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RIO’s InTouch Striper lines are built with RIO’s ultralow stretch ConnectCore Technology for the modern striper angler, with easy casting, front-loaded heads. There are three line types within this series: 1) A full floating line, 2) an intermediate sinking line with luminous running line, and 3) A series of 30 ft long sinking head lines with intermediate running lines. Each sinking line is density compensated and allows anglers to stay in touch with the fly. Welded loops on both ends of all lines make for fast rigging.
8 wt version. Review is as follows: The line is 280 g for the first 30 ft of fly line head. This is two fly line sizes up from a normal 8 wt line, which should be 210 g and is actually a 10 wt equivalent. I could not get it to cast well on an 8 wt, but threw it with a 10 wt fly rod (TFO Clouser) and it cast 20 feet farther and allowed me to get good and proper loops. I imagine that this would be better fit with a 9 or 10 wt fly rod when throwing long distance in the surf for striper, but did just fine on the 8 weight inside of 50 feet. I ended up making this my dedicated 10 wt intermediate line. This is not a knock against the line performance. It just does not fit my casting style. I was casting with a medium fast action rod (Fenwick Aetos). With a very stiff action fast rod, it may make a very fast 8 wt come to life. Note that the Rio Intermediates are a full two line weights heavy, while some of the other makers are usually about 1 line weight heavy with saltwater intermediates. I found that I do much better on long casts with longer head fly lines on the beach and have been using a freshwater salmon taper line with a 65 foot head on my 8 weight and can bomb it way farther than the "Saltwater" lines, but my casting style keeps more line in the air and relies less on shooting 40 feet of line from a stripping basket. This line would probably do great on quick shots from a boat.
