I guess I must live in the dark ages.
When the author refers to sinking lines, he is talking about what I call intergrated lines.
To me a sinking line would be what is sometimes called a "full sinking" lines.
I have read many times over that full sinking lines are hard to cast and must be striped in further before the pick up and back cast.
I own and use many sizes and sink rates of sinking lines and have never had these problems.
In fact in some cases, like when it is very breezy, I find a sinking line easier to cast.
Sometimes when I really want my fly to go down I even add a LC-13 lead head. Don't forget to duck!
Full sinking lines seem to be on the verge of being fazed out in favor of the much more expensive intergrated lines. I wonder why??
This is a shame because the knock on full sinking lines is unfounded.
The simpler the outfit, the more skill it takes to manage it, and the more pleasure one gets in his achievements.
--- Horace Kephart