THESE PARTICULAR LINES GIVE US MANY MORE STRINGS TO OUR STILLWATER BOW. I DON'T OFTEN USE THIS PHRASE, BUT THESE LONGER TIP SECTIONS ARE TOTAL GAME-CHANGERS!
Midge-Tip Long Int
This line has the same style of tip as the standard Premier Midge Tip, clear (which is very stealthy) and with a sink rate of 1.5-inches per second but with double the length. So what does this extra length give you? Well, whether you’re on the boat or bank – early season – it’s an awesome line for buzzer fishing, the same as the original. However, the angles it affords you are better. It pulls the line down faster, reaching deeper water a lot quicker, and with the lift and hang at the end of the retrieve there’s far more in the way of vertical movement. In my opinion, this makes a huge difference when it comes to catching both stockies and resident trout.
It’s a very good line for ‘bedding in’ too, being much quicker at getting the flies settled where they need to be and fishing straight away. What’s even more impressive, and I can’t emphasise this enough, is that a taking fish also has a longer ‘sinking section’ to pull against. This will always result in more positive hookups.
When wading, the Midge-Tip Long allows us far more opportunities than that of a full intermediate or indeed a sinking line when it comes to twiddling or pulling lures. It’s all too easy to get these types of lines tangled at your feet, they are designed to sink after all. That’s not an issue with these new Midge-Tip lines.
They will also let you utilise bigger flies more effectively, like a Damsel or a Cat’s Whisker, keeping everything on an even plane throughout the retrieve. You can let the flies get down deeper, just give them time (20 seconds), before you start the retrieve. Basically, you can keep those flies exactly where you need them to be with the help of the floating section.
Midge-Tip Long Hover
Although I love the other lines, each of them excelling in a particular area of technical presentation, this one holds a special place in my heart. The Midge-Tip Long Hover gives me a plethora of opportunities when it comes to the back end of the season on the larger reservoirs. At this particular time of the year, the trout are clued up. They know what’s what and for this reason, tempting them becomes a little trickier. The slow descent offered by the 6ft Hover section of this line offers the ultimate in stealth.
I can fish my flies in relatively shallow water without an intrusive floating tip section anywhere near those wary, easily spooked residents. I love it when I’m using big flies too. Fry type patterns with no weight in them for example, like Minkies, so I can use the line to dictate the flies’ fishing depth. I can use the slow sink tip to make my flies bristle just under the surface or even have them hovering over the top of dying weed beds. The presentation this Hover tip allows me beats all other lines at this time of year hands down.
I may be letting the cat out of the bag here but they also excel with the various Popper Fry patterns that I use. Due to the slow sink rate, I’m able to get my two, long pulls in when the fly first hits the water. These pulls cause a real commotion on the surface and grab the attention of any trout in the vicinity. They can’t help but lock on to the noise and come to investigate. For the majority of the time, with a floating line, the conversion rate isn’t great. You often get too many follows as the fly drags across the surface – and you can’t weigh in or take photos of follows!
With the Midge-Tip Hover though the tip gently takes the fly from the top of the water and pulls it under. The pattern is now swimming just below the surface and the trout, already locked and loaded, see the fly behaving just like the real thing. It looks exactly like an injured fish. No more nerve-shredding follows with this Midge-Tip, the line just locks up. There’s no messing, the trout take the fly and pull back on the sinking section of the line, hooking themselves in the process.
Another neat trick with this line is to fish ‘sunk dries’, an amazing method from late Summer into Autumn. Three Hoppers are spaced evenly apart and fished back slowly to the boat. The flies get a few seconds ‘surface time’, a prime opportunity for takes before they are gradually dragged under. Once sunk, they can then be trundled back with an ever so slow retrieve, the line allowing you to keep them high in the water and well within the trout’s feeding zone!
Technical Features
These fly lines feature SlickCast Technology, allowing you to cast further with a lot less effort. It’s also super durable so the lines will last longer. They are constructed on a Cold Water Core which pretty much negate line memory, so you won’t need to worry about line tangles when it’s Baltic. They have dual coloration, Melon and Beige, so you know exactly when the tip of the line is out in order to load the rod properly. It improves our ability to deliver a long cast and helps with accuracy.
Extra smooth hang markers are part of their make up too. These are short and unobtrusive and don’t have a negative impact on your fishing, unlike some longer, brighter markers. Each line also has an identifying mark, allowing you to see what it is with the minimum of fuss. The Rio Welded Loops on these lines are small and compact, neat and seamless, making line retrieval or tippet changes incredibly quick and easy.
Now, with these new longer tip additions combined with exceptional new features, RIO has once again pushed the performance and technical capabilities of Midge-Tips to the cutting edge of fly line manufacturing.