I’m thinking choosing a brand of sinking line is not as critical as choosing a particular floating line.
Do you agree and if not which brand would you choose? Is there a company out there that tends to put out better ones?
Duckster,
I have the exact same thoughts and have asked with no good answers. I have heard what ever you do don’t go cheap on a flyline. But…I don’t see how a sinking line can matter that much. Global Dorber has the Aquanova lines at $14.50 each. Wonder how good they are? Guess I will have to just buy some to find out.
Gemrod
I bought two Aquoanova lines to try them out. One a WF5F and the other a WF8ST. I gave the WF5F away to a newbie fly fishing friend of mine and it is working great for him. I kept the ST and use it on an Albright rod for light salmon duty. It appears to cast and works just fine. I have several Cortland 444 lines and they are my goto for floating lines. I have several SA line sin full sink and sink tip and IMO shot better than the Global Dorber and have held up for some time now without fatigue. You get what you pay for. Take care of your lines by cleaning and story properly and they will give you years of service. An expensive line abused will be worth little next year or there after.
RIGHT NOW, TONY P HAS SOME EXTREMELY GOOD AND SUPER PRICES LINES ON THE FAOL FOR SALE BOARD. Don’t know Tony but he is offering a good deal IMO
Years ago I started using 333 sinking lines for no other reason other than they were cheap from H&H.
I got a bunch of 'em
I never had a problem.
Never had a reason to try anything else
I use sinking lines a lot. I’ve had good success with Uniform Sink-type lines. Orvis is clearing out its Density Compensated Wonderlines right now.
I also have an Aquanova full sink line, which seems to work fine as well, and is a bargain. I don’t do much casting with these full sink lines (I troll from a float tube), so I agree that the brand matters less than with floating lines.
I bought a sinking line for $10.00 3 years ago from wally world clean it every year and it still works just fine. Use it for all my still water fishing casting from a pontoon boat. IMHO I don’t think it matters much with sinking line. Tony P does have some great prices on lines in the for sale section. I have done business with him and he is great to do business with. Lots of communication and good to his word.
I bought an 8wt Aquanova full siking line last June for a Steelhead float trip with a guide on the Sandy River in Oregon. It casted o.k., but would not sink fast enough in even moderate flows to get deep enough for Steelhead presentations. Otherwise it seemed perfectly acceptable.
So if I go out tomorrow and buy one…forgetting cost…I can just go eny meny miny mo???
ducksterman,
Are you looking to get a Sinking Fly Line or a Sinking Tip Fly Line? In either case, checkout Scientific Anglers website. They have both a Fly Line Selector and PDF downloads of the various types that will help you decide. One of the most important feature to consider when selecting a sinking line is its sink rate. This allows you to get to a desired depth.
This year I used SA Uniform Sink + and have been very pleased with it. I believe it is the Type II sink rate.
I have and use lots of sinking lines. I stick with SA simply because that was the only brand available to me at my local store. I have #5FS types 1 thru 6. If you are using the lines for timed sinks I think you should stick to the same brand. I got a different #5 full sink in type II and it sunk at a different rate than my SA type II did.
I cast toward shoals a lot and the around $50.00 Sa line casts well. The Cheap walmart stuff resembles a slinky in cooler waters.
For trolling I do use the cheaper $10.00 sinking line from wal mart to save my good ones for casting. The wal mart line doesn’t have a sink rate on the box but At the lake I compared the sink rate with My SA lines and it sank at about a type II.
I like to troll the same speed all the time, so I use different type sink rates to regulate how deep I am. But If you have only one sinking line you have to vary the speed to get the right depth.
If you cast one of the cheapter thicker lines all day, you will realize the value of a better brand.IMO
Our first instinct is to go cheap because all a sinking line needs to do is sink. Well, I wish it was that easy. If I buy a cheap line that says it sinks 1.5"-2.5" per second, I can say without a doubt that it will not. It might sink faster, or it might sink slower. The “bottom line” is that better lines come with better accuracy. Fly fishing is not all about dry flies on crystal clear spring creeks, there are a few of us muddy lake fisherman that need quality lines to get the right feeding zone. I count on my lines doing what they say they do. Sinking lines do not cast the same way floating lines do, but they should at least cast as well.
