How to fish Full Sinking line

Post by **Robert Goulet** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 3:04 pm

Hey All,

I just picked up a spare spool for my reel and will be outfitting it with WF6 S Type V full sinking line.

My question is how do you fish it? Would the full-sinking nature of the line not make it virtually impossible to cast it like a floating line? Is this type of line simply payed out or trolled with?

Any help is greatly appreciated as where I'm going this weekend will require me to get my flies down deeper to the pick up any fish...else I will be forced to breakout my spin cast gear...booooo!!

Post by **Gravelguy4** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:16 pm

You can troll with it, letting it out as you get going but you also can cast it. It may take some practice and you'll probably have to start with a shorter length than usual, a couple false casts and you'll be fine. It's handy for fishing flies deep and slow or following steep drop off's on northern granite lakes that are 20' deep 6" from shore.
Just like any other casting, if you're fly lands in a decent spot but it isn't "the" spot you were trying to hit, let it sit anyway. you do more harm than good spooking fish for an extra 5' of cast.

Good luck!

Post by **Todd B.** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:36 pm

Robert,

Once you get the hang of it, casting full sink is quite easy. It just shoots out there!

The only prerequisite is that you need to know how to double-haul. When you have say 15' of line out (not including your leader), perform a roll cast to pick your line up and get it initially in the air. After that you simply let line out on your double-hauling false casts until you have enough out for your final cast.

Keep in mind that given that it's type V, you don't want to let your line settle on the bottom (if you're fishing in say 20' or less.) The last thing you want is to have your line get snagged up on some work or rocks.

Cheers,
Todd

Post by **Salar** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:10 pm

The easiest way to fish that type of line is to troll. It's not impossible to cast but you'll have to bring most of your line in to be able to re-cast.

Post by **Fishboy** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:55 pm

Yeah, casting full-sink can be a bit challenging. Anyway, trolling is really what is does best. You can cast a short length out and strip out line as you go. If I'm fishing a deep lake, I often let line out right to the backing.

Depending on the depth you're fishing, you'll want to be conscious of how deep your line really is. The package the line came in indicates approximate sink rates so you can calculate the depth of your flies.

You'll need to pay attention to the tension on the line and be prepared at all times to set the hook.

Post by **Hookup** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:56 am

New to Fly-Fishing... Can someone link me to a video or description of this "double haul" and "false cast" thing you are all talking about.

I've been thinking about sinking line, or sinking tip anyhow, but was unsure of how to cast it once it's all sunk...

Post by **troutnmuskiehunter** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:07 am

Hookup wrote:New to Fly-Fishing... Can someone link me to a video or description of this "double haul" and "false cast" thing you are all talking about.

I've been thinking about sinking line, or sinking tip anyhow, but was unsure of how to cast it once it's all sunk...

Welcome to the site.....do you solely fly-fish???....What type of fishing do you do??

Post by **Todd B.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:09 am

Hookup,

Check out the following link:
http://www.sexyloops.com/flycasting/contents.shtml

Because full sink and sink tip lines are harder to cast, the progression for beginners is typically to develop their casting fundamentals with a floating line before moving to the specialty lines. I'm not saying it's not possible to use a specialty line right away, just that if you cannot reasonably cast with floating line, you will most likely get frustrated quickly with the sinking lines.

Post by **Hookup** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:27 am

SORRY FOR THE Hi-Jacked Thread... :::

Thanks for the welcome. I've been lurking the site for about 2 months... finally came out of the shadows.

I do a lot of fishing, since I was a very young lad with my grandfather, trolling a classic flat-fish in Charleston Lake for bass from the canoe.. good times....

Anyhow, I have always been a spining/bait casting fisher. Not competitive, but i like to catch fish... And am fairly productive with bass...

Fly fishing... Well, I started that about 2 months ago when a friend told me to go get a rod so he could show me some basics... Yeah, well $400 for a sage combo sounded steep for an entry price, but I waded in and went for it... then the money really started to fly out a my pockets.... hahaha.. waders, boots, fly tying vices, materials, books, etc, etc, etc... i'm in for over $3000 in gear at this point and in LOADS of trouble with my wife...

I still like to fish "regular-style" with my spinning and bait casting gears, but fly fishing is simply amazing.... Coupled with tying all my own flies, it's just the best ever.. (BIG THANKS to the Green Drake/Cameron for all he has taught me so far.)

I want to get out an meet some of you at a future weekly fishing event. Hopefully my schedule will allow it sooner than later.

OH, and I am dying (like everyone else) to find streams/small rivers/lakes where i can hook into trout... Espc around Calabogie where I have a cottage on Black-Donald Lake.. If anyone wants to share/tip me off to a spot or two, I'd be in your debt.. PS: I've never caught a trout of any kind so that's a whole new thing...

Back to Original Post::

Thanks Todd B. for the link.. Thats a sight that I had not seen/found before... looks great! i'll add it to my ever growing list of Fly-Fishing bookmarks...

Are there any specific patterns that you guys like to fish when using sinking line? I assume that streamer patterns are the norm? Black Nose Dais, Clouser minnows?

Tim.

Post by **Todd B.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:40 am

Tim,

I tend to fish unweighted or very lightly weighted flies when using full sink line. In terms of patterns just follow the 4 simple rules:

1. Size
2. Shape
3. Colour
4. Behavior

Note: In some cases the size/colour rules are broken to make the fly stand out more.

As for trout up in Calabogie, just check out the stocking list out of Pembroke. You'll need a floattube or canoe to access the lakes though. The most well known one is Shiner Lake.

Post by **Todd B.** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:21 pm

Hookup,

Well the only way you're going to dig yourself out of that $3000 hole is to get your wife into flyfishing as well..... Though that might add another $1000 to that total.

Post by **Hookup** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:39 pm

Um... yeah.. well the total $$ keep's rising...

Went to the new Fly Fish store in Bells Corners, Float something Fish??

Anyhow, nice friendly ppl there for sure. Going to be a great store for the long run...

Well I got the wife approval to purchase a float tube tomorrow... yeah me!

So, likely going to try to tube on Saturday AM. I live 2 min from Jock Landing, but there's not enuf oil in Texas to get me on a tube on the weekend on the Rideau...

If anyone wants to join, or is going and wants company. PM me.. I'll post some report Sat afternoon... If not tubing, i'm thinking Long-Island Locks Area.