[FLGator]

Is anyone using full sinking lines in place of a tip system in order to cover steelhead water?

Been doing a little digging into this and the guys on the other side of the pond really seem fond of the full sinkers for covering their salmon runs. Seems the presentation is better, the feel is better and the casting is no more difficult than with a typical heavy tip system. These lines get down!

Sure would appreciate comments from those who have experience with the full sinking systems to share their knowledge.

Thanks
Chris

 

[fredaevans]

I've been using full sinkers all this winter. Only problem is (not really an issue on 7wt/13 or 13-6 rods) is it's practically impossible to get one (in the US) that's a full 2-hander rod length.

That said, regular one hander lines are easily available at 90' ... which is farther than I can cast one anyway. Does it improve your ability to fish? Without question. The 'lack' of a floating portion of the line allows you to get deeper, faster, and stay there longer. You also have a far greater selection of sink speeds.

 

[SSPey]

Fred - Do you have a sense if it has improved your ability to catch, or merely adorn rocks, or .. ?

 

[prairiespey]

I,m very interested in full sink lines and have been doing some exploring- outside the Ian Gordon lines there are some Airflo Fast Sink Clear Inter Speycasters available online at discount, which coupled with Poly leaders get down and stay down well. That said- and the experienced can correct me - most of the North American rods are built around a dry line/tips approach- so hauling 90 ft of sunk line out of the depths may be a little stressfull on them

Will

 

[stephen holden]

sunk line fishing

this is an interesting topic ,overhere in the uk generally I think the situation is reversed in that fishing with full sinking double taper lines of 100-120ft has been the normal method and fishing lines with tips is a relatively new method.I can see the merits of both methods and dont see either as being wrightor wrong.A normal method of fishing sunk lines for me would be to use say a dt line with a sinkrate of 3inch per sec in cool autmn water and a light mobile fly,or a 6inch per second line with a heavy fly in really cold water or high water flood conditions,in summer water or low water I would use an intermediate line and a small fly nothing to scientific just general common sense.when using the faster sinking lines I would just use a short leader of level mono straight from the spool around 4-6ft long.It is quite common for an image to be created that it is really hard work to fish long sinking lines but I have not found this to be the case with modern graphite rods .when I first started fishing with split cane salmon rods and sunk lines it used to be harder work ,due to the weight of the rod,but these rods could still fish the sunk lines.good technique rather than raw power makes sunkline fishing no different than fishing a full floating line-just roll cast the sunk line to the surface then either double or single spey the line out.Ithink that you will find the sunk lines have a thinner diameter and are actually easier to cast once you have roll casted them to the surface.as to rods if you have a rod that will roll cast well and you dont overline it I would think that it would be ok.I use a 14ft cnd expert which is fine with a sunk line hope this is of interest steve

 

[storlaks]

In the UK, as you know full sinkers are pretty much the norm for early Spring fishing for Salmon.

You can choose from the following:

Hardy Mach 1 Speylines - see House of Hardy website. Comes in 2-3in per sec and I think a 4-5 in per sec version. Head lenght is around 52-54ft.

Michael Evans Arrowhead Speylines- again comes in a fast sink - 3in per sec and a HiDi which is 5in per sec. Head lenghts are similar to that of Hardy.

Ian Gordon - as you are aware.

All these lines have a colour change between head and running line, and all of them cast well and certainly get down more effectively then tips.

hope this helps.....

 

[Grampa Spey]

"Is anyone using full sinking lines in place of a tip system in order to cover steelhead water?"

Rio's Striper 350 grain 26' DC tip is a good bottom banger.

You need a strong 9 weight rod to cast it, and I'm limited to overhead casts or underhanded casts. Meiser's Highland Rod and the Sage TCR 9129-4 can handle this line.

This may become a mute point when we master the Rio Skagit lines and 15' to 30' T14 Tips and other Rio Tips. Last month Bob Pauli and I with a variety of Sage and T&T rods and various lengths of T14, Big Boys and 26 ' DC tips were bouncing the flies off the bottom of a fast flowing Russian River shortly after the fly hit the water. The Skagits with the T14 or other heavy and long tips never caught the bottom with the line like the other sinking lines can.

 

[fredaevans]

Sorry 'SSP,' your question went under my radar.

Fred - Do you have a sense if it has improved your ability to catch, or merely adorn rocks, or .. ?

The answer is 'yes and no.' Yes, if you use too heavy a full sink like, otherwise the line normally slips right over a reasonably structured bottom. Would I use a full sinker in/around a heavily bolderd bottom. Doubt it ... there you'll 'adorn rocks.'

As to the 'hooking question;' without question. Rogue fish have a great tendency to be bottom huggers. If you're not 'deep/down/dirty' year round you might as well consider what your're up to as "casting practice." All sinking systems have their good points and bad points.

"Tip systems" are easy to cast but as the floating section of the line comes under tention it transmits that to the sinking portion .... effectively pulling it towards the surface. Long heads made from T-14, et. al. can work well ... but trying to cast 20-30 feet of this stuff (and controlling it under water) is byond my scope.

Full sinking lines get down quickly, and stay there, due to the thin nature of the lines; water pressure forcing the line to the surface is far less of an issue.

 

[SSPey]

Fred, thanks.

 

[Jacob]

Try Scandinavian!

Hey! Try out our scandinavian shootinghead system!

Exuseme, but i think thaht we have the best sinkinglines on the market! here in scandinavia!

For example... Guideline PowerTaper, thaht have "Double Density": Sink1/2, Sink2/3, Sink3/4 and Sink4/5! Try it out whit a floating runningline or a floating shootingline!

The line casts, fishes wery well! Gou have "Double Density" becuse you can fick right into the bank, and not sett the line in the bottom! Of course the line gonna be stuck to the bank somtimes, but not as much as one density sinkinglines!

 

[Willie Gunn]

Alright if you like yards, or is it metres of running line floating all round your legs or caught on every bush in Sweeden. WE, in Scotland, have the best sinking line system in the World, the Ian Gordon Partridge, Slow and Fast sink, add a couple of Willie Gunn tube flies an plastic, aluminium( watch the pronounciation), copper and brass I would be confident of getting to any depth anywhere.