Gear Review: Scientific Angler's Sharkwave Fly Line

The start of trout fishing season always involves getting out your gear for a quick inventory and thorough cleaning. If you're like me, then your fly line might have had a few encounters with sharp rocks, tree branches, mud, and the sun. These elements can take a toll on fly lines, which are a critical component of dry fly fishing.

I have learned over the years that new, modern line can be the difference between being in fish all day and struggling to get a good drift. When I saw the new line from Scientific Anglers (SA) arrive in the shop I was pretty stoked to get last year's line on the backup rod and line my old Sage DS with a new treat.

In year's past, Sharkskin line has dominated the field for mending and shooting capability. The idea of a ridged line provides less surface contact with the guides which results in less friction. The same design also reduces friction on the water, allowing the line to pick up super easy and mend like a dream. The downside of this texture is that it would always give you burns while strip setting and abrade your fingers after handling the line all day. For many though, the improvements to fishabilty outweighs the discomfort.

Then came the Mastery Textured Series, which is basically a Sharkskin style line with rounded bumps instead of the sharper bumps found in the Sharkskin. This made the line retain many of the performance aspects but it proved to be much more user friendly. Gone are the line burns on the index finger of your rod hand. Although this line has been my line of choice in the past, it just doesn't preform as well as Sharkskin.

Welcome to Sharkwave - a fusion of the best of both worlds between MTS and Sharkskin lines. This is the world's first triple texture line. SA has given us Sharkskin on the front head, then a color change and transition to a "tactical reference point" of normal fly line, followed by a mastery textured running line.

This allows us to retain the mending ability of Sharkskin and the shooting ability of MTS. Did I mention all three of these sections are different colors for easy visuals? Yep. In addition to effortless mends, these lines will take longer to wear out a guide on the rod and are EXTREMELY memory free. What more could you ask for? How about great at not picking up dirt? This line is a winner!

SA's new Sharkwave line is available in three tapers. The first ( what I chose to purchase) was The Ultimate Trout Taper. This taper is a blend of a medium length front taper, into a average WF head and a very long read taper. This is my preferred trout taper for dry fly fishing as it lends well to soft landings, long casts, and excellent mending control out to around 60 feet. The front taper is powerful enough to turn over nymph rigs as well, though for a fast action nymphing rod I would prefer to fish the GPX taper.

The GPX taper is an extra heavy, short WF head designed for modern fast action rods. The extra head weight allows these rods to load deeper and turns any fast rod into a rocket launcher. This is aided by an awesome shooting line. For turning over streamers and heavy nymph rigs this line is awesome. It does suffer from a slight lack of mending control on long casts in river environments, but it is manageable. In close it performs flawless.

The third taper offered is the Saltwater. This taper is designed for long casts, winds, and spooky fish that you will encounter in flats and beaches.