Cheap Full sinking fly line

[JP]

Looking to switch my WF floating line to full sinking line to target the shad. On a MAJOR budget. Suggestions?

P.S. 9 foot six weight, sufficient or no?

[Dalton Terrell]

JP, wish I could help you out on this but as far as I know there aren't many options out there for cheap full-sinking lines. But Dan put it nicely when speaking to one of our members at TieFest earlier this year, a full-sink line at $70-100 is about the same price as gas for one or two trout fishing trips and will keep you shad fishing for several years. You may be able to find a discontinued or close out line on the internet for cheaper but I am weary of this after spending $20 or so on a discontinued full-sinking line a few years back and having the line break multiple times on fish and snags with 0X tippet.

And yeah, your 6wt will be solid out there for shad, aim for a 200ish grain shooting head or 6wt labeled sinking line.

Dalton

[Kevin Eastman]

Another option would be sinking poly leaders, which should be around $10-12 and work quite well. Might be a bit heavy for a six weight, but you could also find some T-8 at a shop and cut it to a length you're comfortable with. 

[Sardman]

I had the same problem and bought a #6 Rio from ebay (New) for 40 bucks including shipping.

It is black, and other than that, works fine.

Consider I am new to flyfishign and don't really know what I am doing.....but I have caught my share of fish on it. 

with the sinking line I find it hard to cast because the line sinks at my feet and does not strip out; the roll cast is also messy because if you are not quick, the line sinks and my 6 wt does not have the power to take it out of the water.

Most of the times I try to save money buying a cheap surrogate I end up frustrated and spending more at the end. Consider bringing lunch to work for an entire week and you won't feel those $70 .

 

 

Mauro.  

[JP]

Thanks for all the information everyone. I think my best option here is to just dig in and invest in a high quality sinking line. Another question here, and sorry I'm not trying to be that annoying new guy haha, but can you launch your own boat at Fletcher's? I've perused their website but I can't seem to find anything.

[Brendan]

while it's nice having a sinking line, if you're just using it for shad and on a tight budget, i'd go for one of the alternatives... lots of different names for it, kevin mentioned the sinking poly leaders, also heard it called a sink tip or mini-head... a little awkward casting but not terrible and you can usually pick them up in 2 or 3 packs for $10.  It'll be hard getting down deep for the american's but you should still be able to catch a few and more than enough depth for the hickories. If you haven't done shad fishing and just want to try it out, and don't have any other use for a sink tip, i'd hold off on dropping the $50-120/line and save for it for one of the other money pits in this sport. 

at some point i'd be curious to hear from people who have used one of the multi-tip line setups...???   seem a little clunky and have heard mixed reviews but more and more companies seem to be making them and certainly would be useful certain situations. 

[Daniel Davala]

I'm a big fan of multi-tip lines and use one on my 8-weight frequently.  The main (floating) portion of the line is pretty similar to a standard weight forward floating line, only it is looped up front where a standard line would normally begin a front taper toward the leader.  So, effectively, the main portion ends in the thicker, "belly" section of the head.  This gives these lines by design the ability to turn over some pretty significant sink tips that a standard weight forward line with a front taper would have trouble with - the "awkward" casting feeling you mention.  The tip set these lines include usually have a floating tip, an intermediate tip, a type 3 tip (3 inches per second), and a type 6 tip (6 ips), and the tips themselves are usually 15' long.  Of course, one can make additional tips out of T-## material in whatever length and weight desired.  I have used these lines very effectively for Shad out here and the 15' type 6 tip will get down quickly enough, though still not as quickly as a full sinking line.  Of course, the longer it takes a line to get down, the more time there is between fish - i.e. fewer fish overall. 

 

Multi-tip lines are great out of a small boat or kayak as well, since you can make major depth changes without ever un-stringing the rod or rigging multiple outfits.  The kicker as it pertains to this thread though, is these are not budget lines.  On average, a multi-tip line of good quality will retail anywhere from $110-$139 unless on closeout (which usually means the popular sizes are gone already).  A cheaper alternative - make your own multi-tip line by cutting the front taper off of a standard floating line and build a new loop in it.  Then, find, build, or purchase a 15' sinking tip or a package of T-material (T-8, T-11, T-14, etc.) and loop it up front.  Then again, those on a budget are often less inclined to chop up their perfectly good floating line, so it's a bit of a catch 22.

 

Ultimately, I still believe a full sinking line is a vital piece of equipment for a lot more than Shad fishing on this river.  I remember one year Trent Jones fished almost the entire season out here with a sinking line, for a very wide range of species.  I know I use a sinking line or sinking tip system of one type or another for the majority of my Tidal Potomac fishing as well.  Besides, most of our local shops do have less expensive full sinking alternatives for around $59.  A lot of people spend that on drinks on a Friday night.  Your local shops are also more than happy to switch lines out on your existing reel if you don't have or don't want to buy a spare spool or reel, and just hand you your floater on a storage spool until you're ready to put it back on.

 

Oh, and I remember the year of Dalton's "budget" sinking line.  That line got shorter and shorter every time he went out.  I know I built several loops on it as it did.  I think we finally scrapped the thing once it was about 45' long, it must have had a core problem, or no core at all in some places.  "Caveat emptor" as they say, factory "rejects" are rejected for a reason.

 

Dan Davala

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