The RIO Single Hand Spey Floating Line is now in its third season, during which time it has become a firm favourite with the whole of the Draycote & Eyebrook Guiding and Tuition team.
It was originally designed to help US anglers perform tight roll and single hand spey casts in close quarters. However, after just a single cast at a company demo day three years ago it became clear that this was going to be perfect for UK reservoir work. The weight distribution towards the back of the head loads our fast action reservoir rods with ease.
England International & Fishery Management (UK)Ltd Guide, Lee Henfrey, has enjoyed spectacular success recently at Eyebrook adopting a long distance approach to tackle feeding fish moving at range from the boat. He attributes much of his success to his use of the Single Hand Spey as it enables him to cast the full line with only two false casts whilst still turning over up to a four fly leader tangle free.
Teamed with a fast actioned rod, such as the Sage “X” or Redington Vice, he has been able to reach spooky fish which would otherwise be out of range.
I experienced this first hand recently when sharing a boat with Lee who was casting the full 90ft line in two casts, covering and hooking fish I was pointing out for us to target later in the drift. On more than one occasion he would land his foam bodied daddy patterns in front of such fish with the comment “was this the one you meant?” as he tightened into yet another angry rainbow
The line is constructed on what RIO call their “ConnectCore”, which they rightly describe as providing groundbreaking levels of sensitivity & performance. It enables those fish to be hooked at long range as, unlike the stretch of normal fly lines the InTouch “ConnectCore” is ultra-low stretch giving the angler the ability to feel even subtle takes at such distances and successfully set the hook.
Personally, I love this line for tuition. It’s profile, and weight in the 8’ Handling Section behind the rear taper, make it perfect for beginners to quickly feel the loading of the rod – especially on the medium fast action Vision Onki which I most frequently teach with. This instant feel, combined with the short heavy head section, enables newcomers to soon be shooting greater distances with ease. Resulting in more fish in the boat line the perfectly finned Eyebrook Rainbow below.
To purchase a single handed spey please visit the online shop by clicking here and take advantage of our special offer of 10 foam daddies with every line purchased.
Hope you enjoyed the review.
Tight Lines Tom Bird
Guiding & Tuition Manager
