sink tip

[caddis_fly_1]

Anyone have any experience with the sink tip line systems you can attach to your floating line? Do they work? Are they difficult to cast?

[edwin]

No, but there's an article this month in Am. Angler I believe on them or something similar. Looked like a great system. It was basically a short section of lead-core line attached to the loop. Kinda cool.

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Some go to church and think about fishing, others go fishing and think about God.
- Tony Blake

[bingo]

I've used them alot in salt water. The shorter the section, the easier it is to cast. Any sink tip will hinge in casting. I'm definitely not the best caster in the world, so I find the longer ones to be so unpleasant to cast that they are practically useless. And in general, I think they are at best a compromise substitute for a line designed to be a sink tip. But they have their uses. When you're in sitting in a kayak it's alot easier to change out a loop to loop connect than to switch spools or reels w/ a different line and restring. Good for when you switch from fishing a mud flat or oyster rake to plumb the bottom of a deep cut or reach the zone in a rip. As with any sink tip, you might need to shorten your leader not only to keep the fly down where you want it to be, but also to reduce the "duck" factor in chuck and duck.

[The Ole Man]

I've used the Orvis mini-sinktip loop-ons a lot for sinking a floating line when pond fishing for bluegill. Works great. No problem casting it with an RPL+, but I can see where it might be when sitting in a kayak. The article in "American Angler" describes a unique system in that the sink section isn't attached to the flyline, but is inserted in the middle of the leader. I'm going to try those when I find some leadcore. It requires the braid covered core rather than the vinyl coated type.

[caddis_fly_1]

Thanks Ole man, that is exactly the kind of sink tip I was looking at and also what I want it for.

Bingo, are you in FL that you do a lot of salt water?

[bingo]

Nope. Livin' in ATL. I travel to Jax a good bit for biz and sometimes make long weekends out of it. Whenever I get more than 2 days in a row off I try to head there or Beaufort/ Hilton Head area. I've been using the vinyl coated kind of lead core. Sounds like I need to get a copy of that AM. Anglers mag. and get up on the braided core.

[The Ole Man]

The reason for braid covered leadcore is that you slide the braid back, clip out some of the leadcore and then use the braid to make a loop for looping the rig to the leader butt. The leader butt is a hard Mason nylon for stiffness. Cabelas previously sold leadcore trolling line, but their new catalogs show it to be gone. Prob not much demand for it anymore. I think Bass Pro still sells it under the "MagicBraid" brand name. The vinyl stuff (Cortland LC13 leadcore head kit) will work fine if you nailknot to the butt and can do without the interchangeability convenience of loop to loop. Btw, the author says leadheads less than 28" length are not effective/worth the trouble. The article might be at the Am. Angler website (americanangler.com)--I haven't looked to see.

[bingo]

It's been so long since I bought them I don't remember the manufacturer, but the vinyl lead core sections I purchased came 2 to a pack w/ loops of braided material (like on the ends of Orvis Wonderline flyline) at both ends. The loops are brown and the core sections are dark green. They were different lengths - after trying them both - the shorter of the two has been the only one I've continued to use (somewhere around 2ft). My brother purchased a leadcore kit (don't know if it was Cortland or not) and used rod wrapping thread to whip loops in sections that he cut to varying lengths. The sleeve of the material he used was tan fabric of some kind. I've always used plain ol Orvis Superstrong .025 for the butt section (nailed knotted to the flyline and finished w/ a perfection loop) all my lines between 7 and 9. Maybe if I use the Mason I'll have better results. Thanks Ole Man.