# Rio Direct Core flats pro stealth tip



## k-roc (Feb 8, 2018)

I have this line in both 8 and 11 weights. I plan on using the 8 for snookin' on the beach and was going to give the 11 a shot on spooky oceanside poon. I figure this way I can use a slightly shorter leader which should be easier to turn over.
The "30%" less stretch in the core is new for Rio, I normally use Airflo lines as they don't stretch at all, awesome for solid hook sets!
I'll be in Florida the last two weeks of April, I let you know how the lines work out.


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## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

Let me know how the 11 wt goes. I had the same thought for the spooky oceanside tarpon.


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## k-roc (Feb 8, 2018)

I will. I fish DIY for most of the time but in the Keys I've got a sweet guide I've been using for the last three years. In 2016 I showed up with the Airflo clear tip line, thinking that would help oceanside. My guide wouldn't let me use it. The clear tip on that line is 12' long, it makes it harder to track the fly. The Rio only 6' of clear tip, so that should be fine.


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## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

Guess k-roc and I will be the forum guinea pigs. I got a flats pro stealth tip on my 11 wt and a the normal floating flats pro on my 12 wt. Got them for free so that's always a good start. 

I have cast the 11 wt in my yard and it cast exceptionally well. The rec recoil guides on my tarpon rods tend to be very noisy and especially rough feeling with any sort of textured line. This line is smooth and silent so it's already an improvement over my SA line in that respect.

Will report back after I have had a chance to fish with them.


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## Rick hambric (Jun 24, 2017)

k-roc said:


> I will. I fish DIY for most of the time but in the Keys I've got a sweet guide I've been using for the last three years. In 2016 I showed up with the Airflo clear tip line, thinking that would help oceanside. My guide wouldn't let me use it. The clear tip on that line is 12' long, it makes it harder to track the fly. The Rio only 6' of clear tip, so that should be fine.


Guess he’d play hell with my Cortland clear tarpon....


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## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

el9surf said:


> Did anyone use this clear tip line for poon fishing last year? I know there was another thread on the flats pro in general but not specific to the clear tip.


I don't believe they introduced the line until last year's iCast. So....


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## texasag07 (Nov 11, 2014)

el9surf said:


> Guess k-roc and I will be the forum guinea pigs. I got a flats pro stealth tip on my 11 wt and a the normal floating flats pro on my 12 wt. Got them for free so that's always a good start.
> 
> I have cast the 11 wt in my yard and it cast exceptionally well. The rec recoil guides on my tarpon rods tend to be very noisy and especially rough feeling with any sort of textured line. This line is smooth and silent so it's already an improvement over my SA line in that respect.
> 
> Will report back after I have had a chance to fish with them.


I’ll be interested to see if it starts cracking or the running line becomes really stiff once it’s a year or two old. That’s been the fate of all my Rio lines, and why I stopped buying them.


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## el9surf (Dec 23, 2008)

texasag07 said:


> I’ll be interested to see if it starts cracking or the running line becomes really stiff once it’s a year or two old. That’s been the fate of all my Rio lines, and why I stopped buying them.


Good to know. I haven't had that issue on my bonefish quick shooter yet which is a couple years old. My main issue with Rio in the past is they tangle really bad. So far from what I can see the flats pro does pretty well in that respect.


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## k-roc (Feb 8, 2018)

Rick hambric said:


> Guess he’d play hell with my Cortland clear tarpon....


Yeah he would! Back in the day when tarpon flies were big, it wouldn't have mattered. Now when you're two hand stripping a tiny worm fly, it helps to have a line you can see.


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## k-roc (Feb 8, 2018)

Hey guys, I'm back from a couple weeks in Florida. I used this line a lot for beach fishing and it was quite good.
Then I spent three days in the Keys with the 11 wt. First evening fish on our SUPs may have turned out to be a defining moment in our lives. We launched on the west side of one of the longer Keys bridges around 5 pm. As we were inflating our NRS Ospreys, which takes 10-15 min. of intensive pumping, we could see a group of 50 or so tarpon lazily daisy chaining. Happy fish, right there. It makes it hard to concentrate on getting the boards ready and rods rigged, I will tell you that much. Anyways by the time we got out there, these fish started to move along and we kind of screwed them up a bit too.
Luckily we got another chance. Another pod of fish started to swim directly at us, 80-100 fish, rolling happily. My wife would be on the outside edge of them, and as I was anchored, they would swim right underneath me.
Deb hooked up right away, which blew my mind, and then I watched in crystal clear water the school swim right under my board.... Wow. That is quite the sight. Deb got a tangle in her Airflo Tarpon line and got a few amazing jumps before the fish broke off. Not a bad way to end it seeing as we are on SUPs...
I hooked up twenty minutes later when a small string of fish came by. I was looking directly into the sun so i couldnt really make out the best angle for the shot. Trying to clear the line it wrapped itself around the reel handle so I only got a couple jumps too. Pretty spectacular when it's 20 feet from you and on a paddleboard. The bite was on big time, those are two of the easiest hookups we've ever had oceanside! I figured the next two days would be epic fishing on a skiff with an excellent guide...
Next day I had the Flats pro stealth tip rigged up with the same leader, 9 ft. with a 40 lbs. bite. 
I kind of thought that since the line has 5 ft. of clear tip I could get away with the shorter leader. We found out rather quickly that fly line lands heavier on the water than leader and the fish were not impressed. We ended up fishing a regular Keys type leader of 12 to 14 feet. I didn't notice much difference success wise between this clear type line and the Airflo on our other rod.
One thing I liked about the Rio is it has three tones: The head is half blue, half coral, while the running line is tan. This for sure helps you figure out how much line to strip off your reel.
The Airflo Tarpon line we have is all the same color... Is anyone fishing the current Airflo Tarpon line? Is it two tone now?
The Rio Flats pro was def. more supple than the Airflo, is really slick (as it should be, right out of the box) and didn't tangle very often. I did give it a good stretch when I first put it on.
It's a very good line but not a game changer like I thought it would be.

In the end the oceanside fish were not nearly as happy while fishing with our guide! I had 4 or 5 eats over two days and failed to seal the deal. It seems as if the bites were right at the end of my strip, which makes it super hard to set. I landed a decent baby out in the backcountry as a consolation prize.
My wife managed an oceanside fish, it was a weird fight though as the fish didnt leave his group and just kept swimming with the large string. It broke off after about 15 minutes...


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