Description
The HEADHUNTER FLY LINE
A TECHNICAL DRY FLY LINE WITH POWER AND FINESSE
We designed the Headhunter Fly Line with the goal of building the perfect fly line for our casting and fishing conditions here on the Missouri River. During peak dry fly seasons, success requires that you deliver your fly with accuracy, power and finesse at medium to long distances. Downstream presentations using a variety of slack line casts are also required. On top of that we live on a windy river, and your line needs to defeat that wind on every cast. Over a year went into the design and testing process, and we think we came up with the perfect line for presenting small flies on long leaders. While we designed the Headhunter Fly Line for the Missouri River, it will perform great anywhere technical dry fly fishing on big water exists.
FEATURES:
- BIG SKY CAMO – Stealthy light gray/blue color that mimics the atmosphere, making it less visible to trout from below, but easily seen by anglers from above.
- PERFORMANCE ZONE – 15’ Lime “Performance Zone” helps an angler identify where the line picks up easily and performs the best while false casting or executing reach and slack-line casts.
- DELTA TAPER – The long “delta’ taper has always been our favorite design, but nailing the proper grain weight and balance can be a trick. Our taper possesses enough mass up front that you can feel the line load and turnover long leaders at shorter distances. But when you want to stretch it out, it with maintain a smooth and tight loop without ‘wandering’.
- OVERSIZED RUNNING LINE – The Headhunter Fly Line is not designed As a distance shooting line. It’s designed to deliver the fly at 25-60’ accurately. So we built the running line larger than the typical weight forward fly line. This helps reduce tangles, increase handling characteristics, and aids in ‘sending’ or ‘feeding’ line after the cast.
- ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY – We designed this fly line with our friends at RIO, and it has all the great features that RIO has developed over the years, including a super slick coating, non-stretch core, high-float tip, and welded loops at both ends.
- A TINY REMINDER – We love fly lines and use a lot of different ones over the course of the season, so we MUST have the line model and weight printed on the line! Not only did we print the model and weight, we added one of Mark Raisler’s dry fly motto’s to remind you not to drag that Trico through the pod!
- NO BOX SAVES YOU BUCKS – For a small fly shop like Headhunters, a fancy box represents a significant to cost to us and our customers, so we decided that ‘no box’ is the way to go. It’s also better for the environment! (We would love to get rid of the plastic spool, but there’s really no other way to keep the line properly wound up and transfer it to the reel without making a mess.)
PERFORMANCE ZONE
BACKGROUND
Mark Koch –
I had a chance to fish this line last week for 4 days on a Loomis IMX-Pro 9’6wt. The line did everything I could ask of it, from throwing small double dry rigs on a 15′ leader to foam hoppers on a 9′ leader. The surprise was that this was the best roll casting line I have put on this rod. Other than operator errors, the line allows pin point accuracy when casting into very tight windows. The color change gives a fast visual indication as to how much line is out of the rod. Pickup is very easy any time the yellow is at or out of the tip top. This line does not make hunting heads on the MO with dries easy but, it does make it easier. Thank You to John and Mark for taking the time to create this wonderful tool.
Chris (verified owner) –
I tested this line on the Delaware system and “Ranch” of the Henry’s Fork with a G Loomis Asquith 5 wt all summer. Perfect line for technical slack line casts and feeding line. Nice evolution of the triangle taper design.
Next up is to try it on a 4 weight Thomas & Thomas Avantt!
Dave (verified owner) –
I paired the 4wt line with an Orvis Recon 4wt. Great combination. The line loaded the rod easily and turned a longer leader over nicely even with a little wind. I’ll buy another when it’s time.
Mark Raisler –
Thanks Dave! Glad you enjoyed it.
Schultzy –
The REAL DEAL! Buy it… you will be happy.
Frank Zarzeka –
Iv had a Loomis Asquith in a 6wt since they hit the market. I would argue this line could have been made for that rod. Having worked at a fly shop and now guiding for 3 year I have tried just about every high end line on that rod. This is the best one by leaps and bounds. Can toss a sculp zilla a mile as well as big hoppers all day. Then it can present a size 20 bwo on the lake at 60 feet in the evening for sippers with ease. Wish I could get it from Rio on pro deal but it’s that good I’ll pay full price from Mark and John.
Mark Raisler –
Thanks Frank for the review. Yeah not available on RIO site. A proprietary fly line made by dry fly fishers, for dry fly fishers. Glad you like it! Thanks again!
Chris Z (verified owner) –
I want to amend my previous review and add that the HH5 weight is absolute money on the new Scott Centric!
Now I hope that the new Rio Slickcast version is coming soon….:)
Marcus Mattioli (verified owner) –
This is such an awesome line! I’ve got it in the four and five weight. My favorite dry fly line I’ve fished so far – makes really stable and reliable loops with long leaders on my 590 Sage LL.
Jon S (verified owner) –
CAUTION: THIS LINE WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER FISHERMAN AND SAVE YOU $$$
Supremely executed by the good folk at Headhunters. If reach casts and technical drifts are your game, look no further. Make the right presentation –> less false casts –> decrease the % chance of spooking a happily rising trout –> catch more trout –> save $20 – $50+ compared to the newest / latest / greatest out there. Well done + thanks so much!
PS – this is also a great all around line for all your trout fishing needs. Get some!
Steven Painter (verified owner) –
I put this line on a 6wt helios 3, other lines wouldn’t load the rod satisfactorily for me and didn’t want to put a 7wt line on it. Bingo ,this line is perfect and the color change is a Godsend