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Michael Evans Arrowhead Spey
casting fly line
Description
A white WF line with an extended front taper of 20 feet
and a rear taper of 8 feet. Overall head length is 66ft. The running line
is 0.043 inches diameter and is coloured fluorescent yellow to enable
it to be clearly identified and help the angler to use the correct length
when casting.
Performance
It's difficult enough to understand how to interpret single
rated lines for salmon rods. This and another line tested has a triple
rating which is even more confusing. First impression is that this line
is much softer in the hand than the others and it felt smooth but not
slick in the rod rings. At 45 feet it presented the fly well with nice
turnover but compared to the others tested it needed a bit more punch
to achieve a shoot of two or three yards. It suited the old rod better
than the new one. Same thing happened at 75 feet, the rod had to be pushed
a bit harder to make it work. It did not feel suitable for an AFTM 11
rated rod. The head was if anything a bit too light for the rods that
we used, however it may be suitable for softer or shorter rods. (This
is borne out by the profile that shows that it has the least casting mass).
With a bit of extra effort the line performed quite well, it flew straight
and rolled over giving decent presentation. The running line is thicker
than the other running lines and this, and its softer finish may account
for the relatively poor shooting qualities. We also wondered if the finish
had more friction against the water because despite its apparent lightness
it seemed to have "grip". This is the only line that sported
a colour change to clearly identify the running line, a simple and very
worthwhile idea. Why the others haven't adopted it goodness only knows
because it takes all the guesswork out of finding the head length for
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