You’ve heard it and probably said it: “Well, it’s both an art and a science.” Usually, the “it” is something we’re doing that blends the facts (science) with our own creativity or flourish (art). And when done right, the intersection of art and science typically produces something pretty cool.
Our hunting and fishing endeavors blend both art and science, and fly fishing, especially, is often lauded as the most artistic of all.
Tying trout flies is itself a form of art as it mimics the science of a particular stage of a particular mayfly. Anglers follow the science of how trout hold in specific areas of the river based on dissolved oxygen content, water temperature, food sources, and energy preservation, yet there’s no denying the art when you hold an intricately painted brook trout in your hand.
There are fewer things as artistic as casting a fly line. Look no further than the pages-long description of Norman Maclean’s brother Paul and his “shadow casting” on the Big Blackfoot in Montana in “A River Runs Through It.” Casting as “art” is referenced several times by their father in their early instruction, and clearly his sons took it to another level.
It is this artistic dance of the fly cast — a precise ballet of line twirling around our heads in arcs and loops that walk the line between control and chaos — that the Midland, Michigan, company Scientific Anglers strives to improve every day. Indeed, on their website, they sum it up succinctly as “The science behind your art.”
And once again, at this intersection of art and science, they recently dropped a game-changer of a new fly line for saltwater fishermen.
Around since 1945, Scientific Anglers is the “oldest manufacturer of modern fly lines in the world,” said marketing manager Joe Wolthuis. “Our team is small, consisting of 37 people from our manufacturing, shipping, front office, and sales/marketing.”
Impressive for a company turning out revolutionary products used globally. “We have dealers all over the world from Europe to Chile, New Zealand, Japan, one of our Ambassadors, Jeff Currier, recently went to New Guinea fishing [the lines] in the jungles.”
Fly fishermen can thank SA for much of the science behind the improvement of fly lines and, subsequently, our casting over the years.
“Scientific Anglers has always led the industry in producing innovative products that provided fly anglers with fly lines that met our expectations for slickness and durability,” said Wolthuis. “In 2017, SA introduced our Amplitude series of fly lines that included our patented AST+ slickness technology, which significantly increased durability and slickness in fly lines.”
AST is short for Advanced Shooting Technology and was introduced in 1998; it can be credited as beginning “a new ‘slickness craze’ in fly-line manufacturing,” according to the SA website. Clearly, SA doesn’t rest on their laurels, for the 2017 release of AST+, as Wolthuis referenced, takes it up a notch.
While some of that might be lost on the average angler — which includes this writer — there’s no denying the effectiveness and ease of casting of modern fly lines. And now, released late last month, is SA’s newest addition to the family and the fly line industry as a whole: the Magnitude fly line.
“Magnitude fly lines were developed with the intent of providing saltwater anglers a clear floating fly line for the spooky, highly pressured fish,” Wolthuis explained. “Clear floating fly lines are not new to the market; other manufacturers have had them on the market, but they came with all kinds of problems.
“When we made the decision to develop a clear floating fly line, it was to solve for the issues we saw in the market,” Wolthuis continued. “Low durability and ‘stickiness’ of the coating were things that anglers put up with because there wasn’t a better option. A tarpon guide [recently] told me, ‘Obviously the biggest issue with clear lines is memory and knots. These [Magnitude series of lines] didn’t have any of that, which is impressive.’”
As with anything in the research and development field, the product isn’t just made and taken to market. Wolthuis told me that the Magnitude line was three years in development with more than 2,500 hours of field testing using “many different iterations of slickness and materials as we qualified and tested them. You can’t go out and buy a fly line machine; our team engineers and builds those in house to our specifications.”
Curious, especially with such a small staff, I asked Wolthuis how, in the huge and diverse world of fly fishing — fish species, weights of fly rods, locations, water conditions, the angler’s experience level, and everything else that comprises the sport — does SA conjure an idea to innovate. Their long history in the industry gives them a leg up.
“We have a strong network of anglers who we work with,” Wolthuis replied, “from listening to dealers from all over the world, fishing guides, our internal team of passionate anglers. A fly line generally has a very specific purpose and environment that it is designed for. It could be developed for delicate dry fly presentations on trout rivers in northern Michigan, to fishing tarpon in tropical environments, which require different material formulations.”
An idea in hand, what happens next? After the construction of the material comes, Wolthuis said, “Testing, testing, and testing. Are we using the right coatings? Core? Is the taper loading the fly rod, and will this line do its intended purpose?”
The SA complex in Midland helps provide real-time feedback, too, as does, of course, that same network of anglers who helped provide feedback for development ideas. “We have a casting platform on the pond in front of our office, which is used to test-cast lines as our engineer is designing them. We have an extensive network of professionals in the field who we work with to test and garner feedback from during this process.”
It strikes me as not too big of a stretch that the feedback from the Magnitude fly lines now hitting the market in some of the most competitive, demanding, and discerning of fly-fishing environments — saltwater fishing — that something exciting for freshwater anglers, perhaps impacting our fishing here in northern Michigan, can’t be too far behind.
Although Wolthuis wouldn’t tip his hand, based on SA’s history and successes, you’d be a fool to bet against them.