The most interesting new fly line that we cast at IFTD in Reno last month was Rio’s new Bonefish QuickShooter. We think it’s going to be a great line for chasing bonefish around South Andros Island.
Background
At Andros South we tend to prefer fly lines with fairly short, heavy heads and aggressive tapers. That’s because most of our shots come at short to moderate distances, and we often use big flies to target our big fish. Having a line that loads up your rod quickly really helps get the fly in front of the fish.
Over the past few years, two of our favorite lines have been Rio’s Tropical Clouser and Bruce Chard’s Bonefish line – two lines that fit the ‘short and heavy’ bill much better than most typically designed ‘bonefish’ lines. We’ve said it countless times about our fishery – ‘speed is more important than distance’. This style of line helps you present fast!
Rio Bonefish QuickShooter
The Bonefish QuickShooter is a bonefish line with a 35 foot head. It’s about 3/4 of a line weight heavy to aid in getting the deep load fast.
We test cast the 7 weight QuickShooter on the pond at IFTD with a Sage 790-4 ONE, and the results were pretty much as expected. One false cast generated as much load as we needed to make easy shots out to 60 or 70 feet. The setup felt very accurate, and the ‘fly’ landed plenty soft for almost any presentation needed on Andros.
Of course, casting inside a convention center is never the same as putting something to use on the flats. We’ll take one for the team and do some real field testing in October!
The Bonefish QuickShooter is available now – you can pick one up right here. If you’re headed to Andros Island this winter, we think you should give one a try.
If you have trouble locating this bonefish line the Rio redfish line has the identical taper, at least in an 8wt. Made a huge difference fishing Islamorada in early December in 15 mph wind.
I have a 8 wt. redfish taper line. Will this work ok for South Andros bonefishing ?
Absolutely Curtis! You’ll find that most fly line manufacturer’s ‘Redfish’ lines work great as ‘aggressive’ bonefish lines, particularly when short quick casts, tough conditions, or heavy/wind resistant flies is the norm. In fact, you might be happy to know that RIO’s ‘Redfish’ line is actually the exact same taper as the Bonefish Quickshooter! Same line, different branding!
Kyle,
Thanks for you response. My “redfish” taper line is made by Rio.
Curtis