New Sunray Proline Max 1 weight medium-head Fly Line Review
The things that first impressed me about this line whilst loading it onto a reel were how slick the surface was & how free of any memory it was. The hardness of the surface did not appear to adversely affect the line’s suppleness & despite Tom’s advice that it needed a gentle stretch before use I found that this was not necessary.
So how did it perform in real life fishing? My first tests were casting on a local small still water using a range of rods from a soft/full action 7’ 6” 1 weight Orvis Superfine to my favourite general purpose river rod, the Sunray Microlite GT 10’ 4 weight. Casting was flawless with all the rods at both short & long range, even the 4 weight. Whilst for most of my river fishing I would very rarely have more than the head outside of the rod tip, the presence of the obvious purple overhang marker ensures that the correct length of line is outside the rod tip when casting longer distances. On my return home I called in to my local chalk stream where I saw a couple of trout on the feed. Despite a brisk easterly wind & the 1 weight line teamed up with the 10’ 4 weight Microlite GT I had no problems casting a size 20 nymph the 40’ to the fish on the far side of the river: result a lovely wild brown trout.
Now I must confess to being less than keen on welded loops & this line has one at each end which makes the attachment of backing & leader simple. I normally use either a knotless, Super Glue join, Needle Knot or Nail Knot join with a leader of between 12’ & 15’, plus 3 to 6’ of tippet: these ensure that the join easily slips through the tip ring, avoiding damage to the rod or the loss of a fish due to the join jamming. However, the small, slim, well designed, loop at the tip of this line caused minimal resistance to slipping through the tip ring when I had attached my 12’ 6x leader with a 5 turn half-blood knot, sealed & smoothed with a drop of flexible UV resin.
Since my first trials with the line I have regularly used it to fish small streams with my 6’ 9” 3 weight bamboo rod, teamed up with a leader of 12’ to 20’ & on my local chalk stream, Driffield Beck, on some windy days, with my 10’ 4 weight Microlite GT rod, teamed up with a leader of 16’ to 20’. So far I have used it on a total of 25 days’ fishing. It performs impeccably at both short & relatively long range, roll casts effortlessly & floats well.
I love the delicate presentation of the Sunray Jeremy Lucas 1 weight line & when fishing small overgrown streams the quick loading of the Stuart Crofts line, but The Proline Max is, in my opinion, an ideal ‘All Purpose line’.
To say that I am very impressed with this line is an understatement.