Fly line - floating vs sinking

W
wozniasm
I've always used floating line back east but seem to hear more about sinking line out here. Lots of comments using sinking line to get down into holes which makes sense.
I can see sinking line beneficial in lakes and rivers but not for creeks.
What about sinking 'tips'? is that floating line with more weight on the tip?
Opinions?:think:
 
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B
bigsteel
steve,for rivers i just use a floating line and if i need to get down deep i just add split shot...if you were wanting to swing flies all day then a sink line might be helpful
 
W
wozniasm
Yeah, I purchased a new reel with a backup spool for my single-handed spey rod so I can go both ways - Floating on one and sinking or sinking tip on the other...
Have floating line on it that I used on the Trillium excursion and weighted it down with split shot. I was picking up vegetation so I was getting it down but still didn't have the amount of hookups that OnTheFly was getting... Of course, he's a Guru or maybe his feet have a scent the fish like when they're in the water LOL!
 
L
lilsalmon
What bigsteel says.....I like floating line only because I am a control freak and like to see what I am doing.....course, I learned from Dave
 
M
Mad dog
I like clear intermediate lines for a lot of lake type situations, lots of control if you need to fish a fly in a certain strata of water. Count it down and retrive, pretty nice if you are fishing weed beds, intermediate lines are golden on Upper Klamath lake! Type IV full sink or sink tip get you down fast enough for most steelhead or trout swing type fishing.
 
W
wozniasm
Does anyone use indicators?
 
B
Bucknasty
I took my visible WF or DT line on all of my fly rods, doubled it over on itself at the very end, super glued it, then wrapped it with jig thread in my tying vise and now have a looped end on my line.. Now i either use my tapered leaders with a loop to loop connection for using floating line or i switch out to one of my sink tip attachments depending on the water.. its a loop to loop connection regardless of weather fishing sink tips or floating line and a cheaper way of getting a loop on the end of your visible line then buying 70$ line pre fabricated from a fly shop. Im sure some will disagree but i can cast this as far as i can reasonably control my line so i dont see it as a "clunky" set up.. Anyhow just another idea instead of buying a bunch of extra spools. Cheers, Bob

BTW- I personally carry a small wallet for different length sink tips 5ft, 10ft ect ect.. also swinging with a sink tip is a lot slower way of covering water than swinging with floating line but sometimes thats what it takes to provoke a bite! If you know where fish are holding get that sink tip on if necessary and get that fly in that fish's strike zone, If your searching a lot of river and its less than 5 ft deep swing away with floating line! yee haw!! hope this made sense.. Im a rambler :rolleyes:
 
M
mlw
For trout, and fly lines 6wt or lower, floating line, split shot.
For steelhead, etc (7-9 weight single hand flyline) a sinking polyleader (a leader coated with tungsten or lead impregnated coating), 10' long or so, is useful for swinging flies. If you are indicator fishing, usually the fly has weight, or you can add split shot. To indicator fish in heavier flows a long leader works, just cast further upstream.
If you have a heavier spey setup (7-9 spey flyline), you can use much heavier sink tips (like T-8, T-14, etc), to get the 'swinging' fly down. Useful particularly for winter fishing, heavier flows.
Michael
 
W
wozniasm
Good information Buck! I put on one of those loop ends on my flyline and use the loop to loop to connect my leader. I've had no issues with it other than having a hard time shrinking it on but got it done.
By "different length sink tips", do you mean leaders?
 
W
wozniasm
mlw said:
For trout, and fly lines 6wt or lower, floating line, split shot.
For steelhead, etc (7-9 weight single hand flyline) a sinking polyleader (a leader coated with tungsten or lead impregnated coating), 10' long or so, is useful for swinging flies. If you are indicator fishing, usually the fly has weight, or you can add split shot. To indicator fish in heavier flows a long leader works, just cast further upstream.
If you have a heavier spey setup (7-9 spey flyline), you can use much heavier sink tips (like T-8, T-14, etc), to get the 'swinging' fly down. Useful particularly for winter fishing, heavier flows.
Michael

Thanks Mike - I'm starting to get the winter steelhead fever...
 
B
Bucknasty
Well i will always tie on 3-4 ft of leader to the end of my sink tip attachments (generally not tapered, just some 10lb maxima mono will do.. again just an opinion).. As for the sink tip attatchment itself, If you go down to a fly shop of your choice generally they sell just an attachment that will go onto the end of your floating line (loop to loop) that is a sinking tip itself (or a conversion from floating to sinking line for lack of better words ).. they come in 5ft, 10ft and so on.. the longer you get the faster it will sink and the deeper it will go. I know they make them for trout as well so make sure if your a steelhead junkie like me you dont buy a trout sink tip attachment on accident blah blah you get my point :cool: Cheers, Bob

If i were smarter i would just take a picture of how my lines are set up and upload it on here to decrease confusion.. but im not
 
S
Sinkline
wozniasm said:
I've always used floating line back east but seem to hear more about sinking line out here. Lots of comments using sinking line to get down into holes which makes sense.
I can see sinking line beneficial in lakes and rivers but not for creeks.
What about sinking 'tips'? is that floating line with more weight on the tip?
Opinions?:think:

It's night & day difference between flyfishing stillwater or stream. You would't think it would be that different, but it really is. Put it this way, if you could only choose one line to cover all stream/river situations you would choose a floater, but for stillwater you would choose a full sinker.

I just came back from fishing Wic. again Thu & Fri and my two different densities of sinking lines played a big roll in catcing fish, or not as compared to those around me (report & photos soon). It was tough fishing this trip!


Randy
 
W
wozniasm
Sinkline said:
two different densities of sinking lines played a big roll in catcing fish
Randy
Full sinker for stillwater... I would have thought full sinker would be best for rivers with fast water to get the fly down in a hurry.
Look forward to the pics!
 
G
GDBrown
To sink or Not to sink?

To sink or Not to sink?

When you go to a fly shop they will explain that "Sink tips" come in many different varieties. They will have different rates at which they sink and different weights to match the floating line you are using. By using different lengths you have more control over how deep the line will go. Then there are full sinking lines which are generally a mono line that is similar in casting characteristics to a floating line but will sink rather than float. When using a full sinking or intermediate sinking line on lakes (like OTF was doing at Trillium) you can control the depth by how much line you have out and how fast you are trolling or retrieving it. The main difference will be the angle at which the fly is dragged through the water. Think of it this way: a weighted fly on floating line with a long leader and tippet with split shot will hang at a higher angle than a sinking line that is farther behind you at a lower angle. Each way has its advantages depending on what kind of bug you are trying to imitate. That's part of the joy of Fly Fishing, learning when to use what and how to use it.

GD
 
F
FlyBum
What is a sinking line?? Is this something you use to swing flies for steelhead when you can't or shouldn't swing with a floater, or to help drop flies in still water? Or is it heavy flies with added weight to leader? Cuz that will make your line sink too. I see this as a question of just fishing with a floater or sinker for all situations. There are so many ways to achieve similar results with fishing it's kinda nutz. I just know form a little experience and some know how, that if I want to skate a fly for the Chrome Domes or fish dries for trout on the surface, that no matter how bad I want it to a sinking line just can't do that. So that's why it is nice to have both! or many. :)
 
H
halibuthitman
I like floating lines in moving water, but I do carry 2 sink-tips for exact situtions I often encounter.. but the water gremlin multi pack is where its at for me, remember to shorten that leader when you swing with a sink line-
 

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