When fishing a floating fly line, no matter if you’re targeting trout or bones, you’re looking for top or shallow water presentation. The last thing you need is the tip of your fly line sinking and messing up your drift or spooking a fish. By having the best floating fly line, these issues and worries will be a thing of the past.
| Image | Product | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Best Freshwater AllrounderScientific Anglers Amplitude Infinity Fly Line |
| Check Today's Price |
 | Best Fly Line For Trout FishingRIO Gold Elite Freshwater Trout |
| Check Today's Price |
 | Best Bonefish LineAirflo Super-DRI Bonefish Fly Line |
| Check Today's Price |
 | Best Technical LineRIO InTouch Perception Fly Line |
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Our Best Floating Fly Lines
Scientific Anglers Amplitude Infinity Fly Line
Overall Score
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Best Freshwater Allrounder
Key Features
- Incredible all-around freshwater line
- Delicate presentations on short or long shots
- The textured coating on the tip makes for excellent floatation
- Low-stretch for top class connection with fish and line control
- AST slickness additive makes shooting the head a piece of cake
- Will take your casting distance to the next level
Tech. Specs
- Taper: Weight Forward
- Weight: 3-9
- Length: 80ft
- Color: Bamboo / Buckskin / Camo
Review
The Scientific Anglers Amplitude Infinity Floating Fly Line is one of the best lines on the market for all-around freshwater fishing. Whether you’re trout fly fishing dry flies, nymph rigs, or sending streamers into a lake full of pike or bass, this floating fly line gets the job done.
This Scientific Anglers floating fly line is a weight-forward fly line that is textured across each line section for top-end performance.
The long front taper is textured for maximum floatation while the shooting head, belly, and running line are all low friction to increase longer distances on your cast. Pushing 60 plus feet will never have been easier.
With the Scientific Anglers Amplitude Infinity Floating Fly Line on your rod, you’ll have tight loops and be able to drop a large stream or micro dry with the same amount of accuracy and delicate presentation.
Scientific Anglers fly lines have also made this a minimum stretch floating fly line. This means a better connection all-around, between you and the line. You’ll be able to feel your casts more, load your fly rod, mend your drift with ease, and pick up the subtlest bites, like when a trout sips your nymph.
RIO Gold Elite Freshwater Trout
Overall Score
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Best Fly Line For Trout Fishing
Key Features
- A super-sensitive low-stretch fly line for bite indication and better hook sets on fish
- The tricolor system shows you what distance you’re casting
- Long shooting head turns over all size trout flies
- Slickcast coating makes for low-friction line shooting and repels oils/dirt
- Max-float tip ensures your line rides high in the water
- Welded loops for easy leader changes
Tech. Specs
- Taper: Weight Forward
- Weight: 2-8
- Length: 80ft
- Color: Tricolour markings
Review
The Rio Gold Elite Freshwater Trout floating line comes in a tricolor system. The front head and taper are green, the rear taper is yellow, and the running line is blue.
This system allows you to understand your casting distances and what part of the line you’re using so you can load up your casts correctly every time and push your casts to the max.
Being a weight-forward floating line, the Rio Gold fly line tapers off quickly at the front into the shooting head. This makes casting easier, gives you tighter loops, and turns over every size trout fly from a micro-nymph to large dry flies, and big streamers.
Rio has also made this a low stretch floating line and covered it with a Slickcast coating. The minimal stretch gives you feel and control for mending and in-air cast corrections plus a better bite indication and hook sets. While the coating ensures minimal friction so your casts go as far as possible.
They have also added a max-float tip to this R-Gold floating fly line so it rides high in the water for camo and great drifts even through strong currents. This is Rio’s best trout fly line.
