Floating line at this time of year?

mattcullen · 23-02-2012 10:08am #1

I'm a beginner to fly fishing and only have floating fly line. I was thinking of going to one of the stocked rainbow trout lakes this weekend but not sure whether I'd need sinking line at this time of year?

BoarHunter · 23-02-2012 12:59pm

Yes you will need the sinking line even though you can fish lures with a floating one. It's good you are able to switch and give yourself options. You need to find out where the fish are feeding. bring different spools with you.

mattcullen · 23-02-2012 1:13pm

Thanks for the reply. How much would you say a spool of sinking line would cost?

BoarHunter · 23-02-2012 2:01pm

Do you have an empty spool for your reel ? otherwise you will waste an awful lot of time changing the line ! prices for sinking lines varie depending on quality. It's never cheap at the tackle shop of the fishery ... so go at your local. If you have a single spool with your reel then ... maybe consider getting a spare one along with the line and some backing. It's well possible you won't find the specific spool for your reel unfortunately ...

ironbluedun · 23-02-2012 3:36pm

mattcullen wrote: »

I'm a beginner to fly fishing and only have floating fly line. I was thinking of going to one of the stocked rainbow trout lakes this weekend but not sure whether I'd need sinking line at this time of year?

confining yourself to a floating line only would be a disadvantage on any fishery (wild or artificial) this time of the year.
if you do not want to go down the road of buying new sinking flylines, backing, spare spools or reels etc you have 2 options.
1- use a heavy weighted fly to achieve some depth.
2- use a fast sinking 10 foot poly-leader, which is a 10 foot section of sinking line that you add on to the end of your existing floating flyline via a loop to loop connection. therefore 'converting' your flyline into a type of sink tip line. most good tackle shops stock them and they are not too expensive. they will help you get good depth.

BoarHunter · 23-02-2012 4:24pm

ironbluedun wrote: »

confining yourself to a floating line only would be a disadvantage on any fishery (wild or artificial) this time of the year.
if you do not want to go down the road of buying new sinking flylines, backing, spare spools or reels etc you have 2 options.
1- use a heavy weighted fly to achieve some depth.
2- use a fast sinking 10 foot poly-leader, which is a 10 foot section of sinking line that you add on to the end of your existing floating flyline via a loop to loop connection. therefore 'converting' your flyline into a type of sink tip line. most good tackle shops stock them and they are not too expensive. they will help you get good depth.

Never used that but would that not be harder to cast for a beginner ?

mattcullen · 23-02-2012 5:04pm

I've no spare spool unfortunately and was advised by the tackle shop that there's none available for my reel. Too scabby to buy a new reel and line for the amount of fishing I'd do this time of year so might either try the heavier fly or the leader and see how I get on. If no luck I'll try again April maybe? I only really got the rod to do a bit of Lough Fishing/Stocked Lake fishing etc the odd time

Thanks for taking the time to reply

whelzer · 23-02-2012 5:46pm

Airflow (i think) do 5' poly leaders that are grand for a beginner. Using beadheads or snap-ons aswell especially tungsten will ensure that your down deep enough. They are €3-€5 each. I'd use fast sinking versions with a streamer if the river is very high and dirty and for the odd trip to rainbow stillwaters.

Roll on next Thursday - day off work booked!

carlspackler · 23-02-2012 5:55pm

I wouldn't ordinarily fish stocked lakes. Usually just dry fly on the river. I did ok at grange con with sinking tippet, 12ft or so with a gold head nymph on point and a some other form of nymph on a dropper.

I wouldn't say a sinking line is a necessity for a beginner but it would be a huge advantage I'm sure.

mattcullen · 24-02-2012 10:02am

Cheers for all the replies. I reckon I'll try one of those leaders so. Are they simple enough to put on and take off? Will I just attach a length of fluoro/mono to the end of that and a heavy fly so?

experimenter · 24-02-2012 10:21am

As a beginner really no need for a sinking line unless you are fishing boobys at depth, you need to work on different tactics...

Just use a beaded lure to get down a few feet, plus fish are been caught on a dry fly at the moment so all you need is a tapered leader of about 12-16ft and pop on you dry fly, something like a black klink hammer would suffice...

If you are a beginner, a floating line will cater for most if not all of your fishing situations...

Don't get too caught up on the lines and concentrate on presentation of the fly...

Try something like this configuration... 12ft leader of about 6-8bl line, and about 3ft from the point tie on a dropper and a buzzer or nymph or diawl bach..

On the dropper..

On the point

mattcullen · 24-02-2012 9:03pm

Got a 2 metre sinking polyleader there. Just wondering whats the best way to attach the tippet? If I use a clink knot or somesuch surely I wont be able to snip it off without damaging the loop on the polyleader? Should I do some sort of a loop knot on my tippet and the attach by loop to loop? Also Can I attach fluoro or just mono. I read before that you cant attach fluoro to mono but not sure if that applies here?

ironbluedun · 24-02-2012 9:27pm

mattcullen wrote: »

Got a 2 metre sinking polyleader there. Just wondering whats the best way to attach the tippet? If I use a clink knot or somesuch surely I wont be able to snip it off without damaging the loop on the polyleader? Should I do some sort of a loop knot on my tippet and the attach by loop to loop? Also Can I attach fluoro or just mono. I read before that you cant attach fluoro to mono but not sure if that applies here?

there should be a loop on the end of the polyleader, form a loop in your leader and make a loop to loop connection, you can use flouro

mattcullen · 24-02-2012 9:51pm

nice one ... thanks!

mattcullen · 25-02-2012 11:31pm

Cheers lads. went down today. sinking tipe worked great. got a few rainbows. lovely day too!

Floating line at this time of year?

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