By Ian Scott

Creeks, streams and small rivers - who needs to cast 50 feet all the time when they are fishing this kind of water? Why spend premium dollars for a premium fly line when more inexpensive lines will generally do the job for you? In the past, I've never bothered with all the hype and advertising claims of premium fly lines. What I had spooled on my reels did the job just fine, so I thought. But this spring, with some of my lines being almost 10 years old and in rough shape, I decided to treat myself and picked up both a 5 wt. and 8 wt, WF line - the Airflow Platinum. Part of my decision was based on what was available at Hook, Line & Sinker in Guelph where I purchase a lot of my gear. I had picked up a spare spool for my Scientific Anglers System 2L reel, as well as a new Loomis "Adventure 7" reel. Might as well have Ray, the proprietor, throw on some backing and line for me while I'm there. I was very impressed with the Airflow Platinum line, as soon as it came out of the box. Just holding the line in my hands, I could tell that this was some slick line! I looked forward to trying it out on the water as soon as I could. Which was about an hour after I left Hook, Line & Sinker. I headed over to the Grand River near Elora with my son Colin to get in some brown trout fishing for the afternoon and evening, put on the SA System 2L reel onto a 5 wt. custom rod made from a Fisher blank, and immediately was impressed with the line. It is slick, both on the water, and shooting through the guides on the fly rod. I found that I easily added 10 feet to my casts over the other line I had been using, and as well, it had a very nice "stickiness" in the water. Right off the spool, it floated very well without any floatant applied - although for floating line, you will still need to carry around your favorite bottle of "grease" - I needed to "Gink up" the line several hours later. According to the packaging material, Airflow Platinum line has a "unique taper design" and "super slick dual lubrication PolyFuse XT coating." I have no idea what that means. And I don't know what "TDC - Total Density Control" means either. Maybe the Airflow marketing guys know? But in spite of the stuff I don't know, I really like this line. I also like the fact that both ends have "welded" loops for attaching to backing and of course, attaching a looped leader. Nice. The line also comes with a 5 year guarantee against cracking. The retail price of the line where I purchased it is $89.99 (Canadian Dollars). The Airflow website is located at: www.flylines.com/

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