Decided to pickup a sink tip line today and was wondering if theres anything i should expect as i have never tried this before, i plan on swinging some larger flies such as wooly buggers and maybe some steelhead flies. I do find that when i am fishing deep with shot on a floating line i tend to have some trouble with the pickup, do i need to use much more force? As always any advice for this rookie fly caster is always appreciated.
I am no expert but here are a few things I have found helpful when using sink tips.
1) It is more difficult to lift the line from the water to begin your back cast. If you have a lot of line out or the sink tip is down deep it is usually better to strip most of it back in before starting a new cast.
2) If you do try to pull the line from the depths for a back cast it seems to work better if you point the rod down at the water level and strip in all the excess. Start your back cast with a slow steady draw back to allow your rod to really load up.
3) Use a shorter leader than on your floating line setup.
4) Less false cast needed and the length of your false cast can be shortened. Let the weight of the sink tip pull line through your guides on your final cast.
5) If your line is out and you need to pause your fishing for a moment.....such as stopping to watch an otter out fish you....it is better to pull your line in or you may find it wrapped around a log or rock.
Thanx for the tips, they did help a bit, but i must say its a miracle i'm not digging a few hooks out of my head ! Fishing a sink tip was a little harder then i thought, really hard to pickup the line for a backcast. Guess its just one more of many things to keep workin on.
It's been my experience that with any sinking line you need to do a roll cast (or several roll casts back to back) to get the line to the surface of the water. Once the line is on the surface, you will be able to pick it up for a back cast. You want to start your back cast quickly, before the line has time to sink.
