Sinking Fly Lines

[Jacob]

I have been fly fishing for about 4 years now and this year i think i am going to start using some sinking lines when fishing lakes for bass and pike. I am a good caster but have never tried sinking lines.

 

My first question is what weight to get? I have both a 7 and 8 weight outfit and was wondering which would be best to cast a sinking line with the most ease.

 

Also what sinking rate is best? Most of the spots i will be fishing are about 10 to 20 feet deep and i will be fishing from a boat.

 

The flies i will be using most are streamers in the 5 to 8" range, zonkers and bunny leaches.

 

Thanks

 

Jacob

[woodenboater]

I'm not sure since I'm just getting back into flies but you might need more than a 7 or 8 to throw those streamers. 9 would probably be the best I think. I use a WF sink tip, can't remember if it was double taper or not. With an 8 I found it a pita to throw 4-5 inch streamers but that could be the rust

 

For me, hitting a hungry, aggressive bass on a wooly bugger is tough to beat.

Edited March 27, 2012 by woodenboater

[muddler]

I use an 8 weight High densitity sinking tip WF most of the time. The first 20 feet sink and the rest is a floating line. I use a loop to loop and attach a fast sinking steelhead polymer sinking leader. Than adds another 4 feet. It is the same setup I use for swinging flies for steelhead. I also have a 10 foot sink tip line. With the sinking leader and loop to loop connections I can fish 10, 14, 20 and 24 feet down on the lakes. I weigh my flies when I tie them too. For rivers I use whatever combination for the section of river so that I am just touching bottom every now and then. When I throw in a full floating line and I can fish surface and down to 5 feet with a sinking leader. That gives me a lot of depths that can be fished effectively. The sinking tips let me roll cast to get the line up and then I can lift the line on the next cast. I do carry a full sinking line but I found that it is very difficult to lift 30 feet of submerged line.

Hope this helps.

 

Muddler

Edited March 27, 2012 by muddler

[bigcreekdad]

I have been fly fishing for about 4 years now and this year i think i am going to start using some sinking lines when fishing lakes for bass and pike. I am a good caster but have never tried sinking lines.

 

My first question is what weight to get? I have both a 7 and 8 weight outfit and was wondering which would be best to cast a sinking line with the most ease.

 

Also what sinking rate is best? Most of the spots i will be fishing are about 10 to 20 feet deep and i will be fishing from a boat.

 

The flies i will be using most are streamers in the 5 to 8" range, zonkers and bunny leaches.

 

Thanks

 

Jacob

 

Try a Teeny T-300.......super line. I often only need one false cast to shoot it.

[dave524]

Grab a high density shooting taper/head, for the 8 wt it will be about 240 grain 30 foot section of line with a loop on the back, use about 100 feet of 20 or 30 pound mono as a shooting line between it and your backing. Best way I know of to effectively fish 20 foot depths with flygear.

[Jacob]

I use an 8 weight High densitity sinking tip WF most of the time. The first 20 feet sink and the rest is a floating line. I use a loop to loop and attach a fast sinking steelhead polymer sinking leader. Than adds another 4 feet. It is the same setup I use for swinging flies for steelhead. I also have a 10 foot sink tip line. With the sinking leader and loop to loop connections I can fish 10, 14, 20 and 24 feet down on the lakes. I weigh my flies when I tie them too. For rivers I use whatever combination for the section of river so that I am just touching bottom every now and then. When I throw in a full floating line and I can fish surface and down to 5 feet with a sinking leader. That gives me a lot of depths that can be fished effectively. The sinking tips let me roll cast to get the line up and then I can lift the line on the next cast. I do carry a full sinking line but I found that it is very difficult to lift 30 feet of submerged line.

Hope this helps.

 

Muddler

 

 

Sounds like a great setup, i think i'll try it.

 

Thanks everyone

 

Jacob