Versileaders

[m_grieb 0]

Has anyone fished with these before? How effective are they at bringing a streamer down into an effective level? For example, I am looking to fishing things like zoo cougars and other deer hair headed flies. I just don't know if they are heavy enough to actually bring a fly down or if they just aid in sinking a fly that already sinks.

 

Matt

 

 

[heavynets 0]

As I recall, Kelly Galloup fishes them just under the surface with regular floating line and leader.

[m_grieb 0]

Everything Ive read says they are designed to be fished with a sinking line and short leader....

[Brian Myers 0]

Everything Ive read says they are designed to be fished with a sinking line and short leader....

From Rio's website "They are idea for the fly fisher who needs a quick-change option for converting a floating line to a sink tip."

Says the same thing for either the Trout or Freshwater version.

http://www.rioproducts.com/fishing-leaders/versileader/freshwater-versileaders/

[heavynets 0]

I was totally wrong about the floating line. However, I was not far off about the "just under the surface ". Here is a video of his:

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k2rrn_7cOCA

[Brian Myers 0]

I've used "add a tips" on my 7wt for sometime now. I have a clear 14' intermediate tip from Rio which I believe is for their skagit line so it's not for a regular line but I use it that way. It's a bit heavy when casting , shoots well and does what I want it to. I find using it faster than changing out the spool to another line and it makes for less to carry on the water. I also use some "custom tips" in various lengths and sink rates that I get from an Ebay Seller that are made from a Rio product that is tungsten impregnated. The tungsten stuff does tend to snag more in the rocks and breaks down in 2 years but again it does what I need it to in certain situations. I am really intrigued that Rio has a product made for a normal floating line and is tapered. I may need to pick one of these up a little later in the season.

[m_grieb 0]

Yeah I was talking about how zoo cougars were meant to be fish with a sinking line. I wasn't talking about what lines can be used with a versitip. And yes I realize they are supposed to be fished just under the surface. I was essentially asking how efficiently Versileaders are at bringing something like a zoo cougar down to an effective range.\

 

Thanks

[Cold 0]

When I'm not doing dedicated streamer fishing, I feel you've got no choice but to use a full floating line. That being said, when I do decide to run a streamer on a full floater, I find the sinking polyleaders to be a great option to get them down. Certainly far superior to adding shot to the leader (thus creating a hinge, and one that loves to tangle at that).

 

Don't have any illusion that a versileader at 5, 7, or 10 feet is going to have you dredging the bottom...but for streamers, I find you don't necessarily need to be on the bottom to fish well (indeed, sometimes I think a baitfish that somehow ends up out in the middle of no-mans-land in the water column is seen as easy-pickings to a predatory fish as opposed to those on the bottom, in their preferred position in the current...a fraction of a second away from refuge in the substrate). And for fishing streamers anywhere in the top 2-3' of water, an ex. fast sink poly/versileader should be able to get you there.

 

Cast across or slightly up, throw an upstream mend, give it a few seconds of dead drift to get down, then start your retrieve. Naturally with a floating line, you're never going to get any deeper (and will in fact get significantly shallower) from the moment you stop drifting and start retrieving...the leader won't counteract that process. It can't. It'll just get you deeper than a regular leader while drifting, and help slow down the move toward the surface.

[m_grieb 0]

Thanks cold!

[Piker20 0]

Versileaders are Rios version of airflo polyleaders.

 

If you want real depth then try some of the light mow tips, you should manage to turn over the 25/75% or 50/50% mow on an #8 trout line.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

I fish streamers as my go-to fly most of the time. I don't like carrying multiple spools with different lines, though, so I use the Versileaders a lot, and I've always found them effective. The only time I fish anything other than a floating line is when I'm doing a float on the Au Sable "Trophy Waters" or someplace like that where I'm dedicating an entire day to doing nothing but targeting big browns on large streamers. Then I use a full-sinking line, which is what Kelly Galloup originally recommended and used when he wrote his book on fishing big streamers. I understand he uses some sort of "Streamer Express" style sink-tip now.

[whatfly 0]

[snip]I was essentially asking how efficiently Versileaders are at bringing something like a zoo cougar down to an effective range.

And how deep is "effective range" in your mind? Considering that you can get Versileaders 7' 1ips to 12' 7ips, they will cover a fair range of territory. If you needed more, you could also make your own out of T8 or T14, depending on what weight rod you are throwing. Effectiveness depends on how deep you need to fish, and how fast the water is. I know many anglers who just add a Versileader/Polyleader on to their nymph lines when they need a quick change to streamers.

 

Bryon is correct in pointing out that while in "Modern Streamers", which is pretty old now, he droned on about full sink lines, which are never any fun to fish in moving water, he has changed his approach a bit, just as his patterns have evolved since the book. Galloup tends to favor an integrated "shooting head" style line that is a sinking head with an intermediate running line, or at least that is what he hawks these days (refer: SA Streamer Express or Airflo Kelly Galloup Streamer Max lines). Yes, this type of line will sink deeper and hold depth better than a Versileader/Polyleader with a floating running line, but that does not mean it is the only way to fish a streamer.

[despatiesim 0]

Gents, are these versileaders flexible? That is when you bend it it bends right back (doesn't stay bent)? Quebec has salmon regulations that proscribe using metalic tips, which they define by this bending behavior.

thanks

 

Simon

[fishinguy 0]

The ones I have feel just like fly line. Not metal.

[Brian Myers 0]

Supposed to be made of the same material as your fly line