Your email address will not be published. Upper-water Column: We usually we will prospect with a floating line and an 8-foot fluorocarbon leader. The running line is aqua colored, while the sink belly is clear. When using my 4 weight and I want to get down, I just put on a poly-leader and weighted fly, which sinks enough to usually get by. And it’s full of great insights and info. Our go-to set up is usually a 6-weight rod with a 4-foot fluorocarbon leader with an unweighted diver or streamer pattern or a 7-weight rod with a 4-foot fluorocarbon leader with a weighted (barbell-eyes) crawfish pattern (e.g., Ghetto Craw) with a mono weed guard fished with a slow retrieval rate as deep as possible and right next to the heaviest cover. The sink rate of a line is determined by its density. Sometimes, it's better to just use a floating line and a weighted fly when fishing slow in … The floating line will give me the ultimate in sensitivity to ensure I can detect the lightest of strikes. These types of fly lines are useful when fishing streamers in rivers or also when fishing lakes with the same patterns. The physics of this are not hard to imagine. Your email address will not be published. If you're fishing structure that's 5-10 feet deep, an intermediate fly line may be the best line for the job. It has a sink rate of approximately 3 – 4 inches per second; making a great line for streamer fishing through fast trout waters or casting for bass along shallow lake shores. Again, a sink-tip line can alleviate some of this headache since most of the line floats allowing for improved line management. When using sink tips, you can just strip to where the sink section begins, start your cast, double haul once, and then shoot the line forward with limited effort. We let the following factors determine our set-ups: water temperature, time of year, time of day,  water clarity, and water flow (CFS). Take care, Chuck Hawkins, Hawkins Outfitters (Traverse City, Michigan): I always use sinking tips when streamer fishing. Experimentation is the only way to figure out the best presentation. If needed, I will add a small split shot to help fly get to to the right depth. However, you will need a really buoyant point fly to keep everything on top, as smaller patterns can be dragged under. If I’m after a swooning action… a wounded baitfish type of action, I’ll use a sinktip line with an lightly-weighted or unweighted fly such as a Zoo Cougar, Wooley Sculpin, Conrad Sculpin, or other fly that swims as though it is wounded or in trouble. I use a sink tip because it gets the fly DOWN deep. Copyright 2021, The Orvis Company Inc. The lead / tungsten core of a sinking line dampens the sensitivity. The rule of thumb is to shorten the leader down to as little as 3 or 4ft if you're fishing a heavy sink tip as you don't want the fast sinking tip down deep and the fly still riding high because your leader is too long. Deep-water Column: The dog-days of summer and winter’s coldest days are when we concentrate on the deepest water close to thick cover. I swung the fly just under the surface with good success: three fish on, two to hand, and several short-strikes and swirls. Sink tips are not required by most fly lines, but it is preferred to use a tip most of the time in many fly fishing applications including trout, salmon, seatrout and pike fishing to get your fly into position i.e.placement, depth of the fly and your presentation. Our boat rods are rigged as follows: We usually have four rods rigged and ready—2 rods rigged with floating line and 2 rods rigged with a sinking-tip line. If you’re wading, these lines can keep you in the zone longer and increase the odds of success. A bit deeper and you'll fish 5' sinking combined with 5' floating. If we’re really going deep, we slip a worm weight (that’s right, like bass fisherman use) on the leader before we tie on the bug. I try to avoid adding weight to the leader and prefer to get flies deeper by mending and using a longer tippet section that will get down quicker. We all use Orvis lines, ranging from Hydros to Access and everything in between. While I paddle, I am shaking more line out of the rod tip until I have the full line out. If it is a large bucket or run, a sinking-tip line is my go-to choice. Along these same lines, other mass-related benefits — anchoring your line, loading your rod, turning over flies — are also more pronounced with sink tips. One will note that the heaviest tip (type 8) is thinner than the lightest tip … There are times of high water with extra swift currents when I’ll add some sink putty to the leader instead of shot. To sum it up it’s all about depth and current speed. Even during winter months we will prospect with patterns that work the upper water columns—from the surface down to that first 12 inches of water. Sometimes, it all comes down to the kind of fishing you want to do, but sometimes, it’s just a question of preference. This RIO Fly Fishing Tip shows how to quickly turn a floating line into a sink tip by attaching a VersiLeader. For example, if I’m fishing still water, I almost always reach for a full-sinking line, as the depth is usually greater than a river or stream. The heavy fly is my edible weight, and the dropper is my fly du jour or hatch-matcher. Required fields are marked *. Casting Speed: When you need to get the fly down but also need to be quick with your presentations, a sink-tip line (especially with a short sinking portion) is a great choice. But that’s all they do. Either way, the Bank Shot line is made to order for this. Joe Demalderis, Cross Current Guide Service (Milford, Pennsylvania): With