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ejcrist

Full Sinking Line in Heavier Weights

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I've been lake fishing for Stripers out of my boat a lot lately and using Rio In Touch Intermediate full sinking line which is about 1.5-2 ips sinking rate. I'd like to get a faster sinking line so I started looking around and noticed there wasn't much of a selection of type 4 sinkers once you got past 8 weight. There's oodles of heavier "sinking head" lines such as Orvis Depth Charge, and Rio makes a couple but not much of full/fast sinking above 8 wt. I did find Scientific Anglers Frequency, but a lot of vendors only carry the fast sinking up to 8 weight. Am I missing something or is there a reason you don't see any 9 wt+ full/fast sinking lines. I can't cast much past 40'-50' anyway so I'm thinking to just go with Orvis Depth Charge which has a 30' sinking head but I wish I could find 9 wt type 4 and above full sinking. Or I might just go with the 8 wt since it's around a 300 grain head which is what my 9 wt casts well anyway. If anyone knows why it type 4 full sinking gets sparse above 8 wt I'd love to know.

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My guess ... anything heavier would end up tangled around an anglers shoulders more often than in the water.

Even the most enthusiastic fly angler has to realize there's a limit to what a fly rod and associated equipment can do.

 

Sorry ... I am just not a "fly fishing" only kind of person.

Conventional gear is not taboo. If you need to get much deeper, maybe it's time to learn how to cast a level wind reel or a spinning reel.

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My guess ... anything heavier would end up tangled around an anglers shoulders more often than in the water.

Even the most enthusiastic fly angler has to realize there's a limit to what a fly rod and associated equipment can do.

 

Sorry ... I am just not a "fly fishing" only kind of person.

Conventional gear is not taboo. If you need to get much deeper, maybe it's time to learn how to cast a level wind reel or a spinning reel.

Thanks for the info - you might be right. A 9+ wt full sinking line would be heavy.

 

I fish w/conventional gear too when the situation calls for it, like when the Stripers are 30'+ deep, but I prefer to fly fish whenever I can.

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Me too, fly fishing over other types.

But I don't fish sinking lines at all. I've fished water as deep as 12 feet or so, by using that long of a leader/tippet. But all my fly lines are floating. To me, it's just not worth the strain/hassle of dragging line out of the depths to make the next cast.

 

I've got a friend who fishes fro Stripers in California with fly fishing equipment. I was stoked to finally get a chance to get on the water with him ... give it a try.

He rigged up two heavy duty fly rods, with heavy sinking line ... then proceeded to feed out line as we boated along. No casting ... we were trolling.

Admittedly, it was fun bringing in a Striper on a fly rod, but after I switched to a spinning rod ... that was just as much fun, in my opinion.

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SA sonar titan triple density sinking lines. Expensive, but I hve a friend who loves his for stripping big streamers down deep.

 

If you're wanting a cheaper route, maybe a homemade shooting head out of something like T-11. A 28 foot section would weigh 308 grains, and backed with mono shooting line like 40 lb Berkley big game it might not cast beautifully, but it'll get you down.

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Fly fishing deep has always intrigued me but I have not gotten past the difficulty in lifting all that sunk line out of the water to recast. Retrieving it all in and working out new casts all day would ask for shoulder miseries later.

 

One way to address the quick deep sink issue is to adopt the 'chuck and duck' system used widely on GL steelhead. That system does away with standard fly lines in favor of a thin intermediate running line attached to @4-6' of 25-30lb Maxima that is attached to a two way swivel with a 6-10" dropper holding split shot and a leader of 4' or so with a streamer. The cast is done by retrieveing up to the Maxima and then lifting the terminal end to the surface and swinging the weighted end back to load the rod and forward casting. Shooting running line on the forward cast is the vital part of the process and it is fairly effortless. Distances achieved can be eye-popping as timing improves.

 

It ain't pure fly casting but then heaving 9-10 wt full sink lines is not going to win any prizes for asthetics either.

 

wunbe

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[snip]I can't cast much past 40'-50' anyway so I'm thinking to just go with Orvis Depth Charge which has a 30' sinking head but I wish I could find 9 wt type 4 and above full sinking. Or I might just go with the 8 wt since it's around a 300 grain head which is what my 9 wt casts well anyway. If anyone knows why it type 4 full sinking gets sparse above 8 wt I'd love to know.

Probably due to lack of demand, but I do not understand why you cannot just use an 8 weight line if you are fixated on a full sink? Sure you'll be a bit underlined, but just lay out more line and the rod will still load. Considering the difference between an 8 and 9# line is only 30-40 grains, you could also get a 8 weight full sink, add a head of T8, and you would be in the right range, although why one would bother is another question.

 

In my area, even on lakes, integrated shooting heads with intermediate running lines are the norm for stripers. If you would like the possibility of changing sink rates, buy an intermediate running line and a selection of heads to match and you should be able to cover any depth you like. As with any line, if you want to fish deeper, just wait longer before the retrieve. While I prefer an integrated line, a shooting head line has the advantage of versatility and if you go for a traditional shooting head rig like Rocco described, it can be a pretty inexpensive solution too because the running line is just monofilament and the heads usually run about $30 a piece. You can of course also make your own heads out of full sink lines or bulk sinking material such at T8/11/14, etc.

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When I was out ocean fishing for salmon using my 8wt and Rio Versa-tip, I needed to get wayyy down quickly.

I made a T17 sinking tip and it solved the problem.

 

Get yourself some Tungsten line, it comes in various sink rates(weight) as whatfly said.

 

Make your own sink tip.

 

You will also notice a huge pull on your back cast.

 

Check out Ebay or Amazon for it.

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Long time ago I bought a 9wt full sink line and it was waaaay too heavy for either of my 9wt rods. Then a full retrieve to the reel because it sank at my feet fast too, in a boat that wouldn't matter I guess. I fished it very few times and saved it for many years, wasted money imo.

 

I bet they just don't have a demand for it. I recall some one back then that used a chunk of that type line like a head and ran flat mono for shooting line, I never fished with him so don't know how that worked out.

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I've been lake fishing for Stripers out of my boat a lot lately and using Rio In Touch Intermediate full sinking line which is about 1.5-2 ips sinking rate. I'd like to get a faster sinking line so I started looking around and noticed there wasn't much of a selection of type 4 sinkers once you got past 8 weight. There's oodles of heavier "sinking head" lines such as Orvis Depth Charge, and Rio makes a couple but not much of full/fast sinking above 8 wt. I did find Scientific Anglers Frequency, but a lot of vendors only carry the fast sinking up to 8 weight. Am I missing something or is there a reason you don't see any 9 wt+ full/fast sinking lines. I can't cast much past 40'-50' anyway so I'm thinking to just go with Orvis Depth Charge which has a 30' sinking head but I wish I could find 9 wt type 4 and above full sinking. Or I might just go with the 8 wt since it's around a 300 grain head which is what my 9 wt casts well anyway. If anyone knows why it type 4 full sinking gets sparse above 8 wt I'd love to know.

 

 

Jim Teeny makes a type 7 sinker for 8-10 wt rods. The Teeny TS series T-350 @ 7 IPS or the heavier T series T-400 @ 8 IPS

 

http://www.jimteeny.com/TS-Series_c_15.html

 

http://www.jimteeny.com/T-Series_c_14.html

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