Six Superior Fly Lines to Fish Baja (Nicholas’ Review)

Ok, it’s really funny now that I’ve fished Baja for one week I’m now an EXPERT!

An SA Saltwater Hover Fly Line rips off the deck as a skipjack makes its first run in Baja.

An SA Saltwater Hover Fly Line rips off the deck as a skipjack makes its first run in Baja.

Really, not trying to overstate my knowledge, but I found several fly lines that I particularly liked fishing and that performed very well, so I thought it might help to share my impressions here.

Not in order of quality or usefulness, I fished and recommend these fly lines to fish Baja.

RIO Tropical Outbound Short fly line.
* short head
* loads rod quickly and allows me to make long casts with minimum false casting
* available in floating, Intermediate sink, and fast sink tips on a fully integrated line
* not the best choice if you are intending to pick up a long line to recast
* superior if you will retrieve your fly close to the boat or shore and then recast quickly
* this line shoots exceptionally well and handles well in warm climate

Airflo Chard’s Tropical Punch
* this is an agressive floating line
* most of the weight in the head is in the front 20 or so of the line
* this line allows you to fire off a long cast even if you have stripped your fly close to the boat or shore
* the front-loaded head means you do not need several false-casts to launch a rocket
* powerful enough to cast large wind resistant flies
* This line has sufficient rear taper to the head that you may pick it up and recast with considerable line out of the rod tip
* this line shoots exceptionally well and handles well in warm climates

Scientific Anglers Sonar Saltwater Hover fly line
* this is a slow sink intermediate head fly line suitable for warm and tropical climates
* I found this to be a great intermediate head fly line
* it is important to note the weight of this fly line head and decide how to match it with your casting style
* my personal preference is to fish the Sonar Hover WF-10 on my 8 wt Echo EPR rod (305 gr head)
* my personal preference is to fish the Sonar Hover WF-12 on my 10 wt ECHO EPR rod (415 gr head)
* these personal line choices reflect the fact that I often retrieve my fly very close to the panga and like to cast with quickly with minimum false-casts
* anglers who will pick up 30 feet of line and recast will probably not want to over-line their rods as is my preferance

Scientific Anglers Warmwater Sonic Sink 30 fly line
* this is a very easy line to cast, in spite of the long head
* I found that the 450 gr head was perfect on my 12 wt and the 400 gr was perfect on my 10 wt rod
* this line sinks fast and shoots a long distance
* the line handles very well in very warm water
* this has been my go-to fly line offshore Oregon fishing for albacore tuna

Airflo Big Game Depth Finder fly line
* 30 ft sinking head may provide the fastest sink rate when you really need to get your fly down to the fish
* 50 pound core is low stretch
* this fly line offers some very heavy heads to cast on rods over 12 wt and to get flies to great depth
* this fly line handles well in warm and temperate climates

Hatch Premium Fly Lines
* these fly lines are particularly well suited to warm and tropical climates
* Hatch premium fly lines are available in floating, intermediate, and fast sinking fully integrated heads
* these fly lines will perform with big fish and big flies
* these are agressive tapers built on heavy fly line cores

I hope this review is helpful to get started. Our staff at the Caddis Fly Shop will be pleased to offer additional support and recommendations regarding your fly line selection, and I will also answer any questions you might have.

Jay Nicholas May/June 2017

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