streamers, I’m often banging the banks from a drift boat when the water is higher than normal and/or dirtied up. This line is ideal for use with streamers in medium/hot weather conditions. When swinging wet flies, I prefer to use one bigger/heavier fly and a dropper that is smaller and softer. Mid-water Column: Before switching to a sinking tip, we will try a floating line with 9-foot fluorocarbon leader and a weighted (barbell-eyes) streamer pattern. You are actually casting the whole line. It features 15 ft of weight forward line. As a result, sink tips will get down in the water column much faster than a polyleader coated with material with the same sink rate. Sink tips and full sinking lines are used for other species, not just while trout fishing. Jenny Mayrell-Woodruff, Woodruff, Flyfish Beaver’s Bend (Broken Bow, Oklahoma): I use a floating line with split shot more often because I am constantly changing locations on the river. I’ll look forward to many more. So if I wanted a head to load an eight weight rod and sink at a rate of 5 inches per second, I could buy a 30′ 8 weight shooting taper with a type 4 or 5 sink rate, i.e. This allows me to use a shorter leader—between 3 and 4 feet—which helps with accuracy and makes me feel more directly connected to the fish when I set the hook. Emulating the swimming action of many baitfish and other small fish requires the fly to be down deep, and a specialty sinking-tip line complements this method well. The floating portion is bright in color and the sinking portion dark as with the regular sinking lines. If you're fishing a 20-foot drop-off, a full sinking line may be a better bet. Very well presented info. If you want to fish shallow, you'll also use a 10' tip but only 2.5' will sink and 7.5' will float. Thanks again. With an integrated sinking tip or full-sinking line, you need to continue to strip the line all the way in before you can recast. Thanks! Tim Linehan, Linehan Outfitting Company (Troy, Montana): When fishing streamers and wet flies, I let the situation, mostly water depth and current speed, dictate whether I use a floating or sinking line. I will add some split shot, and then adjust accordingly. Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to answer, and especially ‘Ask the Experts’ for setting this up. Further back near the flyline/leader connection? With a full sinking line, the density is the same or very similar in the entire line. Sink tips are MUCH harder to cast than a full sinking line. What you get is the tip section of the fly line, usually the first 8′ to 16′ feet (approximately), is the sinking portion and the remainder is the floating line. Going too Deep - An intermediate line may cause the fly to go too deep for where you're fishing, especially when casting long and stripping slowly with a full intermediate. Ways to Use Sinking Lines. When you want your flies to slowly move through the current at a relatively consistent depth. Problem is, you need to get your flies in and out of the water quickly. We will concentrate on depths between 12 and 36 inches, working the fly fast, then medium speed, and finally with a slow retrieval rate. RIO InTouch Big Nasty Sink Tip Fly Line If I’m after a darting or fleeing action I’ll lean toward a heavy fly, such as a tungsten head wooley bugger or variant, on a floating line and mend/twitch to keep the fly moving in erratic motions. If it’s significantly higher, I’ll use a sinking tip, if not too high, a floating line is fine. Low water is the only time I fish this particular set-up; for most of the season, I prefer a sinking PolyLeader and a three-foot section of level 2X or 3X. In the simplest terms, the leader is the main clear material that is connected to the end of your fly line. If I am fishing faster-paced pocket-water, where I need to get my flies sunk fast but don’t fish them for a very long time before picking up and making another cast, a long tapered fluorocarbon leader off a floating line is my best friend. A very important but rather confusing part of streamer fishing is the use of sink tip lines. The denser the line, the quicker it goes down. InTouch 15ft Sink Tip Fly Line (RIO) Some say that Rio’s InTouch fly line is the best sink tip fly line on the market today. It’s also less of a hassle for me to use rather than adding a bunch of split shot. Sink-tips are an excellent tool for consistently getting a fly deep, while keeping most of your line on the surface where it’s easy to cast and mend. Yes, the washing line method normally uses a floating line or midge tip but an intermediate can also be used if you want to fish deeper. Then a sink-tip or sinking line can get your fly right down to where the fish will be. Do you have any recommendations on how to carry the bigger pike and trout streamers without ruining them? Here are a few recommendations. Stefan Woodruff, Ellensburg Angler (Ellensburg, Washington): When I’m fishing streamers or wet flies, the decision whether to use a sinking-tip line or a floating line with split shot on the leader depends on the type of water I’m fishing. I use various sinking rate lines, I never use a sink tip, always full sinking lines. Personally, my boat roads are Orvis Recons because they are great casting, user friendly, and incredibly durable, holding up to long rides in the rod holders and hundreds of days on the water. Great information, and a special thank you to Jeff Davis. If I really want to get down and penetrate the lower half of the run, whether it be four feet or ten feet, I generally use a sinking tip. 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