sewincaster or not!!!!

[XL50]

Im having a bit of a conundrum at present!! I own a cortland 15' ghost tip and I want to add another line to allow me to fish deeper. I was going to buy a sewincaster with the di 3 tip but the ghost tip sinks at about 2" a sec and the sewincaster sinks at about 3" a sec. Im unsure if this little sink rate difference will make a big difference in fly depth or not. Now Ive notice cortland are doing a sink tip which drops at around 4" per sec. Now quote me if Im wrong but if i went for the cortland then I could almost be fishing my flies 20" deeper of a 20 sec swing of the flies but the sewincaster would only be 10" deeper! Thats if the sink rates are correct and in a perfect fishing world!! What would you think about doing based on Im only buying 1 line this year??

[Peter J Simcox]

Sewincaster or not

Hi XL50,
Have you looked at the Airflo range of polyleaders they come in 7 densities from floating, to extra super fast sink, you can get them in 5ft & 10ft lengths and they are loop to loop attached for a quick change in depth, if you go on the Fishtec website you can view them there hope they solve your dilema.
Regards
Peter.

[XL50]

Ive got a pack of them but Ive never grown to like them Peter its the loop to loop conection Im unsure about. I usualy have 2 rods set up a 7 weight for floating line work e.g. surface lure or a team of small doubles and a 8 weight for larger flies and deeper fishing. The sink tips are for my 8 weight outfit.

[speycaster]

the welded loops are fine mate ive never had any trouble with mine and i had the prototype as well there is another sink tip line in the range i think its a six or seven tip i also have the intermeadiete wich is a great line

[XL50]

the welded loops are fine mate ive never had any trouble with mine and i had the prototype as well there is another sink tip line in the range i think its a six or seven tip i also have the intermeadiete wich is a great line

It was the airflo polyleaders I was refering to. When attached I find they can hinge unlike the loop to loop conection when a fly line is conected to mono which binds down.

[speycaster]

oops sorry mate it must have been a senior moment lol, as for poly tips i make my own far easier to get the right length/weight

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Agree with Peter above, XL50, the polyleaders could be a versatile option for you. However, when fishing a single hander always go for the 5ft versions and always go for the salmon/steelhead version. The trout versions have too fine a breaking strain and the 10ft versions are a pain in the arse on a single hander - they do hinge.

The loop-to-loop is a great connection, but make sure you loop the right way. A lesson that I learnt very early on was never to loop the same loop, as confusing as that may first sound. The loop of the polyleader should be passed over the loop of the fly line, then the end of the polyleader threaded through the loop of the fly line and pulled through. A lot of people thread the loop of the polyleader through the loop of the fly line, then thread the end of the polyleader through the eye of the polyleader and pull tight. Power doesn't travel through as well, it's a bad connection and it will hinge more.

As for the lines; to be honest XL50 I doubt that you would see 'that' much difference between the clear tip and the di-3 sink-tips, as good as both lines are. I would tend to vary the weight of the flies and angle of the cast on e.g. the clear tip, which would help me gain more depth if needed. Of course, if I really wanted to get down deep then I would go on full sinkers.

TT.

[XL50]

Cheers TT it is the 10' polyleaders I have! And thanks for the input towards the line. It was how I was thinking but just wanted some input from others.

[fredaevans]

TT's right about sticking to the shorter 'head' with a one hander.

If I need a longer sink tip, there I'll shift to a Tenney Nymph (many other make a similar line) sink tip which were designed from the ground up to cast well with a single hander. They come in 100 grain graduations from 100 to as high (if memory serves) up to 800.

Another good option is either buy, or build your own sink tips using T-8, T-11 or T-14. Takes a bit of practice to learn how to build your own loop on the rod end, but actually very easy to do. The "T" refers to Tungston (sp?::/), the 8,11, or 14 are the grains per foot. Knowing that, you can make your own to any spec. you may choose.

Not sure how available this stuff is on your side of the pond but easy to come by in my corner of the world. If you want to try it, and can't find it 'over there' shoot me a PM or e-mail and I'll direct you to folks who stock it and can send it to you direct.

Fred Evans

[speycaster]

nice touch freda

[XL50]

Some good points and info in this thread. But I still cant make my mind up to what Im going to do!!!!

Basicly when sea trouting at night Ive 2 rods 1 set up with my floater and another with the cortland sink tip! What Im try to achieve here is to be able to fish my flies at different depths. eg

The surface to about 2' down (floater) surface lures smaller flies.

Then lets say 2' to 4' (cortland) tubes standard weapons, medicines.

Then below 4'(??????) Sunk lures Black Demon, White Ghost and Falkus's Sunk Lure.

I dont want a full sinker as I like to mend and control my line to stay in contact at let the flies fish properly for longer. When I fished years ago there was a surface lure on the floater and I also fished fly a maggot on the floater with a weapon and that was that. On many nights my mate who fished the same way totally out fished me and he use a sink tip I tried an Intermediate and hated it for the reasons already mentioned so thats when I got my sink tip. All of my night time sea trout were caught with a surface lure when my mate struggled with his s/tip and at day break fishing the streamy water at the head of the pool with wee doubles! Then 1 day we stopped!!!! I then fished the Till myself for a few years catching fish on upstream Mepps and small doubles in the streams at 1st light and with an upstream wind during the day and blanking at Night whilst others caught!!! I fished alot with the keeper at night me going through the pool 1st then him whilst I watched him take fish from the same water I had just fished!!

I hope that ramblings will let you understand why I cant mke my mind up and why Im trying to turn my luck round!

[speycaster]

i start with two floating lines , one with a wake lure[ a great way to find the where the fish are lying] and on the other floater a plastic tube on the point and a single on the dropper, depending on the cover and light i will then swap the floating line with the wake lure on to an intermediete tip[15ft]sewin caster ,if i need to go deeper i will put a heavier fly/tube on the intermediete if the fish are being a bit fussy i will swap the heavier fly to the dropper on the floter and put a small floating fly of your choice on the point using the heavier fly as an rudder to control the depthand speed of the point fly sometimes it pays to put a single fly a foot behind the wake lure for those fish that slash and miss the wake lure regards billy p

[XL50]

i start with two floating lines , one with a wake lure[ a great way to find the where the fish are lying] and on the other floater a plastic tube on the point and a single on the dropper, depending on the cover and light i will then swap the floating line with the wake lure on to an intermediete tip[15ft]sewin caster ,if i need to go deeper i will put a heavier fly/tube on the intermediete if the fish are being a bit fussy i will swap the heavier fly to the dropper on the floter and put a small floating fly of your choice on the point using the heavier fly as an rudder to control the depthand speed of the point fly sometimes it pays to put a single fly a foot behind the wake lure for those fish that slash and miss the wake lure regards billy p

Thanks mate for your reply. If Im reading this correct then basicly Ive got all the bases covered? Bar than change the fly weight?

[speycaster]

yes i would say you are well on your way my freind good luck and keep us informed billy p

[fredaevans]

Great question.

Most, if not all, is directly transferable for casting to Steelhead here in the PNW.

Very cool!|\

fae