Techy Thursday - A Question On Sinking Lines

Josh wrote:

“Hey Chris, seeing as the season looks like it’s been cut short I’m thinking of gearing up for the winter/fall season. I was just wondering what kind of fly line you would recommend for fishing drop offs around the larger Southern Lakes? Cheers mate”.

Chris replies:

“Hey buddy. I have three lines I use most often, maybe four. First is the Airflo Clear Camo Intermediate. It’s a fast intermediate sinking at 1.5 inches per second, perfect for stripping buggers, damsels or coming into early winter, smelt patterns.

Coupled with a good floating line such as the Airflo Superflo Presentation also allows smelt patterns to be presented in the shallows on calm days with finesse. These would be the lines I use most of the time, as I tend to focus on the flats and shallower bays.

The Airflo 40+ Di7 sinking at 7 inches per second is the go to if you’re stripping flies on a fast retrieve (the heavier density maintains depth) or for fishing deeper water, as the fish are often simply not in the shallows. I of course carry Di3 and Di5 lines and they all get a workout, but find the above three most commonly used.

The fourth would be the Airflo Streamer Max, an integrated sink tip line featuring a floating running line and a fast sink, Di7 tip to get you down deep at the business end. The belly and rear taper is intermediate density to help smooth out the cast and the transition between the running line and heavy tip. This is a great searching line around the rockier drop offs where a full sink line will get caught up in the shallows. It is a very quick loading line which takes but a roll cast pickup, and one back cast to launch. The short head makes this a good line for working with limited back cast space.

The key thing is to clean and lubricate your sinking lines. Distance and covering ground is often key and shooting line is the way to do this. Warm, soapy water and a quick coating of Airflo Whizz Lube will keep them clean, slick, and smooth shooting.”

Note:

For those hesitant to apply Airflo Whizz Lube to sinking lines, I found it only affects the sink rate of intermediates particularly for the first cast or two. After this, the slick shooting benefits more than make up for the brief inconvenience.