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Clear intermediate line recommendations?

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Greg Pavlov 
#1 ·
Does anyone have any recommendations on a good, clear intermediate line for use in water above 70 degrees? This will be for a 9-wt. outfit. If possible, I'd like to use an intermediate shooting head, and I think that Rio makes one, but I wanted to get some opinions on these lines before I spend the $.
TIA
 
#4 ·
Ahhhh . . . 70 degree water . . . Where ya going?

I just picked up a Cortland 444 clear intermediate with the striper taper. This decision was based on reading prior threads on the topic and discussing it with other Furom members. Not sure if 70 degree water would have an adverse effect on that line.

While I was at the show I stopped by the RIO booth to ask about the sinktip (sort of) line that has 15 ft of clear intermediate line at the end of a floating line. The line that the rep showed me was extremely stiff and stayed coiled when it came off the spool, although it easily straightened with a quick stretch. The rep said that the stiff line improved energy transfer, but I'm not sure how well I'd like it. He also recommended using line one weight higher than the rod weight because the weighted part was shorter than on a standard line.
 
#5 ·
Hey Q, long time no chat.
Okaaay, so stiffer line transfers energy better, yes I can see that, but at some point it gets past the point of usefulness, I would imagine. I read through several threads on this topic this afternoon and have narrowed my choices to the 444SL clear intermediate and the Rio clear intermediate shooting head; I already own running line, so right now the shooting head seems to have the advantage in the race. I'm hoping to be back down in the lower Keys for a couple of weeks next month, and I imagine I'll be headed down to the South Carolina and Georgia coasts several times throughout the course of the warmer weather. May get some time in at the Jersey shore in June or July, not certain yet. So I'm looking for a clear intermediate that shoots well and stands up to whatever I hook into, be it bluefish, striper, jack, tarpon, etc. I have no prior experience with Rio lines, so I'm a bit uneasy about making that purchase. One other option that exists is to use an intermediate sinking head on the end of my Monic Tropic Clear floating line. Anyone have any ideas about that? I plan to be fishing in water no deeper than 15' the majority of the time, though I'm certain to get off shore at least once this year and would like to use the intermediate line for that.
I do own a sink-tip line, also, in case anyone wonders, but I have found it to be a real pain to cast. "User-error", I suppose.
 
#7 ·
Cortland has a "ghost tip" line with a 15 foot clear intermediate tip that works real well. Full intermediate lines have no clear advantage to me (no pun intended). The clear sections on the ghost tips do not correspond to the full head (they may for Rio). They have a normal head length that spans the clear and about 25 foot of the floating.
 
#8 ·
I've looked into clear tip intermediate lines, but would rather stay with a line that has the same relative sink rate throughout the length; this is mostly to my ineptitude with casting sink-tip lines. Something about the heavier tip section tends to make my casts very low, i.e. the tip of the line actually travels lower than the rest of the aerialized line. I'll likely go with the Cortland 444SL clear intermediate.
 
#9 ·
I'll likely go with the Cortland 444SL clear intermediate.



That's a decent choice. I've beat on one over the past two (three?) years - it's lost in the low-res photo at left - stepping on it, dragging it over rock, hanging it up several times on rock, etc. and it's held up fine. And it handled decently in cold and warm water.
 
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