# floating or sinking line



## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

What is your guys perference? The main things I go after are carp, bass and I am going to start musky fishing with my flyrod. I am thinking I might just have to buy a backup reel with sinking line and experiment with what works the best. But any insight would be appreciated.


----------



## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

For bass and carp you don't need a sinking line. I don't have any experience with musky but you could probably use sinking line for them if they're in deeper water, I guess you could always get a sink tip instead of a whole line.


----------



## MIKE*A (Apr 12, 2009)

Definitely a floating......I use that for 90% of my fishing......I do have an intermediate for some of the rivers in early spring when they are high/fast........

Mike


----------



## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Floaters are easiest to cast and work with for beginners. And those species of fish all do well with floating lines. You can use a heavy clouser or other weighted fly to get down a few feet. If you need to get down faster, or to fish a buoyant fly down deep, an intermediate or sinking line is preferable. like the others said, you could get a sink tip, whether integrated or looped (2 pieces that loop together). The nice thing about looped sink tips is the ability to switch depths quickly and easily without even taking the spool off. If you go with two lines, you can usually find a spare spool for your reel rather than a whole other reel (to cut cost and weight in your backpack). But it depends if your reel is easy to find or discontinued. 

I mostly fish intermediates in the great lakes around breakwalls, as well as in saltwater surf with the waves pushing the line around a bit. But in FW lakes in open water or deep cover/structure, I use a variety of sink tip lines from an intermediate 10' tip to a full sink 6ips 30'

So, as long winded as that was, I agree that a floater seems like the best bet unless you're fishing more than 5' deep. It's a requirement if you're fishing topwaters like gurglers, deer hair divers/frogs, or poppers.


----------



## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

If your intend on targeting muskie you will need a sinking line, even the floating lines designed to cast large flies will not cast large enough flies. Also, at the speed that you fish for ski's a sinking line will keep your fly several feet deep. I don't even bother to carry a floater for them, even with poppers an intermediate works better than a floater because it gets the fly to pull down and create more noise.
September is a good time to learn, try casting main lake weedbeds first thing in the mornings and again in the evenings. Cover as much water as possible and fish the biggest fly you can throw.


----------



## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

thanks for all the help guys I really appreciate it


----------



## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

riverKing said:


> If your intend on targeting muskie you will need a sinking line, even the floating lines designed to cast large flies will not cast large enough flies.


That sounds to me more like a casting problem than a line problem.


----------



## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

Not a casting problem, there are currently no lines designed to cast flies in the 15-20in range. Though we have been talking to reps about new big fly lines.

The problem is grain wt. you need a 350 gr sinking line, and only specific ones to cast truly huge flies. Though tarpon lines come close and do a fine job when fishing smaller 8-12in flies.


----------



## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.


----------



## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

let me chime in! A SA Master Series Musky / Pike taper will cast large flys better than a normal WF line. A triangle taper will also cast large flies better than some other lines! There is multiple reasons why some ppl have a hard tiem casting flies. The rods I have thrown for skis have been very fast rods ie Sage XP 9wt and I threw 2550-350 grain lines for them. With a 250-350 grain sinking line I used to throw 14-16" bunny leeches. Its all about the taper of the fly lien when it comes to them. Full sinking lines to tend to just throw big ugly flies all day long!


----------



## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

riverKing said:


> Not a casting problem, there are currently no lines designed to cast flies in the 15-20in range. Though we have been talking to reps about new big fly lines.
> 
> The problem is grain wt. you need a 350 gr sinking line, and only specific ones to cast truly huge flies. Though tarpon lines come close and do a fine job when fishing smaller 8-12in flies.


Mark Sedotti regularly casts flies that big (up to 20 inches) over 100 feet on a 7 weight. He's exceptional, but he shows it can be done.

Besides, there's a difference between saying that you, yourself, like to throw 20 inch flies, and saying that one "needs" this, that or the other thing. I think we can say with confidence that people have and will continue to throw "big enough" flies on floating lines.


----------



## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

Great product promo though!


----------



## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

fallen513 said:


> Great product promo though!


Yeah, if I bought everything that I was told I "needed", I'd probably catch about the same number of fish, but have no money left. My fishing vest would be pretty full, too.


----------



## fallen513 (Jan 5, 2010)

I would like to see a large fly specific fly line developed & marketed. Sounds like we might see it sometime in the near future. Cool.


----------



## Andrew S (Jul 7, 2011)

I'm not really convinced that we don't have such lines already. On the east coast where I was fishing for a while, we regularly fished flies up to 12 inches for stripers on 8, 9, and 10 weight rods. That still leaves plenty of 11 and 12 weight rods going unused for the "big" flies.


----------



## steelheader007 (Apr 8, 2004)

Andrew S said:


> Yeah, if I bought everything that I was told I "needed", I'd probably catch about the same number of fish, but have no money left. My fishing vest would be pretty full, too.


Amen and great points! I can't remember the last time I bought a spool of tippet material lol!


----------



## Intracoastal (Sep 12, 2009)

Andrew S said:


> Yeah, if I bought everything that I was told I "needed", I'd probably catch about the same number of fish, but have no money left. My fishing vest would be pretty full, too.


I don't buy anywhere near everything I'm suggested, or even feel necessary in some cases, and yet this still sounds like me!


----------



## retiredfisherman (Sep 14, 2011)

Hi I'm new to the board and do fly fishing along with spinning and baitcasting. The rods I have are a 5wt-8wt-10wt Temple Forks and a 8wt SageXP. On the 10wy I run a RIO Lake Dep 6 Full Sinking Line for Brook Trout and for Smallmouth Bass, the bass being in 20-35 foot of water along shear drop offs. The Brook trout are on the Nipigon River in Ontario with a strong current and crystal clear, the brookies run 5-10lbs.. If I'm in Missouri at Bennett Springs Trout Park I'll normally use the 5wt with a floating line throwing dry flies. If they aren't hitting on that I'll go to the SageXP 8wt with a shooting head line and use a sink tip as needed to get it down and use a nymph. Most of my reels are Ross CLA's but I do have some Cabelas and a Redington. I use different wt lines and styles as I need for the waters I fish. I also throw some rather large fies for Northern Pike on the 8wt Sage and 10wt TFO. I have fly fished in Ohio a couple of times over by Covington if I remember right it was near a Red Covered Brige and the river(creek) had a falls. I caught some of my biggest smallies over there. Once I learn how to post pictures on here I'll post some with fish I've taken on my fly rods. I do some Tournament fishing for Smallmouth and I use my fly rods at times to get into certain places instead of my spinning or bait casting rigs. I would be interested in hearing of any other good water over there for fly fishing. I have also taken walleyes on my fly rods when the mayfly hatch is on while up in Ontario. Nothing like catching 75 walleyes on flies in one night. By the way I'm from 90 miles southwest of Chicago in Illinois.


----------

