I recently purchased a Scientific Angler Mastery Texture Series: Titan Taper line. It is a shooting head floating line that has an "aggressive" 33 1/2 ft. head and has a total length of 90 ft. The Mastery Texture Series have small indentations(like a golf ball) that are suppose to help reduce friction and floatation. However, those indentations can be a little abrasive when fishing in saltwater so a finger guard is adviseable. In the past, I have not been a "fan" of shooting head lines as I fish mostly from a boat and don't have to worry about back cast obstructions. The Scientific Angler Titan Taper line is an absolute joy to cast since it easily loads a rod and only takes one or sometimes two "false" casts to be able to often shoot line into the backing with a tight loop. I am a good caster but no expert so I am extremely pleased with the performance of this line. I am using it on medium/fast action 9 ft. 6 wt. rod. Roger
Thanks Roger. I know you said you're not a fan of shooting heads, but have you cast any others enough to give a comparison b/w them? So far my only experience has been with the modern Rio Outbounds. They have a 37' head. I still need an intermediate for my 6wt and I've been considering the Outbound Short which is a 30' head I believe. Is this a cold-water series line? BTW, I'm really not a great caster but I can launch the outbound 60-80ft on the beach - awefull tailing loops and all More like 75-90 ft in my yard. I don't think this has much to do with my skill and more to do with the awesomeness of shooting head lines! haha I need casting lessons.
Good review on the Mastery Texture line Roger. These lines are not as aggressive as the Sharkskin which I would never recommend to anyone that is planning to cast and retrieve a great deal. I have been using the Mastery Streamer Express Intermediate for several years now and I am very pleased, if you let it, it will cast it self. I generally don’t fish in more than 12’ of water so it works perfectly for a bait fish retrieve in moving water.
Roger, How is the Titan running line in regards to tangles and needing to be stretched before fishing it? Thanks, SF
Make sure you keep your line clean, treated and out of the dirt and debris as much as possible. I had a textured line run grooves into my guides from being in the sand a bit. Weren't cheap guides either so I would imagine an inferior metal would wear considerably faster.
I bought a Titan taper to cast with my Echo 10' 8wt recently from Anil as well. I'm mostly a river fisherman, and am able to easily single hand spey and roll cast the line with 10' of T-14 and a cone head 5" rabbit strip fly. The front 5' of the line tapers down, so that even though the line is capable of moving/delivering large flies you aren't splashing about as you would be with a Skagit type taper. The back taper is a nice size to work with, mends well, and I've had no issues with tangles yet. In regards to the texture, I've fished it a few days now and haven't been bothered/irritated at all. It really is a sweet well rounded line that's capable of delivering larger payloads, but I'm really lost as to why S.A. felt in necessary to make the head such a god damned obnoxious orange. I was kind of hoping to fish tungsten head whatnots for steelhead and silvers in late summer clear water conditions, and I'm not certain that's going to be happening with this line now.
I have this line for my 9'6" 6wt & really like it for throwing weighted flies. However I found it to be a train wreck when fishing small unweighted flies such as amphipods, etc. I typically used a 10' polyleader but for small unweighted stuff I had to use a 14'.
Also, just looked it up and it appears it's only offered as floating line. As a reference, the head looks to be about a line wt lighter than an Oubound (6wt: 198g for Titan vs 235g for Outbound Short).
Aggressive front tapered (short front tapered) lines like the “Titan” don’t delay the turnover like a longer taper will. When you are using heavy or wind-resistant flies this is great, because the flies do enough to delay turnover. When using smaller unweighted flies like Amphipods, this can cause the line to turnover prematurely and pile up. “Premature turnover” is an embarrassing problem, but take heart, it happens to most men at some point in their fishing careers.
Thanks for the info! I use the titan line almost exclusively for skating top water patterns particularly 3 1/2 to 4 inch foam head sand lance patterns which are pretty wind resistant. Your info explains why the titan line seems to work so well for me. Roger
