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Doing some line testing on grass this morning with a howling crosswind. I'd be out fishing but the t-storms last night has the river utterly blown. Might as well put in some grass time instead.
So I'm testing a budget line with a distance taper up against an Airflo Super-Dri Trout taper, both in an 8 wt., on a Loomis Shorestalker 8'8" - 8 wt.
The Super-Dri line has Zone technology which means that Airflo changes the coating depending on the position in the line. The tip is high float, the next 30' or so is very supple, followed by the haul zone which is harder and stiffer, with the whole thing Ridged. The haul zone starts at the end of the belly, beginning of the rear taper, around 36' and carries on for another 30'. The line uses a low stretch core. In theory, the stiff haul zone of the Super-Dri should allow me to carry more line, haul with less resistance, while the supple front end should enable tighter loops. The Ridges should enable a better shoot.
The budget distance line is fairly stiff on a regular core, no change anywhere in coating. It's a nice line and much better than some of the other budget lines I've tried over the years. I'd definitely fish this line, while some of the others I've had were only fit for tying up our tomato plants.
The budget distance line has a head about 55' and it's no problem aerializing the whole thing in a series of false casts using a haul.
The Trout taper is only 42' long so aerializing as much as the distance taper in a series of false casts should be a problem, but it wasn't. That stiffer haul section let me false cast with about 10'-15' of running line out of the guides without the cast collapsing. Not only that, but it was actually a tad easier.
No matter what casting sorcery I tried with the budget distance line, I couldn't really tighten up the loops. In theory, the supple front end of the Super-Dri should throw a tighter loop and it was actually visible. As the energy flowed from the haul zone into the front end, I could see the loops tightening up considerably. I could throw a tighter loop with the Super-Dri without paying any attention to loop size, versus the budget line where I had to bear down and concentrate to throw a reasonably tight loop.
The Super-Dri actually went a tad farther when going for distance, despite the taper not being optimized for distance casting.
So that Zone technology stuff actually works and isn't just a fancy name for a colour change.
So I'm testing a budget line with a distance taper up against an Airflo Super-Dri Trout taper, both in an 8 wt., on a Loomis Shorestalker 8'8" - 8 wt.
The Super-Dri line has Zone technology which means that Airflo changes the coating depending on the position in the line. The tip is high float, the next 30' or so is very supple, followed by the haul zone which is harder and stiffer, with the whole thing Ridged. The haul zone starts at the end of the belly, beginning of the rear taper, around 36' and carries on for another 30'. The line uses a low stretch core. In theory, the stiff haul zone of the Super-Dri should allow me to carry more line, haul with less resistance, while the supple front end should enable tighter loops. The Ridges should enable a better shoot.
The budget distance line is fairly stiff on a regular core, no change anywhere in coating. It's a nice line and much better than some of the other budget lines I've tried over the years. I'd definitely fish this line, while some of the others I've had were only fit for tying up our tomato plants.
The budget distance line has a head about 55' and it's no problem aerializing the whole thing in a series of false casts using a haul.
The Trout taper is only 42' long so aerializing as much as the distance taper in a series of false casts should be a problem, but it wasn't. That stiffer haul section let me false cast with about 10'-15' of running line out of the guides without the cast collapsing. Not only that, but it was actually a tad easier.
No matter what casting sorcery I tried with the budget distance line, I couldn't really tighten up the loops. In theory, the supple front end of the Super-Dri should throw a tighter loop and it was actually visible. As the energy flowed from the haul zone into the front end, I could see the loops tightening up considerably. I could throw a tighter loop with the Super-Dri without paying any attention to loop size, versus the budget line where I had to bear down and concentrate to throw a reasonably tight loop.
The Super-Dri actually went a tad farther when going for distance, despite the taper not being optimized for distance casting.
So that Zone technology stuff actually works and isn't just a fancy name for a colour change.
