Review of Esoteric Zero Weight, Weight Forward Floating Nymph Line By Dave Southall

Specs: WF 0 weight floating line, FIPS Mouche legal

Length; 89’/26m

Colour: Pale duck egg blue

Core: Braid

Cost: £24.99

The line has a neat welded loop for attaching a tippet/leader. It has a subtle weight forward profile designed to facilitate good turnover. The colour is aimed at reducing visibility when viewed against the sky. Its weight at fractionally over 3g for the first 30’ is virtually the same as Sage’s 00 weight line & a little heavier than the Sunray Micro Nymph line at fractionally over 2g.

I was very impressed with this line, particularly considering the very competitive price. There was no coil-memory when the line was removed from the reel at the start of each day & even without greasing the line floated high all day with no tip-sink. My first tests were with dry flies, as I am an enthusiastic exponent of super-light line dry fly fishing. The line works well with the Esoteric 1 in 4 10’ 6” to 12” Nymph Rod (with which it was supplied) & also with my Sunray Volition 10’ 2 weight & my 8’ Orvis Trident 1 weight rod. Turnover with an 11’ tapered leader & tiny CdC flies was excellent, even into a breeze, & it was easy to generate tight loops that cut through the wind surprisingly well for such a light line. My 11’ leader consists of 7’ cut from the butt of an Essential Fly 12’ 6x tapered leader (tapering from 0.43mm to about 0.2mm) at the end of which I tie a small perfection loop to which I can attach 4 to 5’ of tippet, or for nymphing a semi curly indicator can be attached loop to loop between the taper & tippet.

For nymphing it holds off the water quite well when high-sticking with a long rod such as the Esoteric 1 in 4 nymph rod set at 12’, but I prefer it with the 7’ tapered leader & a 2’ semi-curly bi- or tri-coloured indicator with 5’ or so of tippet. With this setup I can short-line with only 2 or 3’ of line outside the rod tip & easily hold the indicator just above the river surface. However if I want to fish at relatively long distances I can grease up the leader & indicator, laying them & the line on the water.

Super-light lines have four big advantages. Firstly they cause minimal disturbance when they land on the water so are far less likely to spook the fish. Secondly they are more supple than thick lines so flex more freely with vagaries of the surface flow & thus help to delay drag. Thirdly, being so thin & light they cause far less drag when a big fish is being played & so reduce the risk of breakage when using light tippets as it is far easier for the angler to control the amount of pressure being exerted on the fish. Finally they are far easier to mend when required & mending causes less surface disturbance.

This is a good value super-light line that performs well for dry fly or nymphing.