zone all day in 90% of the conditions you're going to fish in Washington. An it offers a nice feel that's easy to pull out of the water after the presentation and cast all day. We love this line for fishing in streams, lakes, and even in Puget Sound.  The guides in Montana swear by this line and it is a must-have during our yearly trip to the "Mo" in the spring.

Airflo Streamer Max - $79.99 MSRP

For the other 10% of conditions, it's worth having a heavy sink tip. A great, if not well-known choice, is the Airflo Streamer Max. A quick trip to the Yakima last fall offered great test conditions for this line. The river had just bumped up, but was on the drop. Water was cold and off-color. A standard sink rate wasn't going to cut the mustard on this trip, and it was time to break out the big guns. Weighted heavily, a #6 Streamer Max is 200 grains. The bullet shaped head is an intermediate sink, and then there is a sinking tip built into the front half with one small difference – it’s meant to be chopped off and fine tuned to your streamer rod of choice. That feature combined with a monstrous front taper and the previously mentioned tendency to throw on big, ugly flies, and you have an effortless line for presenting streamers in heavy flows.

Streamer Max Meets Solid Yak Bow

Want to learn more about fishing streamers? Check out our upcoming trout classes here.