[Poff]

Hi.

I'm looking for some advice on sink tip fly lines - Primary use is chasing smallmouth bass and sometimes trout.

I currently use the Rio Smallmouth line (floating) and the Airflo Streamer Max Long. Some of the waterways I fish aren't super wide and I'm wondering if a different sink tip line (with a shorter head) would help me load the rod with less line out?

The Airflo Streamer Max Long has a 40' head (30' belly and 10' rear taper).

Here are a few I've looked at:
Airflo Streamer Max short
Airflo Streamer Shovelhead
Rio Elite Predator
Rio Streamertip

Thanks for sharing your wisdom.

 

[jfilip85]

Rio predator in both S3 and S5 has been great. Easy to cast with massive payloads. Can’t go wrong with that one.

 

[DannyW]

I've used the Scientific Anglers Sonar sink tip line with good results in both lakes and rivers for bass and trout. I like the type 6 version, which has about a 10' tip that sinks quickly, but the rest floats. Flies get deep quick, but it's easy to pick up and cast with a bunch of line out. Slippery line that casts well. It's great for streamers in lakes and rivers.

 

[Mike.Cline]

https://www.jsflyfishing.com/blog/hey-buddy-your-fly-is-down/

An important question is Are you using unweighted-lightly weighted flies OR heavily weighted flies with cones/dumbbells?? I am a big proponent of the longer sink tips (25-30') heads with short (3-4') stout leaders, unweighted flies on a fast rod. The get deep faster, are far easier to cast with distance and accuracy and are flexible enough to to target both long and short distances. Shorter sink-tips usually require longer leaders and heavier flies to get any kind of decent depth, plus distance and accuracy suffers with heavy flies.

It is also fallacy IMO that long sink tips require you to retreive the line all the way to make another cast. Today's slick, textured lines on a fast rod can be picked up at 60-70' with the right retrieve and casting stroke.

 

[Poff]

https://www.jsflyfishing.com/blog/hey-buddy-your-fly-is-down/

An important question is Are you using unweighted-lightly weighted flies OR heavily weighted flies with cones/dumbbells?? I am a big proponent of the longer sink tips (25-30') heads with short (3-4') stout leaders, unweighted flies on a fast rod. The get deep faster, are far easier to cast with distance and accuracy and are flexible enough to to target both long and short distances. Shorter sink-tips usually require longer leaders and heavier flies to get any kind of decent depth, plus distance and accuracy suffers with heavy flies.

It is also fallacy IMO that long sink tips require you to retreive the line all the way to make another cast. Today's slick, textured lines on a fast rod can be picked up at 60-70' with the right retrieve and casting stroke.

Thanks Mike -

I fish both types of flies and lean toward using shorter leaders.

Thanks for the intel on the shorter sink tips.

Perhaps (pretty sure) I need to work a bit on my casting