Jim Murphy, the founder of Redington and former president of Hardy North America has teamed up with Barclay family, owners of the Douglaston Salmon Run on New York's Salmon River, to bring a new name to the worlds of fly and spin fishing. The new company, called Douglas Outdoors, will debut their lineup of new fly rods, fly reels and spin rods at this years IFTD/ICAST show this July in Orlando, Florida.

The Douglaston Salmon Run (DSR) is a privately-held 2.5 mile stretch of water on the lower reaches of the Salmon River, managed primarily as a catch and release fishery, where the number of fisherman admitted via the DSR's pay-to-play admittance system is limited each day. The run is one of the bright spots on the Salmon -- an amazing fishery with dizzying counts of salmon, steelhead and big lake-run brown trout -- which is persistently prevented from becoming one of the true jewels of the lower 48 by the massive hordes of rod-wielding dimwits that descend on the river each autumn to drink, litter and "fish" in often elbow-to-elbow conditions, snagging and lining the vast majority of each day's "catch", all the while generally balking in the face of conservation-minded principles and ethical outdoorsmanship. The DSR, for the last several decades, has offered a respite from these conditions and a chance to experience the Salmon River's true potential.

Airflo has long been the go-to fly line maker for countless spey and switch casters and there are many saltwater anglers that trust Airflo lines first and foremost. But despite their success in those arenas, Airflo hasn't had a strong reputation in the world of traditional, single-handed trout fishermen. With its latest generation of fly lines, which it has coined SuperDRI, Airflo is seeking to put that reputation squarely behind them, openly acknowledging the issues of old and making bold claims about their latest technologies.

Most of Airflo's issues with earlier generations of trout lines came down to those lines not floating high enough or long enough. Airflo's ridge technology has always performed well, helping to produce long-shooting casts; and Airflo's dedication to using polyurethane to construct their lines instead of PVC has always introduced its bevy of benefits (less cleaning/maintenance required, resistance to Deet, gasoline, sunblock and other chemicals that eat other fly lines, etc). But, despite those accolades, floating trout lines need to float and those that don't float well are going to let people down.

Even though I liked Airflo's last go-round in the trout world -- which included the Ridge Supple Tactical Trout line -- better than most, there were some occasions when I was frustrated by the head sinking during long drifts. So, when I heard from Airflo that they had a new line in the works that not only aimed to solve the floating issue but also featured technology that Airflo was unabashedly touting as "game changing", I was pretty stoked to get one on the water.