Why We Rig Every Loaner Rod with the RIO MDC Shooting Head Kit
- northernfishingsch
- Jul 22
- 3 min read
Ask anyone who's spent a day with us at Bywell what they cast, and the odds are they were fishing a RIO Elite Scandi MDC shooting head kit — because that's what we have rigged and ready on our loaner rods. It's not an accident, and it isn't sponsorship talking. After years of putting lines in the hands of everyone from first-day beginners to seasoned Spey casters, this is simply the best all-round kit we've found. Here's why it earns that spot.
One box, the whole river covered
MDC stands for Multi Density Control, and that's the heart of it. The kit gives you a single Elite Scandi head paired with four 12-foot interchangeable tips — Floating, Hover/Intermediate, Intermediate/Sink 3, and Sink 3/Sink 5 — plus a RIO SlickShooter running line and a neat wallet to keep it all in. In practice, that means one line system covers everything from a fly skated in the surface film on a warm summer evening to a tube dredged deep through cold, pushy spring water. You're not buying five different lines and hoping you picked the right one on the bank. You're carrying one.
Why beginners get on with it so quickly
The clever part — and the reason it's so forgiving for newer casters — is that every tip is built to the same length and grain weight. Change from the floater to the Sink 3/5 and the rod loads exactly the same; you don't have to relearn your timing or adjust your stroke. For someone still grooving in their Spey cast, that consistency is worth its weight in gold. The head is tapered to load the rod quickly and unroll into a tidy loop with very little effort, so people are fishing properly — and enjoying it — far sooner than they'd expect. The tips are colour-coded to the head too, so there's no squinting on the riverbank trying to remember which one is which.
Why the experts keep it on too
None of that ease comes at the cost of performance, which is why our most experienced anglers reach for the same kit. The density-compensated tips sink on an even keel and swing the fly at a true, controlled depth rather than hinging or kicking up. The low-stretch ConnectCore Plus core telegraphs everything — the pluck of a stone, the draw of a take — straight to your hand, which matters when a fresh fish pulls at the very end of the swing. And that four-tip spread gives a thinking angler genuinely precise control over depth and presentation as conditions shift through the day. It rewards skill; it just doesn't demand it.
Which one to choose
The kit comes in a Short version for switch and two-handed rods under 13 feet, and a Long version for full 13–15 foot Spey rods, in line sizes from WF5 through WF9. Match it to the rod you fish and you're away. For most of the water we cover on the Tyne, and for the loaner rods we hand out at the school, the Scandi MDC has become our default — the line we trust to make a good day's fishing easier for everyone who picks up the rod.
If you've cast one on a day with us and want your own, we stock the full range in the shop — and we're always happy to help you match the right kit to your rod before you buy. Come and have a go; we think you'll see exactly why we rate it.
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