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The Philosophy
Spook Less. Hook More. Land More.
Over the last 30 years fly rods have become stiffer. Fly lines have become thicker to bend these stiffer rods. Stiff rods offer little shock absorption for tippets so you lose fish. They are unpleasant to cast and they can cause shoulder, wrist, back injuries.
The thinking behind stiff rods is that they cast into a wind and they have power to play large fish. The reverse is true. Stiff fly rods need heavy, thick fly lines to load them. A thick fly line has more air resistance and lands more heavily. As for power, most people only play fish with the top 1/3rd of a stiff rod because they are scared of bending the rod down to the handle. They're scared because they know they will snap the tippet especially if a fish shakes it's head.
Sunray Fly Rods are softer so you can bend them fully into the handle, which means you are using the entire rod, not just the tip, to play a fish. That's where the power comes from, the butt. More importantly the load is spread over the entire length of the rod which offers greater protection for the tippet. You lose fewer fish.
Sunray Fly Lines are thinner so they cut through the wind and land more gently. They offer less drag in water when playing fish so you can use lighter tippets.
History of Thinner Fly Lines
Silk fly lines are much thinner than PVC floating fly lines. It's no coincidence that older cane & bamboo fly rods had smaller rings. They were also softer in action due to the materials. Rods didn't need all the power they have now because the lines were thinner and cut the air much more easily.
Reducing the diameter of the projectile has a profound domino effect on all the other components of the fly fishing system. If the rod you are using is now softer, you have more shock absorbency in the fly rod. That means you can use lighter tippets, which generally means you spook fewer fish and hook more fish. The rod bends more and protects the tippet so you land more fish.
FAQ's
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Match the line weight to the rod rating. For instance, if you have a 7 weight rod get a 7 weight line.
If the rod has 2 numbers on it (6/7 for instance) then match it with the heavier number, 7 in this case. If it's rated 7/8, get an 8 weight line and so on. -
Here is a video showing how to use the Overhang Marker®️
https://youtu.be/a76mJbqvA4I
You can find all lines with overhang markers here;
https://sunrayflyfish.com/collections/fly-lines-with-overhang-markers
The number 1 fault we see when teaching is when people slip line into their false casts, lengthening line each time until they have too much line in the air to handle. They think that by increasing the amount of line in the air before you make the final cast, you will get further. This is rarely the case.
The real solution is to have the optimal amount of overhang before you make the final cast.
To start, try using the overhang marker just out of the rod tip, if the cast doesn't work, bring some line in and bring the overhang marker to your hand. Keep trying different positions of the overhang marker until the cast works.
We made a 1 hour livestream on the topic here
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=842238719878928
If you need more instruction we recommend joining Masterclass herehttps://sunray.mykajabi.com/sales-page-4cd40cdf-ce4b-4053-a619-d7f17d0e08e5
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The best floating line for beginners we make is the competition float line because it has an all round head length suitable for small lakes, big lakes and rivers.
https://sunrayflyfish.com/collections/fly-lines/products/competition-float-2020-with-overhang-marker
If you have only a little back casting space then you are better with the Short Head because it loads the rod quicker and shoots further.
https://sunrayflyfish.com/collections/fly-lines/products/short-head
Both lines feature the overhang marker which is a visual aid that helps beginners and experts alike to make consistently good casts. You can see the overhang marker in action here;
https://sunrayflyfish.com/pages/what-is-the-overhang-marker?_pos=1&_sid=34fe08f40&_ss=rhttps://youtu.be/md65RQwO5ZA
If you feel you don't need a visual casting aid then get the lower cost Proline here:
https://sunrayflyfish.com/collections/fly-lines/products/proline-float
The most used sinking lines are intermediates, however we make sinking lines all the way down to fast sink and you can find those here;
https://sunrayflyfish.com/collections/sinking-fly-lines -
That depends on your situation so we made a video to explain the basics here
https://youtu.be/VUUnFZEK3rM -
Before every fishing session apply Lineslik to the entire length of floating lines. Apply only to the running line on sinking lines.
At the end of the season wipe the line with a damp cloth on the entire length then apply Lineslik
https://sunrayflyfish.com/products/lineslik -
You can find all the specifications on our lines here (the proline is the same taper and weight as the Competition 2020)
https://sunrayflyfish.com/pages/fly-line-specs
To understand fly line weight and taper design more, please read this blog
https://sunrayflyfish.com/blogs/news/5-problems-with-fly-line-design-and-the-broken-aftm-system