sinking line

[Tim Angeli]

I’m planning to start fishing an inland lake near where I live that has a good number of large smallmouth in it.

[dave schlick]

  first off id like to say my experience is with trout..    that being said  you may not need the clear ended line, but it is a good idea if you can find it..  

[Carter Simcoe]

For what you are talking about I would get a full sinking intermediate line.

[paul taylor]

Tim,

I don’t have any experience with sinking lines, but, my local fly shop set me up with the Rio Outbound line for my 8wt to fish for bass.  It is absolutely fantastic!  As a beginner it definitely assisted me with my casting distance and made the bass fishing a lot more enjoyable because I didn’t have to work too hard (this is all relative since I’m a beginner) to shoot line.  Now, I have the floating line, but, they make it in different levels of sink rates and now have come out with an interesting new version called their T-14 Outbound line which you can cut the head to different lengths, which they give you some guidelines, to get the grain tip that you are looking for.  It has a sink rate of 9 inches per second.  I don’t imagine this line will work real well for your 5wt, but it is definitely a good choice in my opinion for your 8wt.  Check it out:

http://www.rioproducts.com/product.php?recKey=33

Good luck and let us know how you make out and if you do go with the product I’d like to know how it works and what your thoughts are on it.  Tight Lines!

Paul

[Phil Landry]

Also look at the Rio versitip system for your 8 wt.

[Buzz Bryson]

Tim,

I fish with sinking lines all the time.

[ed felker]

I’m happy to see some people here saying good things about those interchangeable tips. I’ve been trying to come up with a good setup for smallmouth fishing on fairly large water (Shenandoah and Potomac). I think I’m just not getting deep enough. So I was thinking of a 7wt 9′ or 9’6″ rod, with the interchangeable tips to get streamers down deep no matter what the flow conditions are.

[Mike Cline]

Previously, I have to resort to heavier bugs and streamers, but I just know as soon as I start swinging those streamers, they’re coming way off the bottom. I catch plenty of small smallies, but have a feeling I’m fishing right over larger fish.

In my view the key to success with full sinking lines (I love um) is using a short, stout tippet.  I rarely use more than 3′ of (0X for warmwaters, 2X for trout) attached to a short mono loop on the fly line.  A longer leader just floats well above the belly of the line.  This was really confirmed for me last year in New Hampshire on the Androscroggin River.  The guide had put me on lots of fish and I was using a 5wt full sink line with a 3′ tippet.  When it needed replacement, the guide tied on a 7.5′ tapered leader (I am not sure why I let him do it, but I was paying him hansomely for his skills).  The trout just stopped coming.  After an hour of no fish I suggested going back to the shorter tippet.  Almost immediately we were back into fish.  Since then, I’ve experienced no shortcomings using a short, stout tippet.  The fish don’t seem to mind when that fly is right in front of them.

[ed felker]

Thanks for the reply, good advice. This entire setup I’m talking about will be used almost entirely for smallmouth (although I might try it for steelhead too). And smallies don’t seem to be very leader shy so short tippet will work fine I imagine.

Thanks again.

[Author]

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