Scientific Anglers Wavelength Titan Prepare for Launch

07.44 in anglers, Boat Plans, burkheimer, for, i, launch, love, my, prepare, scientific, titan, wavelength, why

When you hear the word "Titan" do you think about fly lines? Or Saturns largest moon Titan, Or the Titan Missile that was in use for more than 45 years that included early manned space flights known as project Gemini, Or the Greek Mythology were the Titans are giant deities of incredible strength who ruled the legendary Golden Age. The common denominator of the word Titan is clearly defined by size, strength and power. Can a fly line really be compared to such greatness!

Wavelength Titan

Wavelength replaces the Textured series. A short history...first came Sharkskin than Textured. Textured was a softened up version of Sharkskin. In 2014 Sharkskin was refined into Sharkwave. For 2016 Textured gets refined into Wavelength. Within the Wavelength Series you will find MPX, Titan, Trout, Nymph/indicator, Grand Slam and Tarpon. For the purpose of this article I am just going to focus on the Wavelength Titan and Sonar Titan sinking lines.

Wavelength Titan

Titan

Titan came out a few years back after all the hype of the Sharkskin/Textured lines had come and gone. I said it as soon as I fished with the Titan that this was probably the best ever of the textured lines that I have ever fished (and Ive fished them all) but unfortunately no one will be willing to try it after so many mixed reviews regarding Sharkskin. I liked the Textured Titan and continued to use it despite the hazing I took for fishing with a textured line. After a couple years it gradually grew a steady following. In that period I found several other dedicated users with similar opinions about the line. S/A noticed and decided to lock in this taper and expand on it. Look today and you will find this specific "Titan" taper in the Wavelength, Mastery and Sonar Series of lines. I think that says something for it. Its here to stay. What makes this particular taper successful is while in general it is a bumped up shooting head type of line that provides easy turnover of large flies it also incorporates enough rear taper to make it far more friendly and versatile than other shooting head lines. More versatile in the way of easier mending, more flexible pickup / cast positions, better shoot-ability with its textured surface and just more friendly fish-ability.

Conquered with Titan

In general most shooting lines are very straight forward, you strip in to the head, make your cast, strip back in to head and repeat. This is great when all youre doing is bombing distance cast. But the problem with this is what happens when you get that surface strike and go to set the hook...Swing and a miss! You want to get that fly back on the target as quick as possible but your standard shooting head line has you scrambling to strip back to the head to make another cast. Your traditional shooting head line is in the thin running line section and cannot transfer the energy properly to get the fly back to where the strike occurred. You struck out! Titan gives you that little added benefit of getting your fly back and getting the hit with a little bit of added rear taper that allows for a more flexible pick up point. Titan also requires less energy to lift off the water due to its reduced friction from the textured surface allowing you to utilize that energy into the backcast for increased rod load enabling an easier long forward re-cast back to the specific target. I have witnessed and done this time and time again and the benefit is clearly evident especially when you are target specific fishing.

The best uses I have found for this line is predator fishing such as bass, pike and musky. It can be a good carp line if your bugs are on the big or weighted side such as in the picture above. That is a great lakes carp caught with a weighted craw pattern. Titan was perfect for that catch. It can also be a great trout streamer line both from a boat or wading. Easily handles nymph/indi fishing from a boat too. Im sure you could find other uses as well. Tell us what you use it for in our comments.

In my words Titan is a modern powerful big fly, easy turnover taper that excels at shooting distance and yet retains some handling properties of a bumped up general purpose fly line.

Specific Textured Characteristics - The Good, Bad and Myth!
Titan is a textured line and while texturing has some great characteristics it has also has some bad rap mostly originating from the original Sharkskin Series of lines. Let me address the good, bad and mostly myth about these lines.

Tamed with Titan!

They will cut your hands! While the original sharkskin was very roughly textured the Wavelength lines are no were near as sharply textured as sharkskin was. Is the textured surface noticeable, sure! My take on this is you are going to be handling and stripping line all day than you really need to wear some stripping gloves no matter what line you fish with whether it smooth or textured. If you cant stand gloves than get some Stripping Guards by Buff. The payoff of gloves or stripping guards with any fly line is better strips and no line burns.