My experience is a lot like what loufly just said, especially with intermediate lines. I’ve got two and the Cortland actually stays suspended just below the surface and the no-name sinks down too far. I’d look at the archives to see what works for others and buy one of those lines from one of the board’s sponsors or a line on the for sale board from Tony.
Like so many things in this sport (or addiction, you choose what to call it), it really does depend on your application.
The posts at the start of the thread saying any kind will work and the line does not matter as long as it sinks may hold true for casting out in a lake or pond to fish that are scattered through the water collum.
I just got back from fishing 20 days in Chile. Nearly 70% of fishing was done with a sinking line. Putting the fly in the strike zone matters. When fishing rivers especially with varying water depths and fish in heavy cover, fishing with a sinking line is demanding, and you have to tinker to get your presentation right. I would vary my sinking line for the application, and what was said above rang very true: You absolutly need to know how your line sinks, and reacts to both initial sink, and when you are stripping the fly. When a sinking line goes down it is in constant motion (sinking and being pulled by current). If it is only in the stike zone a short time, well your chances of success are going to suck. If it gets to the strike zone fast and stays there longer, you chances obviously are going to be much better in fooling a fish to eat that fly.
Another issue is casting. Being in a boat on an open pond or lake and flailing it out there and letting it sink is one thing. Being backed into nearly imprenatrateable brush and tring to roll cast a heavy sink line into a 30mph wind in your face when trying to get to spooky brown trout in heavy cover is a whole different thing.
I personally mostly use Teeny lines. There is a new Teeny professional series sinking line for streamers, the Kelly Gallup streamer line. This is 60 feet of full sink, and it really works good in the rivers to keep the streamer in the zone. It sinks at about 5ips, and is very thin, so has great wind resistance for casting, and rolls good once you get on to it. It also is moderately priced. The other Teeny sink lines I like is the Teeny Tip 175 for fast and shallow rivers, the T-300 and the Super Magnum Chuck and Duck for really going down like casting upstream of a very deep hole and having it drop right down on in. The TT-175 is a rocket in the wind, and you can get really nice line speed with it. The slower sink rate is great in shallow water, especially faster moving as the streamer flys stay where you want them to be…
I also am partial for lakes to a Rio 24 foot Density Compensated 300 grain. This line casts real nice, either overhand or roll, and 24 foot at that weight goes down real nice. The density compensation means it pulls real nice and level when you strip as the tip sinks at different rates to compensate for being at different levels in the water collum (tip will always be lower).
If I had to pick two sink lines to have with me for the waters I fish (Alaska and Chile), it would be the Rio DC and the Teeny Kelly Gallup.
Just my two pescos (cents).
"I also am partial for lakes to a Rio 24 foot Density Compensated 300 grain. This line casts real nice, either overhand or roll, and 24 foot at that weight goes down real nice. The density compensation means it pulls real nice and level when you strip as the tip sinks at different rates to compensate for being at different levels in the water collum (tip will always be lower). "
Flyboy, I take it that Rio is a sink-tip?
Also in regard to lake fishing I have seen it stated that rather than a density compensated [uniform sink] a full sink will tend to have a bow in it that will keep the fly on a level longer…the idea being that the uniform sink is a straighter line to the surface so the fly starts upward right away…in theory…
and wouldn’t the sme hold true for a sink tip?
Again I’m wondering in regard to lake fishing and let’s say from a tube or toon…
What do you think?
This is my opinion only. If you NEED a sink tip line just use a longer leader or add more tippet or even more weight to your fly and just use your floating line. Here in Calif. we use up to 22 foot leaders with weighted flys to get down where the fish are. With this style of fishing you can literally HOP the fly off the bottom with a short quick strips. It takes a little getting used to casting a loooong leader but you be suprised when you start catching fish. If you need a full sink line I have found that Rio Out of bound sinking line to be just what the doctor ordered in my case. It is somewhat like the Teeny line but has a smoother casting intergraded running line. That said you would only need 2 false casts and let her rip. A good caster can shoot this line out a country mile! I use a #8 sink which gets me down super fast. Rio has differnt sink rates to choose from so take care in choosing whats good for you. As years go by one tends to collect lines that they don’t use any more. So maybe you can post what you need in the things wanted. Later.