Airflo Super-DRI Bonefish Fly Line
Overall Score
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Best Bonefish Line
Key Features
- Excellent loop stability for punching into the wind
- Tough welded loops that don’t fail on big bones
- Low-memory for reduced tanglers wading
- Low stretch for solid stip hook sets
- Floats high and with camo for a stealth approach
- Loads fast action rods quickly for a fast longer cast
Tech. Specs
- Taper: Weight forward
- Line Weight: 6-9
- Length: 100 ft
- Color: Ghost Grey/Sandy Tan
Review
The Airflo Super-DRI Bonefish Fly Fishing Line is one of the best saltwater lines on the market. I fished this line exclusively in the Bahamas when stalking big bones and it comes to play.
This Airflo floating fly fishing line makes wading and fly fishing saltwater flats easy. The fly lines are built with low to almost zero memory to ensure the fly lines never coil around your feet and you can make an untangled shot to every fish that you spot.
Being weight forward fly lines they are designed for longer shots and boy do they impress. 60 feet into the wind is no problem with these floating fly lines, and your fly turns over immaculately if you get your loop right.
This is a low-stretch, high floating, fly fishing line that is camo in color to avoid any spooky bones from spotting it. The line offers top-class control for anglers thanks to the minimal stretch, and you get a more direct connection on your strip set so you’ll never miss a hook-up.
The welded loops on these fly lines are micro for reduced visibility to fish, and zero disturbance while stripping. The welded loops are also tough as nails and will stay put even when you’re putting the heat on a 10lb bone.
RIO InTouch Perception Fly Line
Overall Score
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Best Technical Line
Key Features
- Ultra-minimum-stretch fly line for better bite detection and more feel when casting
- Awesome control when mending or lifting the line with your rod
- Slick outer shell with a solid shooting head for great casting distance
- Turns over flies of all sizes with delicate accuracy
- Works for all freshwater species
- Low memory for reduced line coiling and tangles
- Strong low-profile welded loops
Tech. Specs
- Taper:
- Line Weight: 3-8
- Length: 80ft
- Color: Camo/Tan/Gray
Review
The Rio Intouch Perception floating lines are another all freshwater species floating fly fishing line but have been designed specifically for trout with great attention to the inclusion of close to zero stretch.
The lack of stretch is there for your line control and subtle bite detection. You can happily use these max-floatation floating lines when fishing in strong currents with tiny nymphs for trophy trout, and still notice the slightest sip on your fly.
This line control and bite detention transfer to species other than trout too. It’ll give you a more direct connection when strip setting bass and pike, you’ll feel your cast more, load your rod better, and push tighter loops too.
It’s a weight-forward Rio line with a low-friction shell for shooting longer distances but it’s also great for short accurate shots where delicacy is key. Whether you’re throwing a size 2o dry fly to a trout or a big bass fly, this line has your back.
Check our full Rio Perception Fly Line review here.
What to look for when buying a good floating line
Weight Forward vs Double Taper Fly Lines
When it comes to picking fly lines you need to look at the details. Good fly lines will help you to cast short or long and with accuracy, so how do the taper of fly lines affect your cast?
Weight Forward
Weight forward fly lines have a heavy shooting head with a front taper that allows you to load your rod for maximum energy with minimum effort. This means you can make a quick short or long cast with minimal backcasts and punch your line into the wind with ease.
Once the shooting head is out of your rod it’ll pull the running line with it helping your cast get the distance it needs. The front taper helps your dry fly, nymph, or any other fly turn over for a perfect accurate presentation to top it off.
Double Taper
Double taper lines are a little different as they have a lighter head that tapers off into a belly and another taper at the rear, hence the name double taper. Double tapers don’t ‘shoot’ line as such but you can still make a long accurate shot with them.
The benefit of double tapers comes into play when fly fishing big water that requires large rollcasts and effective mending to guide your fly’s drift better. The double taper design means energy flows through the line better, as there is no running line, just a belly with a taper at each end. So when roll casting or mending you get a better energy transfer for easier mends and bigger rollcasts.
Overall weight forward fly lines are the line I choose as they’re more versatile but it’s worth having a double taper fly fishing line in your tackle bag for those bigger water days.
