- William O'Neal
- Jul 6
- 5 min read
As a fly angler, I love to argue about stupid s***. Welded loops versus nail knots. Thanks, Flip! Bimini twist versus the Blind Splice Loop. Thanks, Steve Adachi! But few topics can get us going, like fly lines. And few fly line types spark as many arguments as lines for flats fishing. Some anglers swear by Rio lines, while others only use Scientific Anglers lines. And still others think that the AIRFLO Tropical Punch is the only way to go. This brings me to this article's topic: the Rio Premier Flats Clear Floater Floating Line. If you want to get some s*** started, do what I just did and show up to the flats with two of your rods rigged with this line!
I recently spent two weeks in the tropics chasing mostly permit. I spent a week in Xcalak at Xcalak on the Fly before sneaking down to Belize for some DIY and additional guided action with my boy, Hilian Martinez. But before heading down to the tropics, I reached out to my buddy at Farbank and told him that I’d be interested in checking out the Rio Premier Flats Clear Floater Floating Line.
Because he’s nice, he sent me three variants: 7wt, 8wt, and 9wt. Unfortunately for me, Mother Gaia did not cooperate, so the winds on this entire trip never dropped below 20mph and typically hovered between 25mph and 30mph. With that in mind, I left the 7wt at home and rigged up my Sage Xi3 8wt with a Hatch Iconic 7+ and Sage Xi2 9wt with a Hatch Iconic 9+ with the Flats Clear Floater and headed to paradise.
Walking out onto the docks with these rods immediately got folks’ attention. At first, everyone thought I was throwing an intermediate line. Upon finding out that it was a full clear floater, everyone was eager to try it out. The thing to know about the Flats Clear Floater is that it has the same grain weight and casting profile as Rio’s Flats Pro. So, if you like the Flats Pro, you’ll have no problem casting this line. My buddy Ethan, who organized this trip to Xcalak on the Fly, really likes the Flats Pro. He grabbed my 9wt and was easily launching bombs. That said, he was not a fan of the full clear floater because this is where s*** gets spicy, he thinks you can’t see it. While Ethan is a great angler, he’s only caught 4 permit compared to my 13, so what does he know? Of course, he brings up the single biggest issue that people have with clear lines, the fact that you can’t see it. But whatever, does it catch fish?
With the winds on this trip being what they were, the stealth advantages that a full clear line offer wasn’t really an issue. More than anything, the problem on this trip was getting the fly in front of the fish. The Flats Clear Floater, similar to the Flats Pro, is a relatively light line, and while it worked well in the Bay when we were protected from the winds, I actually found myself spending most of the time casting a Sage Salt HD with Rio’s Tropical Outbound Short. I usually don’t like to chase permit with this line because, while it casts big flies great in windy situations, it’s heavy, and sensitive fish don’t seem to like it. But, as I mentioned before, it was windy as Hell, and the surface was lumpy. And if there was any doubt that these fish were sensitive, well, I caught this tiny little permit on the Tropical Outbound Short.
I was standing on the bow, and this school was about 20 to 30 feet directly in front of me. I didn’t so much as cast to them as loudly plopped the fly right in the middle of the school, and they hammered the Itchy Scratchy that my buddy Brandon tied.
Having landed my first Xcalak permit, it was time to head to Belize. With that in mind, my buddy Marc and I went on what turned out to be a rather epic trip from Xcalak to Ambergris Caye to meet up with our buddy Pete Fazzini. I’ll write about that experience in a later blog.
On my first morning in Ambergris Caye, I headed to town to meet up with Pete and Hilian. Hilian is a god when it comes to finding permit, and he has no problem finding fish. Similar to my week in Xcalak, the winds were brutal, ranging from 20 mph to 25 mph. When the winds are like this, I have a theory about chasing permit. If you can’t get the fly in front of the fish, then your line doesn't matter. Due to these conditions, I was actually casting a 10-weight Sage Salt R8 with a Rio Premier Tarpon Clear Tip Floater. I used this line the previous week in Xcalak, and while I was getting my flies in front of fish, they didn’t like it. The same thing happened on my 1st morning with Hilian. I was casting this heavy ass line with a heavy ass crab, and my casts were landing perfectly in front of schools of permit and they did not like it. Hilian barked at me, “Grab that lighter line.” He meant my Sage Xi2 9wt with a Hatch Iconic 9+ with the Flats Clear Floater. Despite the winds, my first cast was right on the money; a couple of strips and bam! Fish on!
Having achieved success with the Flats Clear Floater, I decided to throw that setup the rest of the day. Hilian, Pete, and I discussed the line at length. Hilian even took several shots with it, and while he liked the way that it cast, he said that with more novice anglers, it would be difficult because he would have a hard time telling them what to do. There were times throughout the day when he had to trust that I knew where the fly was. Seeing that I’ve been fishing with Hilian for years, and we know each other very well, the stealthy advantages offered by the line are advantageous, and the fact that he couldn't see it wasn't a huge problem.
Having spent two weeks with the Flats Clear Floater, I’m actually sold on it. I spend most of my time in the flats chasing permit DIY, and since I’m alone, it’s not like anyone else has to know where my fly and line are. It’s just me. Also, when I’m walking the flats, my shots tend to be short and stealthy, and this line is perfect for that.
Well, as I write this, I’m headed back to Belize for three weeks, where I’ll spend two weeks at Rocky Point Permit Camp chasing permit DIY and a week in town doing guided fishing with, you guessed it, Hilian. Which setup do I intend to use while I’m there? While I’ll invariably bring entirely too much stuff, my go-to setups will be my Sage Xi3 8wt with a Hatch Iconic 7+ and Sage Xi2 9wt with a Hatch Iconic 9+ with the Flats Clear Floater. And that says everything you need to know about this line.