Noisy in the guides! Again nothing compared to the original sharkskin lines. Do they make a little noise, yes! Is it a problem, No! Its actually a benefit that I will explain next.

Less friction! Textured lines strip easier, haul easier and lift off the water easier. I would question anybody who wants to make an argument about this! I very much appreciate less friction after long days of repeated target casting.

Higher floating! Not only is this a great feature in itself but also contributes to easier lift from the water.

Shoots farther! I want to mention that not only it this noticeable with a new line right out of a package but textured lines continue to shoot great day after day and year after year. My original Textured Titan line is 5 plus years old with countless hours of use and still shoots and performs great!

Heat resistant! Im dont know if this has anything to do with the textured surface but I noticed this past summer in mid day high temps when a couple of my OTHER lines where reaching melting point and NOT behaving well while wilting in the mid day heat but my Titan continued on shooting with no trouble at all. Likewise I have fished it right down to freezing temps and still handles good.

The sinking Sonar Titans have arrived!

New for 2016 for Scientific Anglers is Sonar Series. Sonar Series indicates any premium S/A lines that sink!
Three Titan options here that I want to spend some time on. First understand that all Sonar Titan lines have a textured surface. This alone clearly separates them from the other Sonar Series lines which have a smooth surface. Personally I think the next 3 lines I describe have a significant place in the future of sinking lines due to the popular taper design and the benefit of the textured surface.


Sonar Titan Clear Tip
Think powerful clear streamer tip!

Sonar Titan Clear Tip is a weight bumped, powerful taper for easy turnover of big flies, three color for easy length determination, textured for easy pick up and long distance shooting ability and formulated to suit most temperate environments.

Sonar Titan Intermediate

Many Streamer Anglers are discovering the benefit of going all in with full intermediate lines. Getting the running line under the surface improves your connection to the fly and allows for truer swimming action of streamers.

Sonar Titan Int/Sink 3/Sink 5
Triple Density Sinking fly line! I am already hearing major buzz following this line. Its starts with an intermediate running line section that seamlessly transforms into a type 3 sinking mid section that flows into a type 5 sinking Titan tapered head section of line. Triple Density, full sinking, powerful Titan taper, braided core, made for temperate environments and textured for reduced friction allowing for easier pickups and longer cast. Streamer anglers even if youre not a textured line fan you might ought pay attention to this one. We could easily be looking at a game changer!

Triple Density

From the very first Sharkskin I realized that there was some benefits to textured lines. It just took a few years to bring out those qualities. I continue to use and test new lines all the time and in the past couple of years I find myself comparing lines to the Titan. That says a lot. Titan is not a line for every purpose or everyone but mark my words, "Textured lines like Titan are here to stay!"

Greg Darling 

Gorge Fly Shop Internet Sales Manager | Product Specialist

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

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Why I Love my Burkheimer

05.41 in 14th, Boat Plans, burkheimer, columbia, december, fishing, gorge, i, love, my, report, why

C.F. Burkheimer 7134-4

Spey fishing is a craft. It is alive and evolving, just as art, music and even yoga. 

Like many North-westerners, I started out fly fishing for trout and rather quickly evolved from single hand casting to spey casting. As the progression moves on, we evolve from learning to cast to learning to cast effortlessly. At the same time, we strive to find the best rod, reel and line to fit our personal casting style. Many of us go from fast rods to slower rods, cheap rods to expensive rods, many rods to just a few cherished rods. I feel that if this evolution happens over a long enough time frame that many steelheaders will land with a Burkheimer as the centerpiece of their collection. Some guys just pick a rod and then use it forever, but I am a gear junky, and my current position at a fly shop allows me to push it to the limit if I choose. I am constantly striving to improve; improve my cast, my rods, reels, lines, flies, presentations, gear, attitude and the quality of my fishing time.

