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skeena zonker

sinking behaviour

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I am new to tying tube intruders with tungsten eyes and notized that throwing them in my rain barrel they of course sink rapidly head forward. Now I am wondering how important it is that my flies are balanced and sink equally? I am fishing for salmon and steelhead in the Skeena system with a T14 tip and 3-4 foot mono leader. Thanks for any advice

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I know some local guys that fish the heavier coneheads or big heavy tubes with a heavy gauge treble hook to try and balance the fly so it descends level, or at least less headfirst. Others, including myself don't mind the head down descent. I aim to have a direct line to the fly, i.e no slack, so with the current pushing on the line, the fly will be pulled head up slightly. And if it ducks and bobs that can only add to the movement to anger a salmon.

 

A lot more guys around here are fishing with lighter flies and using sink tips in various sink rates to achieve depth. This is because a lighter fly will move better than the fly tied in a heavy tube or tube cone combo. So I would be tempted to try the Flies you have on the T14 and also pack some lighter cone heads to try too especially if you cover a run and move a fish but they don't go for the heavy heads

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As Piker20 stated the force of the current even with your heavy tips will tend to straighten the fly out during the swing. However in my experience with fishing the Skeena the nature of the river bottom should be considered. I have found using a heavily weighted fly and a fast sinking tip on this river is a recipe for lots of lost flies. You might consider a very fast sinking tip, a non weighted fly on a 3 - 5 ft. leader this will allow the fly to swim close to the bottom and not continually getting hung up on the boulders. I have found as the fly completes its swing and drops down in slower flows a heavily weighted fly will snag, this is the area when most takes occur. If you feel the fly is not getting deep enough try a longer T14 or T17 tip, the unweighted fly will of course follow the leader down but will tend to ride above the boulders.

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As Piker20 stated the force of the current even with your heavy tips will tend to straighten the fly out during the swing. However in my experience with fishing the Skeena the nature of the river bottom should be considered. I have found using a heavily weighted fly and a fast sinking tip on this river is a recipe for lots of lost flies. You might consider a very fast sinking tip, a non weighted fly on a 3 - 5 ft. leader this will allow the fly to swim close to the bottom and not continually getting hung up on the boulders. I have found as the fly completes its swing and drops down in slower flows a heavily weighted fly will snag, this is the area when most takes occur. If you feel the fly is not getting deep enough try a longer T14 or T17 tip, the unweighted fly will of course follow the leader down but will tend to ride above the boulders.

 

 

Yes and a muddler type fly or even a monkey on the short leader can be surprising on the fast tip.

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