Rio Gold Fly Line good for Steelhead?
- Thread starter Chinookie
- Start date
That's a floater? For nymphing with an indicator it will probably do OK. For swinging streamers, you're probably going to want a sink tip or interchangeable sink tip. You might be able to find a multi tip line that give you a floating tip and a few different sink rate sink tips.
I think I read that the Rio Gold is only good for anglers who already know which direction they're going to cast. Sorry, I couldn't resist. For all the negative reports about Rio lines, I get pretty good service from their integrated Spey lines. I have Rio lines for tropical fishing, but I don't do that often enough to know if their longevity is good or not. Almost all my other lines for trout and steelhead are Cortland or S.A.
Porter2
Legend
It’s a serviceable line and might be great for your set up. You can always add a poly leader or two to make it a more versatile line. There are several steelhead tapered lines out there too 
Rio Gold is a good line. This might be just me but I felt the line was really good the first few years out but it changed (I think) somewhere along the way. I thought it use to be a true weight line then it became a .5+ line. Not sure where it’s at today. Good luck. Lines and rods do seem to have become more complicated in matching.
Rio Gold is a good line. This might be just me but I felt the line was really good the first few years out but it changed (I think) somewhere along the way. I thought it use to be a true weight line then it became a .5+ line. Not sure where it’s at today. Good luck. Lines and rods do seem to have become more complicated in matching.
What rod are you planning to use for streamers and nymphs for steelhead?
I think of the RIO Gold as a solid all-purpose line that is okay at nymphing and dry flies at a range of distances, but it kinda sucks in close. It has a pretty long head.
Considering a 10' 8wt Echo Ion XL
Good rod for nymphing, but that line doesn't have a very powerful front taper to turn over indicator rigs. It's really meant to be a full floater. If you're going to nymph, which is what single hand, floating line setups are best at, get a nymphing/indicator taper.
If you want to swing sink tips, you'll want to go a very different direction.
I agree with what Evan wrote about the RIO Gold not being the best choice for what you want to do. You might consider getting a Wulff Ambush Triangle Taper line. I'm not sure which grain weight would work best with that rod but I suspect a 290 grain would work if you got a 10' floating tip and a 7 to 10 foot light sink tip (like these) to slap on there. You might not even need the floating tip to nymph with at all, might work better without it.
Problem with a line like an Ambush is if you wanted to nymph with it, there's no rear taper. So once it hits the water, there's not much you can do to mend up a good drift.
I was hoping I could get away with a weighted fly or throw on a sinking polyleader with the floating line when I wanted to swing. What would you recommend I go with? I appreciate any info, I'm new to all of this.
My goal was to build a universal kit to get started with steelhead, jetty fishing, and learn some single hand spey down the line (I know the spey would probably require a different line eventually). I also don't want it to just suck if there isn't a balance I can achieve here.
Last edited:
This is not incorrect. It works okay depending on how far out you are trying to run your bobbercator.
Problem with a "do it all" deal with steelhead is that you're really not setting yourself up for success. Steelhead are not hard to catch, but they're hard to find and getting harder. So anything you can do to get that fly right in front of it will be of great help to you. And that's just it, especially with winter fish: You really, really want to try and hit them right in the face with it. Running something 5' over the top of them is a very unlikely way to catch one. To get down there, the sink tips you need are quite a bit more than you're probably imagining.
So I really need to figure out which method I want to try and have different lines between nymphing and swinging?
Swinging is more appealing to me but from what I've gathered, it's a small window to effectively streamer fish?
Rio Salmon Steelhead or my favorite is the SA Anadro.
I was just looking at these. Are you using it for swinging and nymph?
Divad
Whitefish
@Chinookie, swinging and streamer fishing are a little different. Swinging is covering water at a 90 degree or less cast and letting the fly swing about naturally until its below you (0'ish degrees). Streamer fishing involves the same or upriver casting and an active strip. I find winter head to be much less conducive to streamer style and much more accepting of a swung eat.
I would buy the indicator line first, and attach some 5ft polyleaders to it and see if it single speys. I use the Rio Extreme Indicator Fly line for nymphing and attach 5ft polyleaders (these are my favorite) to it and can single spey/roll cast no problem when I want. Not as far as dedicated skagit lines but still works incredibly well.
Second line, get a micro skagit setup either integrated (preferably for close water) or mono + shooting head. One thing I will say is most polyleaders/versileaders only get to about 6 or 8 ips. After that I get bulk t10-t14 from Mike at Lost Creek and make my own 5ft heavy sink tips. I am preferable to a 5-7ft sink tip for single hand as it doesn't effect the cast as greatly as a 10ft.
I would buy the indicator line first, and attach some 5ft polyleaders to it and see if it single speys. I use the Rio Extreme Indicator Fly line for nymphing and attach 5ft polyleaders (these are my favorite) to it and can single spey/roll cast no problem when I want. Not as far as dedicated skagit lines but still works incredibly well.
Second line, get a micro skagit setup either integrated (preferably for close water) or mono + shooting head. One thing I will say is most polyleaders/versileaders only get to about 6 or 8 ips. After that I get bulk t10-t14 from Mike at Lost Creek and make my own 5ft heavy sink tips. I am preferable to a 5-7ft sink tip for single hand as it doesn't effect the cast as greatly as a 10ft.
Thank you. Good info here.
Just to clarify, attaching the polyleader would be to swing with the indicator line? I know the depth will depend on where I'm fishing, but is there typically a ips I should be looking at for steel?
Divad
Whitefish
Indeed, attaching the polyleader would aid in your [controllable] swing depth. The Xtreme Indicator is already a nice short head so it single speys and roll casts well. My favorite tips are the "Extra Fast Sinking" @ 6.1ips and the "Slow Sinking" @ 2.6ips. I also use 5ft of t8 and 5ft of t10 tips I made from bulk tungsten line, those both cost me about 5 bucks each.
Along with some unweighted and weighted flys you can cover a lot of the water column effectively. You'll have to play with how heavy of flys you can swing but I usually max my single spey flys out to a medium size tungsten conehead.
Edit:
Some lines to think about: SA MPX, SA Magnum, Corltand Bass, Cortland Big Shot, and Rio has a bunch of offerings with this head style.
I like a powerful front weighted head for steelhead/salmon nymphing, especially winter head, and preferable to no longer than 40ft.
Check eBay out too! Sometimes you can get screaming deals on new lines.
Along with some unweighted and weighted flys you can cover a lot of the water column effectively. You'll have to play with how heavy of flys you can swing but I usually max my single spey flys out to a medium size tungsten conehead.
Edit:
Some lines to think about: SA MPX, SA Magnum, Corltand Bass, Cortland Big Shot, and Rio has a bunch of offerings with this head style.
I like a powerful front weighted head for steelhead/salmon nymphing, especially winter head, and preferable to no longer than 40ft.
Check eBay out too! Sometimes you can get screaming deals on new lines.
Last edited:
Airflo Superflo Power Taper in the same category as these? Or do I want something with a longer rear taper?