Fly Fishing

HauntedbyWater · Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:49 pm Post subject: Line advice

I was hoping to get some advice on line choice. I recently purchased a reel that I plan to use for Steelhead and would also like to use it on Stripers and other saltwaters pecies in that size range. Is there a line that would be ideal for both applications. I live in Indiana so I will probaly fish for Steelies more often. Also would sinking saltwater line for cold water species work for Steelhead, Salmon etc? I hop this is not a dumb question, but all I have used in the past has been WF Floating.

Barbless · Newbie Joined: Jan 09, 2007 Posts: 7

I can only speak with regards to steelhead line. I do not fish saltwater given that I live in Western NY. I almost exclusively use WF Floating line for all Steelhead and Salmon fishing here in the Great Lakes. As far as the different tapers go its mostly individual preference. If its constantly windy or you use heavy flies than you may opt for a bulkier taper. For steelhead you are either dead drifting or swinging, nothing much in between. Dead drifting is limited to floating line since you need to have line control to mend your line and to keep your line drag free from currents. So if you are doing any indicator fishing its gonna be WF Floating. For Swinging flies I use primarily Floating line as well unless I need to get deep and then I put a sinking leader on the front of my flyline. You can also use sink tip lines for this but I have no problem with sinking leaders, they are only $7 compared to $70. The only occasions where I use a full sinking lines is when I fish the Niagara River which is super deep (about 5 feet from the shore its almost 15 feet deep, it reaches almost 150 feet in the middle). Then I will swing big heavy flies with a T14 sinking line with no less than 15lb test with a firm hold on your rod. Just yesterday I had a 15lb+ steelie take me almost out of line. I had to break him off just to save my flyline. So to answer your questions about sinking lines for steelie they can be used for swinging flies but only under limited occasions.

flyfishmich · Newbie Joined: Oct 01, 2006 Posts: 10

SA or Orvis Steelhead floating line would be a good start for steelhead, and can be used in a lot of saltwater situations, such as flats fishing. Personally I like a slow sink (intermediate) for New England saltwater but would find this impractical for most steelhead situations unless you were swinging streamers in relatively soft water.