Fishing Streamers on a Sinking Line

[lar42]

I have a question about Sinking Lines and Leaders. I figure that one of you expert Streamer fisherman out there will know the answer. :wink:

How much leader do you use with sinking lines? I have a Teeny full sink line for streamers. Any opinions are greatly apreciated. :)

[The Fisherman]

I'm no streamer expert, but I also have a Teeny line, and I use a 6' 4x leader.

I've used it once this year, and it caught fish, including a fat, 18" beast.

[Todd K]

I find generally with a sink tip or full sink you don't need more than a 6 foot leader. You don't need to make a soft landing as you would with a dry fly. It also makes it easier to cast a larger streamer.

[Smoked Trout]

lar42

Here is roughly what I use.

Type 6 = 4 ft. of leader
Type 4 = 6 ft. of leader
Type 2 or I = 8 ft. + of leader

If your leader is too long on your fast sinking line it will fail to quickly pull your fly down where you want it.


Regards,

The Smoked Trout

[SloNDeep]

I put a mono loop at the end of my sink tip line (about 4-6 inches in total length from the nail knot to the end of the small perfection loop) and then tie tippet right to that (about 3-4 feet of 0X or 1X; 2-4X with small streamers).

[JohnT]

Smoked Trout....don't want to seem ignorant (but am doing a good job of it >>>LOL)..am something of a novice, still getting used to the lexicon...but what do you mean by "Type?" Are you refering to tippet size?..like 6x, 4 x, 2x?

Thanks for anticipated reply.

JohnT

[Housy Dave]

John, He is just referring to the sink rate of the flyline. When you go out any try to purchase a line, you will find that there are a myriad of options to chose from. I forgot where the 'type' designation originally comes from (maybe smoked trout can elaborate?), but a type 2 line is like an intermediate line (sinks at a rate of 1 or 2 ips), and a type 6 is super fast sinking line (rate of about 6 ips). Type 4 is somewhere in between. Hope this helps....

[Smoked Trout]

Dave is correct; the type designator refers to the line’s sink rate in inches per/minute. I’m not sure why they have chosen to use the “type” nomenclature when labeling these lines, guess they had to come up with something fancy so they could charge $60 for them.


Regards,

[JohnT]

Thanks Housy and Smoked trout....my ignorance is rapidly dissipating on this forum!!!

JohnT