Fly Line Reviews: the family of RIO Outbound fly lines

RIO Outbound fly lines

I have been partial to fishing RIO’s Outbound fly lines since 2005 and have seen these lines evolve and improve over time. Wait. The fact remains that my head tells me the lines have improved, but for practical purposes, I had no complaints regarding the performance of the lines back in 2005, so, with the exception of adding the loops and the line labels and the low stretch core, I guess my satisfaction regarding the performance of the lines has remained strong over the decade I’ve fished Outbounds. Most of the lines I fish are Intermediate sink rate lines but I will occasionally fish full floaters and sink 3 or sink 6 lines.

The purpose of this blog post is to distinguish the various outbound lines RIO offers and hopefully clarify the key differences among lines that all have “Outbound” in their title.

Note that I’ve included the Coastal Quickshooter fly lines and the Direct Core Flats Pro line because as far as I’m concerned these are very similar variants of the Outbound.

Note also that these are all lines that I consider “integrated shooting head” fly lines.

General features of RIO Outbound fly lines
* Lines come with welded loop – front and rear.
* Most of the Intermediate lines are stated as having a 1.5 – 2.5 IPS sink rate. I find it practically * impossible to differentiate among any of these sink rates.
* Mono Core lines (clear tips or heads) are not practically weldable by the consumer.
* Lines with a multifilament core may be weldable.
* Multifilament core lines are low stretch (4-6%)
* Specified Outbound fly lines will be named as suitable for cold/temperate or tropical conditions.
* Generally, the different line core and fly line coatings sufficiently different that a tropical line will not perform well in cold climates (too stiff) and a cold line will not perform well in the tropics (sticky).
Connect core lines have a multifilament core with very low have very low stretch (4-5%).

A general feature of the Outbound fly line family is that these WF (weight forward) fly lines have an “aggressive” head taper design that allows one to load fast action rods easily and cast bulky flies into the breeze. That said, some of the Outbound lines are heavier and have different head lengths than other models.

I suggest that the line purchaser check out the head weight of each line to choose the proper weight for their casting style. As an example, the WF 8I Coastal QuickShooter XP has a 330 gr

The majority of my casting in estuaries is in the 50 to 80 ft range (most often about 70 ft), but my angling companions routinely demonstrate that these lines can be cast considerably further than I do.

Rio Coastal Quickshooter

Rio Coastal QuickShooter Fly Line
* Cold and temperate climate line
* Clear head
* Mono core
* 30 lb core
* 35 ft head
* 250 gr head (WF 8I)
* Intermediate running line
* Stated sink rate – 1.5 IPS
* less aggressive taper than Coastal QuckShooter XP

RIo Coastal Qulickshooter XP fly line.

Rio C0astal Quickshooter XP
* Cold and temperate climate line
* Clear head
* Mono core
* 35 lb core
* 32 ft head
* 330 gr head (WF 8I)
* Intermediate running line
* Stated sink rate – 1.5 IPS
* More aggressive taper than Coastal QuckShooter

RIO direct core flats pro stealth fly line

Rio Direct Core Flats Pro Stealth Tip
* Advertised as a tropical climate line, I fished this line in 50-60 degree F climate and loved it
* Clear 6 ft intermediate tip
* Mono core – exceptionally low stretch, low memory, and lays out very straight
* 35 lb mono core
* 38 ft head
*240 gr in first 30 ft (WF 8F/I)
* Full floater except for Intermediate tip
* Stated sink rate of tip is 1.5 IPS
* This line lays out so straight I was amazed; the floating line floats and the clear tip is a true intermediate
* The relatively long head allows more precise and softer presentations than more aggressive head designs
* I consider this to be an “all climate“ line that is perfectly suited to fishing flies close to the surface.
* This line is the least like the other Outbound family of RIO lines but I wanted to include it because of its excellent performance.

Rio Outbound fly line

Rio Intouch Outbound
* Cold and temperate climate line
* 37.5 ft head
* Clear head
* Multifilament core – low stretch
* 20 lb core
* 330 gr head (WF 8F/I)
* Floating running line
* Stated Intermediate sink rate – 1.5-2 IPS-
* This is the longest head in the outbound line family and will allow somewhat gentler presentations than the shorter head lines.
* Offered in floating and intermediate head lines
* Running lines are floaters
* ______

Rio Outbound short fly line

Rio Intouch Outbound Short
* Cold and temperate climate line
* Clear head
* Multifilament core – low stretch
* 20 lb core
* 30 ft head
* 330 gr head (WF 8I)
* Intermediate running line
* Stated intermediate sink rate – 1.5-2 IPS
* Available with many sink options:(WF8F, WF8F/I, WF8I, WF8I/S3, WF8I/S6)

RIO InTouch Hover Fly Line

Rio InTouch Hover
* Cold and temperate climate line
* Pale olive head
* Multifilament core – low stretch
* 20 lb core
* 30 ft head
* 280 gr head (WF 8S1)
* Intermediate sink 1 running line
* Stated sink rate – 1.0 IPS
* This line genuinely sinks slower than the other Outbound Intermediate lines at s1
* This line is only offered in WF 5 to WF 8.I and only has a loop at front end of line

I hope these details and observations are useful.

Jay Nicholas
2018