This past summer, I began to feel that I had been spey fishing long enough that it I could finally get a Burkheimer. I wouldn’t say that I deserved a Burkheimer or that I had earned a Burkheimer, but the time has come for me to get one. I have now, over thirteen years of spey fishing, owned, or at least fished rods from every rod manufacturer out there. It now occurs to me that they were all just practice rods, learning tools so that when the time came, I could wield the Burkie with the respect that it deserves. I mean, you don’t just give a teenager a new car. Not only does the teen have to learn to drive it properly, he needs to learn how to care for, maintain, and most importantly, respect it before being given the keys.

My friend E bought his first Burkie last winter. I got to cast it just for one run and was absolutely in love with it. The 7119-4 is a beautiful switch rod, perfect for the Hood River in the winter. E fished it for a few months and then one day I noticed he was fishing his Echo again. I asked why he would sell the nicest rod he had ever cast and he said that it was partly because he was afraid that he would break it, but mostly that the rod was too nice for him. He felt that he was not worthy of having such a beautiful stick. At least he recognized it early on, and the time will come for him to buy another some day.

C.F. Burkheimer makes many different models to choose from. I chose the 7134-4. The 13’4” 7wt is a great year-round stick that has a deeper load than the 7127-4 (my second choice). This rod is perfect for Skagit casting and winter steelhead. Not that the 7127-4 isn’t great, but I prefer the deeper load and slower action of this rod compared to the quicker action of the 7127-4. I fished a few different Scandi style lines on the Deschutes, including an Airflo Rage Comapact 450, a RIO Scandi Versitip #7 and a Scientific Anglers UST Scandi 480. All of those lines were a good match to the rod and made casting nearly effortless.

While I thoroughly enjoyed fishing the Scandi lines, I am ready for the winter chrome. My rod is now loaded up with the new Airflo Skagit Compact G2, 540 grain Skagit Head and it is money! Nice, easy, steady strokes result in long, tight loops with minimal effort. Matching this line and rod makes this one of the nicest casting setups I have ever touched.

One of the nicest you ask? I thought that the Burkheimer was the end-all be-all rod, the one rod to rule them all? Well, the Sage ONE 7136-4 is an amazing rod that casts like a dream, so are the Winston BIII TH 7133-4 and the G. Loomis NRX 13’ 7/8. There is a lot of power loaded into this Burkheimer, but it takes a slow, steady stroke to unleash it, and I am still months from pushing the rod to its limits to find the perfect stroke, and then reigning in that cast to perfection. While I would give the edge in pure ease of casting to the ONE (it’s also lighter in weight), the Burkie wins in my book as the best overall rod. It’s the attention to detail, the finish work, the paint job, the hardware, and of course, the mystique that all push the Burkie into a solid first place finish.

The Burkheimer 7134-4 has a similar cast and load to the Winston BIII-TH 7133-4 in my opinion. It has a deep load that responds quickly when power is applied to the forward stroke. While the rod is very forgiving, it still lets you know when you’ve done it right. I believe this rod has a little more flex in the bottom end and has more power in the forward stroke, but it’s pretty darn similar in my opinion. The ONE and the NRX are both faster and a little bit lighter, but the overall weight is not noticeable to me when standing knee deep in the river.

The one place that I really do notice a difference is in the cork. I like a thin grip that is comfortable in hand and beautiful to look at. Burkies have the nicest cork on the market, both in the quality of the cork and the shape of the handle. This goes a long ways for me, as holding onto a rod for 8 hours a day is uncomfortable with some cork handles on the market. This one is easy to hold and helps to create a very relaxed grip. A relaxed grip leads to a relaxed cast, which is what I am searching for in a good rod.

Am I putting my Burkheimer up on a pedestal? It is just a fishing rod. It’s probably much like any other rod from an outsider’s perspective. I know this, but I feel that if any piece of gear in the fly fishing world should be put on a pedestal, it should be a Burkheimer spey rod.

About buying a Burkheimer: C.F. Burkheimer Fly Rods. Build your custom rod in our store

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Andrew Perrault
Gorge Fly Shop | Product Specialist
541.386.6977

"Fly Fish the World with Us"

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