We’ve been working on the design of our first fly line. We want it to perform well at everyday fishing distances, with a construction that stands up to demanding use.

We started by analysing the range of tapers commonly used in fly lines: how head length, weight distribution and the tapered sections work together. This has helped us understand the trade-offs in each design and identify combinations that make sense for the fishing we do. Our guide to choosing a fly line explains what these features mean on the water.

We’ve also consulted scientific publications on casting mechanics. These include Spolek’s study of fly-line dynamics (1986), Gatti-Bono and Perkins’ physical and numerical modelling work (2002), and the model by Ekander, Perkins and Richards (2025), which examines the behaviour of the rod, line, leader and fly together.

These papers give us a better understanding of how energy moves through a cast, how air resistance affects it and how the rod, line, leader and fly work together. That helps us make informed design choices, but we still need to take the prototypes out and see how they fish.

From this work, we’ve prepared several of our own profiles for prototyping. The versions differ in head length, weight and the shape of the tapers — the sections where the line becomes thicker or thinner. We want to see how these changes affect rod loading with a short length of line outside the tip, control of the line in the air and presentation.

We want to be able to connect what anglers feel when casting with measurable differences between the prototypes. To do that, we’ve set weight targets for the first three metres, the first six metres, the standard thirty-foot section and the full head. We’ll take measurements at other points if we need a closer look at a particular section.

We’re also talking to manufacturers about the materials, coatings and finishes available for our designs. Those discussions will help us choose a construction that delivers the tip flotation, slickness and durability we’re looking for.

Next, we’ll test the prototypes on the river with local anglers, using different rods in a range of conditions. Those tests will help us choose a taper and decide what needs adjusting before production.

This is just the first step. We’ll share our progress along the way.