After my experience on my last outing with floating and sinking lines I decided to buy a new intermediate fly line. I have one, but its old and I have no idea of the sink rate so I thought it about time to do things properly. After a lot of research it was a toss-up between the Airflo Sixth Sense Intermediate or the Cortland Blue 444 and the Airflo narrowly won. Being more of a modern line using new technology it seemed very different to my other rather classic floating lines and I thought it might be interesting to use something more geared towards pro’s and competition anglers (turns out it may now come in handy while fishing our first competition in May this year!).
On first look the Airflo Sixth Sense feels like a top quality line and setting up a new cartridge for my reel was very easy. There was no coil when taking line onto the reel (a problem I’ve had in the past with other lines where it seems to twist as you wind it on and you’re left with a very coiling line when it comes off your reel again) and it felt smooth and straight.
So last week I took it out for a test run on the water. Armed with a box full of newly tied lures and nymphs I headed off to Buckland Lakes over in Gravesend for a morning. Unfortunately, while it looked nice and sunny and calm here in Kent, by the time I got to the lake it was freezing cold and blowing a hoolly…again! Still, it’s good practice casting in the wind…isn’t it!
After a few hours of battling the wind trying various flies one thing came apparent, the Airflo line was behaving perfectly, even in the strong wind. Despite a lack of any sign of any fish fishing with the Airflo Sixth Sense was a joy. There is almost no memory on this line at all which I think is down to what its made of. It flies through the rod and is easy to cast and with the wind behind my back I was easy getting 30 yards or more of line out. Although the line is green, about 10 yards from the end is an orange marker built into the line itself. I imaging this might be useful when using the hang method on a boat but to be honest I didn’t use it much from the bank. It is a good indication of how much line you have left in the water so I suppose that does help.
Without much activity in the water I decided to try a booby on the point and a nymph on a dropper and let it sink as much as possible. After a few casts and quite close in to the bank I had a take and this is where the Airflo Sixth Sense really surprised me. Because its made of a non-stretch material there is almost no give in the line which means you feel the slightest of takes. What I felt when retrieving my line was a very short tug and wriggle and then it felt like I’d caught bottom. I wasn’t quite prepared for how much I felt on the line and it confused me to start with. I thought I’d caught some weed deep down but what I actually felt was the fish grabbing and twisting and pulling back against the line. Once I’d realised I had a fish on the end and pulled back into it properly the fish did the same and took off! After a good 10 mins a whopping great lump of over-wintered trout around 4/5lb came in having taken the booby. Great fish and a 10/10 for the Airflo line. I’m really looking forward to using this line more over the next few months especially from a boat.