This buys you two things. The part of the fly line that sinks is coated with powdered tungsten. It is really difficult to convince a picky steelhead to grab if your fly is not being presented well so pick a sinking tip that is within your casting ability. These sinking tip additions which sometimes come as part of a Spey Line or Shooting Head 'system' as they're know these days are badged in various numbers and usually described typically as Type 3 or Type 6 etc. I seldom use sink tips for nymph fishing because the floating line and strike indicator method is … The key is to strip enough line back to lift most of the sink tip back then sweep the rod up river lifting the sink tip up out of the water. 12 foot Floating, Intermediate, Type 3 and Type 6 Airflo Polyleaders. With a light size 9 or 11 late Spring or Summer fly on the Tay I'd be fishing between 15lbs & 18lbs Maxima and nothing lighter than that in case a high teenager or bigger salmon has a go as I don't want to wait until after spawning time to have a chance of landing it! As the name suggests, it sits halfway between a floating fly line and a medium sinking fly line like a Di3, which sinks at three inches per second (3 IPS). The angler landed a salmon even though when he started to fish he got his fly snagged and lost the only leader he had as he'd forgot to lift his spare leader material from his car boot that morning. Choosing a weighted fly will help get your fly down faster on the outside of the swing. Comments? The depth of your salmon fly is an important part of success in salmon fishing so in the next few paragraphs I'll give you a few of my own personal thoughts to hopefully clear up a few misconceptions on this fascinating topic. It features 15 ft of weight forward line. PRO TIP: When fishing the outside of the swing, keep your mending to a minimum so that you don’t disturb the fly where the fish is holding. Gravel swales and troughs- I prefer short, heavy tips (10 feet of T-11 or T-14) in this situation with lightly weighted flies. What’s the Best Way to Cast Sink Tips on a Fly Line Since the river I fish is a tree choked 40 to 70 feet across, I usually roll cast down and across the current. When the tip of the fly line is 10 feet upstream of your target, start making short strips to pull … Sink-Tip Fly Lines (Labeled as F/S) A sink-tip fly line is a line that is about 90 feet long. Pressure plays a key role in determining where the fish hold. If there is a lot of pressure, fish heavier, longer tips and focus your attention on hard to reach places. He had in desperation stripped back a few inches of the pvc coating from the front of his fly line and tied a fly onto the braided core! If you are going to use full sinking lines or sink tips longer than 15 ft use a stripping basket. With a higher fishing sink tip a 5ft to 6ft leader or a 10ft leader with a full floating line is normally about right. In the case of a floating line, that is towards the surface. Don’t guess what the tip is. The front taper, the belly and the rear taper form the head. This allows the flies to continue sinking. An intermediate fly line sinks very slowly to allow you to fish your flies in the top few feet of water. A sinking fly line is used to fish for streamers and nymphs. Salmon as predators hunt from below so a salmon that's in a serious taking mood will come a long way up off the rivebed to intercept a salmon fly if it wants it enough. The rest of the line will float on the surface of the water. The fly barely ticks the bottom on the outside of the swing and drops into the sweet spot in the trough. Phone: +44 (0)131 618 7058Email: jock@salmon-fishing-scotland.com. 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. if that’s not enough, add split shot a couple inches in front of the fly. Most streamer-caught fish will hold tight to the structure on the bottom and then rise to chase the fly. A fly line that can sink at the appropriate rate and put your fly directly in front of the fish. A sink tip fly line is around 90 feet long. Once the retrieve begins, the fly line will pull the fly in the same direction it is being retrieved. 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. When I fish lakes, my plan to to keep the fly at the proper depth as long as possible. The other factors to undertand about fly fishing for salmon with sink tips or a full floatring line is to know what length of leader to use. They have a tendency to hang up on the hang down. The dilemma is that a two foot sink tip won’t allow the short, compact anatomy of a Skagit line … Questions? The Titan taper is easier to cast than a lot of other full-sinking lines out there, and due to the sink profile where the tip sinks the fastest, you get a straight-line connection to the fly line that gives you extraordinary feel when fishing delicate chironomid patterns, and when you’re setting the hook at long distances and in deep water. Cold Water (below 52 degrees F)- fish may be lethargic and are typically found in the slower moving, shallower sections of runs. The sink-tip line is a combination of the floating fly line and sinking fly line. I will cast as far as I can, and then paddle away from the cast at the fly sinks. On top of that the sink-tip portion can vary in lengths from as short as five feet to as long as thirty. For most fly fishing, the weight-forward (WF) taper is the fly line of choice. There is something about the fly gradually coming closer to the fish as you step down a run that builds up an anxiety in steelhead and elicits those hair-raising grabs. I recommend longer, heaver tips (12-15 feet of T-11 to T-17) and a weighted fly. Change ), Which tip do I fish? While I paddle, I am shaking more line out of the rod tip until I have the full line out. It has become apparantly obvious over the years that although many salmon anglers fully understand all about the different densities and lengths of the sink tips that are available very few fully understand exactly where these tungsten impregnated sink tips are taking their salmon fly to in the water column in each and every differing water condition. 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