I have had the opportunity to test RIO’s new RIO GOLD Elite and Premier RIO GOLD lines with SlickCast. The new SlickCast technology is a difference maker in slickness that you can feel from the very first cast. The coating has withstood being ground into the powered coated diamond plate floor of my drift boat better than any line before. After approximately 70 hours of fishing time with the line there is no noticeable reduction in slickness, cracking or any sort of wear. The lines I have fished have floated beautifully and cast even better. For full disclosure I have had The Elite GOLD 5wt on my Winston Air, Echo Trout and Sage X. All of the rods cast the lines great.
I have noticed a couple of fishing situations where the SlickCast has really made a difference. The first is the lines “shootability” from short with a hopper dropper rig, to getting longer quickly with one false cast. The extremely low friction created by SlickCast really does the trick when you want to go from 15ft to 40ft on a bank on a dime. The other situation is fishing a lake with lots of floating algae. The SlickCast lines performed like a new line for the entire time I had in on the lake despite no cleaning. The line remained slick as hell and flew through the guides.
There are eight new fly lines from RIO with SlickCast technology. All are existing proven tapers anglers have come to know and love.
The eight are further divided into two series, Elite and Premier. The key difference between the Elite and the Premier series is Elite lines have low stretch ConnectCore Plus. “ConnectCore Plus provides a radical increase in line durability, coating smoothness and overall performance. ConnectCore Plus stretches 30% less than standard cores, and gives anglers all the benefit of a low-stretch core–enhance sensitivity, less wasted energy and faster hook sets–with a significantly long lifespan.”
SlickCast coated lines are the slickest lines that have ever been on the market. In addition SlickCast continuously releases “slickening” agents that migrate to the lines surface. “This ensures that the line remains as slick as the day it was made–giving anglers many years of high performance and easy distance.”
Additional features to new SlickCast lines are MaxFloat Tip, Surefire triple color marking system, front and back welded loops, DUALTONE and Easy ID.
The Elite RIO GOLD is the “gold standard” for trout tapers. Add SlickCast and and ConnectCore Plus and you have the best all around trout line you can buy.
The Elite RIO GRAND line is one full line size heavy and perfect for the fast action rods of the day.
The Elite Technical Trout line is the ultimate presentation line. Small dries, lengthy casts and perfect presentations call for the Elite Technical Trout.
The Elite Perception line is a fantastic easy loading line for a wide range of fly sizes in mid to small sized waters.
The Premier GOLD line has the same great taper and SlickCast without ConnectCore.
The Premier RIO GRAND is a line size heavy and will cast great on stiffer fast action rods.
The Premier Technical Trout is the ultimate presentation line for picky feeders at distance.
The Premier Perception line is an easy loading line for a wide range of fly sizes on small to mid sized waters.
