Sunk lines are made in a whole range of line weights but also sink rate. A fast sinking line is invaluable when fishing fast flowing rivers at a normal level or a river in flood. Sink rates are usually rated by inches per second (ips) a fast sinking line can have a rating of 4-6ips whereas a slow sinking line may have a rating of 0.1-2ips. Each has its place. When fishing sinking lines it is always worth remembering that they are much harder to cast at night requiring more skill than with a
floating line. The purpose of a sinking line is to present the fly to a fish at an appropriate depth. Using heavy flies on a floating line does not do this effectively and your flies generally will not fish properly. If you gauge the river to be flowing relatively quickly but require a fly fish down in the water c
olumn but no right against the bottom then a slow sink rate can be used. Good flies for this are often plastic tube flies. The fly will fish at the depth of the end of the sinking line. heavier flies will sink much further but because they are controlled by a sinking line they will fish more effectively and give greater chance. Often fish that are lying in the deep part of a pool can be targeted better with a sunk line but this needs to be approached with care. These fish often have been in the river a while or are there as the night becomes cold. They will not move far to take a fly a may only 'nip' at it as it passes. Striking is always beneficial and often these fish are the larger residents in the river. Sunk line is fished most often with a Sunk Lure often comprising a tandem mount consisting of blue and silver. This was advocated by the late Hugh Falkus and is a very successful method of fishing.
