Sinking line question

[Longhorn Flyer]

I was looking at fly lines in my local big box store, gathering info on sinking lines. I can?t justify spending a lot of money on a sinking line right now. But, I would like to have the effect. Is a good alternative to find some crappy old sinking line that no one wants anymore and cut off say 20 feet of it and attach to the end of a floating line, then leader and tippet to that? I?m not trying to get way down, but down to 10 feet might be useful at this time of year here in Texas. I am almost always in ponds or pretty slow streams/rivers, and do not have to have a ?delicate presentation?.
Thanks,
Alan

[Micropteris]

YUP that works

[dudley]

Make yourself some lead heads from Cortland LC-13
I carry some from 1-6 ft.
Even longer for shooting heads

[chewydog]

Shooting heads. Fairly cheap with different sink rates.

Read this:

http://www.hatchesmagazine.com/page/december2006/290

If you attach it to your fly line it won't "shoot" very well.

[lee s]

Longhorn,
We are always standing in semi-deep poop for all the off the wall stuff we do......too heavy line for the rod, level lines, too light line for the rod, yata, yata.
What you suggest will work, BUT.....adding stuff to a WF line (pieces of stuff to make sinkers) is where we usually draw the line, pun intended We may add shot to the fly, but no pieces to a WF line. It ruins the "balance" of the WF line and is completely atrocious to toss.
Cutting up old lines is a good way to salvage and make shooting heads providing they are of the required weight and length you want. The wieght should load your rod same as the WF you toss and the length should generally be 24'-27' plus to deterr line dump. Differing densities are useful.
You can aquire several good floating or sinking small diameter level, mono type or line type running lines. A grand system indeed for complete and versitle water column coverage at FAR less expense than several full lines of differing densities.
.....lee s.

[ducksterman]

Remember though that a sink tip does act differently than a full sink...just depends on what you are trying to do.

[Longhorn Flyer]

Lee,
So what you are suggesting for a ?relatively cheap? sinking setup is this:
1. get some running fly line (float or sink)attached to the backing, say 50-60 feet, with some type of an ?easy? connection at the end
2. create multiple shooting heads using old sinking lines (or new specific shooting heads) that can quickly/easily attach to the running line, in lengths around 30 feet.
3. attach a leader and tippet to the shooting head

This would allow a quick change of sink rate on the shooting head, without having to change anything spooled before it. At that point, it is just about making sure you have a somewhat balanced total line that can actually be cast.
That would certainly be a lot cheaper than having multiple sinking lines (entire line), and multiple reel spools to be able to get to them quickly.
Very good idea! Anyone else have additional very good ideas? Bring ?em if ya got ?em.
Alan

[Fly Goddess]

I would say to go to Walmart and look for some WET CELL sinking line (like a Type III) Wet cell is going to form a belly which is nice for fishing weedy places. Density Compensated is going to sink level. I have seen wet cell at Wally World dirt cheap.

[ducksterman]

Seems to me if it's sink tips you want....rather than go through all the hassle ...and by the time you collect all the parts for multiple tips....it's worth it to get Rio's multi-tip system....or Cabela's even cheaper multi-tip system...

[lee s]

As long as the depth desired is only about 10' or less w/o too much current, our multi tip lines seem to do OK.
Longhorn,
Yes. Most people use loop to loop connections. Most people use around 100' of shooting line as it is pretty simple to learn to cast MOST of that with this system. Very useful for covering much water when limited manuverability is a hinderance. Our shooting head systems include floating heads and all (most)of the differing available densities to and including LC (lead core). That gives one options of 0" per second sink rate to better than 9" per second sink rate.
This site may be helpful in further explaining much of this...?
http://www.danblanton.com/bulletin.php