What difference does stretch make with fly lines?
You have probably noticed that every fly fishing floating line featured comes with a minimal stretch design and it makes a lot of difference to the performance of the fly line.
Lower stretch equals better fly line control across the board. Anglers who use these fly fishing lines feel more and have a better connection between the line, their rods, and flies.
Using lower stretch fly lines will help you to manipulate your line with more control so you can mend better, push a better length, and feel your cast more. They will also increase your bite detection and help your hook-up rates, even with a small trout fly.
What gear does your fly line need to match?
As every fly fisher knows, you have to choose a line to match your rod weight, to begin with. Then you can think about how the type of line you choose will complement the flies and the water you plan on fishing.
When fishing for trout, anglers can fish a range of flies from dries to streamers in a single day, and swapping lines out for each fly change is not an option. This means picking a line that matches your rods, the water, the fish, and the rnage of flies you intend to use.
Luckily, most fly fishing lines these days are perfect for turning over every fly size for their intended target species. So the manufacturers have done it for you.
If you’re trout fishing with a WF 5 weight line, it’ll happily turn over every size fly from 22-2. When it comes to bass or fly fishing for pike with an 8 weight rod and line, the head will be made thicker to help you turn a large streamer over.
You can take a look at our post here on the best 5 weight fly line for more information.
Why pick a low-memory fly fishing line?
No matter whether you’re trout fishing or spending days on the flats fishing for a permit, you’ll want a low-memory line.
As a guide, I’ve seen poor memory lines create a missed opportunity a hundred times and it always happens when you have found the ideal water for that GT you’ve been fishing for all day long.
The fish is at the perfect angle, your guest goes to make the shot, you’re watching thinking he’s nailed it, all to see a clump of line memory in a knot that drops the cast short. He sits there, rod in hand wishing he was trout fishing instead so he could have another shot at the fish.
So, low memory lines, make sure you pick them to avoid missing any shots on fish you’ve worked hard for and dreamed of catching your entire life, even when trout fishing.
FAQs
Can you swing flies with floating line?
Yes, you can swing flies with floating line. The heavier the fly, the better the swing. To swing a fly, you need to cast the line across the current, let the line swing downstream, and then retrieve the line with a steady retrieve.
What is the best floating 7 fishing line?
The best floating 7 fishing line depends on what type of fishing you are doing. For trout fishing, a weight forward floating line is a good choice. For fly fishing, a weight forward or double-taper floating line is a good choice. For bass fishing, a braided line is the best choice.
What is the easiest fly line to cast?
The easiest fly line to cast is a weight forward floating line. Weight forward lines are designed to help load the rod for a better cast. The line also has a longer front taper that allows for better accuracy when casting.
What is the best fly line for distance casting?
The best fly line for distance casting is a double-taper line. Double-taper lines are designed to load the rod quickly and provide good line carry. The line also has a longer front taper that helps with accuracy and distance.
When should I replace floating fly line?
Floating fly lines should be replaced when they become brittle or when the coating starts to wear off. In general, a floating fly line should be replaced after about three seasons.
Floating Away
Every floating line I’ve mentioned is excellent overall but which ones are the best?
If you’re looking for the best floating fly line for all freshwater species, the Scientific Anglers Amplitude Infinity Floating Fly Line takes the cake. Its low-memory, maximum float, minimum-stretch, and low friction design make it perfect for all occasions. You’ll be casting longer and have more control over your fly line than ever.
When it comes to saltwater fly fishing for bones, triggers, or permit, the Airflo Super-DRI Bonefish Fly Line is the best fly line to go for. It’s durable against warm saltwater, floats well, has low-memory and it’s awesome for shooting a fly into the wind and letting it drop with delicate accuracy.
Thanks for reading my article, I hope you enjoyed it and found the best fly line for you. It all comes down to casting performance, presentation, and line control at the end of the day. If the line ticks these boxes, you’re on to a winner. Until next time, tight lines.
