sinking tip line as snagging device

On a recentsteelhead trip with an old friend who is now quite disabled due to spinal stenosis we went first class by using a guide with a drift boat.
As the day progressed we came to a series of deep pools with very fast water below a dam. To fish this stretch we used 7 or 8 #4 tin shot attached to the line fishing caddis nymphs and egg patterns with upstream casts with long drifts. Since lobbing this mass of metal was so disagreeable I asked the guide about fast sinking tip "Teeny type" lines. He replied with much conviction that these lines were not desirable as they frequently led to foul hooked fish. I replied that they had wide acceptance in the West and he did concede that they might have a place in swinging streamers downstream.
Since lobbing a line encrusted with tin is far from enjoyable I am wondering about the experience of others with sinking tip lines particularly with regards to snagging.

No worse than using shot, IMO.

The most notorious method of snagging in my experience started in the Finger Lakes tributaries decades ago. It's called "lifting" and consists of using a lot of shot and a bright piece of yarn on a single hook. This rig is lobbed upstream of a visible (usually spawning) fish, and twitched along until the yarn is near the fish's mouth. Then the line is lifted sharply and the fish is hooked. The really gifted (?) ones can actually put the hook in the fish's mouth.

Sinktips are my choice over split shot any day.

Sink tips work very well as a snagging device. All one needs to do is find a location where the fish are stacked up thick cast across, let the line drift down through the fish and hang on. This method is used quite effectively on salmon in the west. The 2 species this method seems to work best on are humpies and chums because of the sheer numbers of fish that will stack up in the pools. Sometimes you can find a dozen or more fly fishermen working a pool at the same time with this method. An amazing site.

Be sure to check the local regs, snagging is illegal in many regions.

I did not mean to imply that I would like to use a sinking line as a snagging tool, but would like to avoid situations where they would be more likely to cause this. It would seem if used in a down stream swing this would be less likely unless used in the aforementioned cases of densely concentrated salmonids.

The best way to avoid foul hooking is not to use sinking gear (lines, lead, beads, lead wraps, lead core, or splt shot).

The second best way, as water levels can in some cases merit their use, is to employ them on streamer swings. On the swing in high water, the take is so violent, that the fish will turn and hook itself for you.

In "pools", to avoid foul hooking, one should wait for an instant before setting the hook. Then, lift to rod first before striking. If you have a real take, the fish will often turn on it's own and you get the classic hook set in the hinge of the jaw.

Over anxious or nervous FF's WILL FOUL HOOK FISH in pools, entirely by accident by hook setting in a knee jerk reaction.

IF you ever foul hook a fish, think about the take, what you felt and how you reacted, ... It will help you to NOT do it again.

On pools up here, a curious trout will sometimes bump the fly, panic and hook itself in the side or back. When the reel starts screaming and you know its not a salmon, we break off as fast as you can say @#%T !! as PLAYING a foul hooked fish could be interpreted as illegal. Sure as shootin', you can't keep it either.

We have some problems with "regulars", they all use ST,s and who just seem to catch their daily bag limit even when its hot and low water (water crystal clear that is). The Wardens are having troule, so we all sort of show up (10 of us from the local river association) to hang out, have a coffee and shoot the breeze while watching these "gentlemen" fishing.

Clients like that we don't need.


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Christopher Chin
Jonquiere Quebec
[url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/chris_chin/:7c807]http://www3.sympatico.ca/chris_chin/[/url:7c807]


[This message has been edited by fcch (edited 14 April 2005).]

[This message has been edited by fcch (edited 14 April 2005).]

hoosier,

By itself, no rig is more prone to snagging fish than any other...but in the hands of someone with the intent to simply get a rod bent..and enough knowledge to know where the fish congregate, a sinking line is a deadly snagging (lining, flossing, gigging, ripping...)tool.

But..so it the chuck and duck rig your guide had you using.

If you run a fly through a pod of fish enough you will foul hook them. Keen "guides" use small flies and light tippets to encourage break-offs of foul hooked fish, since the only chance you have of landing a fish on that stuff is one hooked in the mouth.

If you are not intending to sweep your fly through the fish but instead are looking to present the fly to the fish and let them decide then fish in clear conscience.

[This message has been edited by LWilliams (edited 15 April 2005).]