Simon Gawesworth Explains Why the RIO Elite MDC Kit Is RIO’s Most Advanced Salmon Line To Date
The RIO Elite Scandi MDC Kit is the latest salmon line launch from RIO Products and is probably the most useful, and perfectly balanced, salmon line I have ever fished with. Though just released, I have had the pleasure of fishing this system all through the 2025 season across a range of water types and rod lengths. It is hard not to conclude that this is one of the most refined salmon fly lines RIO has ever produced. The improvements in body length, density transition and grain matching make it a genuine step forward.
It replaces what has been the longest running, most versatile salmon line in RIO’s history – the Scandi VersiTip. So it is a brave move on RIO’s part, considering how successful and popular this line has been. However, having had a full season with the new Multi Density Control Kit I can promise you will not be let down by the changes. If you enjoyed the previous VersiTip system, you will really love this one.
What’s Included in the RIO Elite Scandi MDC Kit
Let’s start with what’s in the box. Each kit includes, a floating RIO Elite Scandi Body, a selection of perfectly balanced, multi density RIO MDC Tips supplied in a convenient RIO Mesh Tip Wallet (Note that the floating tips are single density) and a RIO Slickshooter Mono Shooting Line.
There are actually two different kits, the ELITE Scandi MDC Kit Short and the ELITE Scandi MDC Kit Long. The Short Kits are supplied with dual density, MDC 12ft Sink Tips, while the Long Kits have triple density, MDC 18ft Sink Tips. For any given line size, the body will be the same in each kit, it’s just that one has short tips, and one has long tips. Ideally, if your rod is 13ft or longer you’ll be better served with the Long Kit, and with shorter salmon rods and switch rods the Short Kit is the best bet.
Multi Density Control: Smoother Loop Formation and Better Swing Control
The 12ft MDC Tips come in 4 different densities; Floating (single density), Hover/Intermediate, Intermediate/Sink 3, and Sink 3/Sink 5, while the 18ft MDC Tips are available in Floating (single density), Float/Hover/Intermediate, Hover/Intermediate/Sink 3, and Intermediate/Sink 3/Sink 5. These tips come in the box as part of the kit. However, in addition you can buy a really good dredger type tip separately, in a Sink 3/Sink 5/Sink 7 option.
What Makes the MDC Kit One of the Best Salmon Lines Compared to the VersiTip
So, that’s the outline. But if you know and love the old familiar RIO Scandi VersiTips, you’ll want to know what the differences are, and how they affect casting and fishing. For a start, the new system has longer body lengths, especially in the bigger line sizes. This is perfect for the longer salmon rods that we tend to prefer over here compared to our US steelhead-pursuing colleagues. The longer body really smooths out the cast and gives a much better anchor for longer, more powerful casts.
The second benefit is the multi density tips. This is, by far, the best thing about these new Kits. A multi density tip not only casts with infinitely smoother loop formation and turnover, it also allows the fly to track far better when swinging through a pool due to its progressive density increase.
For example, if you go straight from a floating head to a fast sinking tip you get a hinge at the density change – both in casting and swinging. These multi density tips get rid of this issue completely. Better still is that the new manufacturing technology at RIO, which has made such advanced tips and heads possible, now means that the grains per foot at the back of the tip perfectly match the grains per foot at the front of the body. So no more mismatched tip to body sections.
This merging of grain weights results in a seamless energy transfer during the cast, and not the slightest hint of a wave, ripple or hinge point where the two meet – something most multi tip lines suffer from.
Perfectly Matched Grain Weights: Why This Is One of the Best Salmon Lines for Energy Transfer
RIO has really put some thought into this new line and another thing that has impressed me is the addition of a simple colour coded loop system that ensures you don’t mix up tips and bodies. The #5 and #6 body and tips have a white sleeve on the welded loop, the #7s and #8s have a blue sleeve and the #9s and #10s have a grey sleeve. This is such a brilliant idea and makes it easy to always have the right sized tip on the body you are fishing.
I also really like the fact they’ve designed the tips to work on two line sizes. So you can buy the complete kit for, say a #7wt and then only need to buy the body section of the #8wt – using the same tips. This is a great, and very cost effective, idea!
The one other difference is that the new MDC Kits come with a SlickShooter shooting line. RIO’s old Scandi VersiTip systems didn’t come with any shooting line at all, but these new ones come with a hard nylon shooting line. Most European and US anglers prefer hard nylon shooting lines when salmon fishing as they like the easy, and greater, distance it gets. If you are not a fan of this type, then i’d recommend the incredibly popular RIO Elite Metered Shooting Line. However, if you haven’t tried a hard nylon style of shooting line, give the SlickShooter a chuck and you might begin to see the advantages.
Finally, as you would expect, the head and the tips are built on RIO’s ultra-low stretch ConnectCore Plus, which provides enhanced sensitivity for detecting subtle takes, setting hooks with confidence, and maintaining control when playing fish.
Without doubt this line is an absolutely wonderful addition to the salmon fly line world, and a huge improvement on the old version. If you are thinking about renewing an old line, or feel like you want to start the season with a great piece of kit, you are going to be very impressed with the new Elite Scandi MDC Kits from RIO.