Blog

New Rio Elite and Premier Fly Lines

Sean Visintainer - 07/02/20

Testing the  New RIO Elite Gold Series Fly Line Featuring Slickcast and ConnectCore Plus Technology.

SlickCast Technology - Slicker than Snot.

In the ever changing world of fly fishing gear, the fly line is no stranger to the latest and greatest improvements. Like many of you, I remember when the $10 Scientific Anglers AirCel was the "average" line and a Cortland 444 Lazerline was the next big thing since sliced bread.

Fly line technology and tapers have come a long way since those days... thankfully! Currently there is some stiff competition with the three big manufacturers, Scientific Anglers, Rio, and Airflo. Scientific Anglers has been leading the pack with their mega popular Amplitude series and rightfully so. Their "textured" coatings and AST Plus slickness is pretty legit.

Rio has stepped up to the plate big time to compete with the SA Amplitude powerhouse unveiling their New Rio Elite Series and Premier Series Fly Lines this past week featuring SlickCast. We caught wind of this new fly line coating in early March before the pandemic and were able to lawn cast them on the New Sage Sonic Rod series. "Butter" would be the word to describe our initial reaction.

Rio claims this New SlickCast coating has the lowest friction rating out of any fly line technology on the market. Less friction means increased line speed, which translates to increased distance and a greater ability to feed line through the guides for extended drifts. According to their studies, they just squeaked past the new Airflo Superflo, which we have also been testing, and the SlickCast far surpassed the other competition in the slickness department.

The other major improvement with the SlickCast technology is substantially improved durability. Rio put their lines through the paces along with other top fly lines and after thousands of abrasion testing cycles the SlickCast technology proved to be a big improvement over the competition.

Kenyon and I have been playing around with the New Rio Elite Gold series of fly lines and from our initial time with these lines we are very pleased with the continued "feel" of the line. Kenyon has put even more time on the line than I have (fishing almost daily) and he feels the SlickCast series has easily exceeded other lines that he normally fished for continued slickness and floatation.

SlickCast technology will be freatured in both the Elite and Premier Gold, Grand, Technical Trout and Perception. The Elite Series comes with ConnectCore Plus (low stretch core) and the Premier Series does not.

Come grab a new line and try one for yourself, or give us a shout and we will ship you one!





SlickCast Technology Testing


Slickness Comparison

SlickCast   |   .15
100%  
Superflo   |   .16
94%  
AST Plus Smooth   |   .26
58%  
Maxcast   |   .27
56%  
AST   |   .34
54%  


Lowest Friction Available On Any Fly Line - Period

Fly line slickness is the most important factor for getting distance and for feeding slack on drifts. Simply, the slicker a line is, the more effective and efficent you will fish due to easier distance and extended drag-free drifts.

Testing Method - To test the fly line slikness, we weave a sample through a series of chrome bars. One end is tied to a weight, and we pull the other end to start the line moving and maintain its motion. We measure the force it takes to start the line moving, as well as the force to maintain motion. The higher the forces required the more friction the line has - not good for long casts and shooting liner.

How to read this chart. - SlickCast sets the new standard for fly line slickness, and this chart compares other coating technology's slickness as as percentage of SlickCast (SlickCast set at 100%). For refernce, the average recorded sliding coefficient of friction value is called out below each technology column.





Cycles before Cracking

SlickCast
40,000  
AST Plus Smooth
30,000  
Maxcast
30,000  
AST
25,000  
Superflo
15,000  


33% More Fishing Time Before Cracking Than the Next Best Technology

Fly lines crack over time and use. The more durable a fly line coating is, the longer a fly line last before it crack, and the more fishing time you get out of a line.

Testing Method - We replicate the conditions that cause a fly line to crack (usage) by attaching a weight on one end of the line and pulling the fly line back and forth continuously through our lab version of a rod tip top, and record the number of cycles it takes until we see the first sign of cracking.

How to read this chart - This chart shows the average number of cycles from a variety of technologies that were tested in the lab. From it you can see that lines built with SlickCast average 10,000 more cycles than the next best technology - that's a 33% increase in fishing time.

Cycles before Abrasion

SlickCast
150,000  
AST Plus Smooth
62,500  
Maxcast
50,000  
AST
25,000  
Superflo
25,000  


140% Tougher Coating Than the Next Best Technology

As fly lines get used, the action of the line moving through rod guides gradually wears off(abrades) the surface of the coating. As abrasion appears on the coating, before abrasion, the higher the line's performance.

Testing Method - To test abrasion resistance, we attach a weight to one end of the line, drape it over a chrome bar, and cycle it back and forth over the bar, rubbing the same section of coating until it start to abrade.

How to read this chart - This chart shows the average number of cycles from a variety of technologies that were tested in the lab. From it you can see that lines built with SlickCast average nearly 90,000 more cycles that the next best technology - that's a 140% tougher coating.