Sink lines fished from a boat / Thermocline / Sinking leaders

From Elie Beerten, on "Boatfishing". His diagram in the attachment. My comments in his text in red italics. G. :

Paul,

Belgium.

As I mentioned “ this way of flyfishing is asking a lot of concentration and continuous counting”.

“Concentration” to duplicate the method immediately when you are successfully.

“Counting” 21, 22, 23, … instead of using a stopwatch.

I use the "count method", too. G.

Of course I fully agree on the angle and I would like to add even more.

What I see during lake fishing lot of fishermen fish just blind. You can increase your chances a lot if you use the right angle.

It is very simple and logically and you probally know this a long time.

Facts:

- Mostly trout on lakes are swimming around to find food. On rivers the food is brought to the trout.

Same with most salt water fish. They are usually moving to find food or for whatever other reasons such as moving from area to area in search of better feeding areas, food fish which are also moving, migration patterns, or tidal situations. G.

- Brown trout are more locked to a certain area then rainbows.

- Food on lakes can be brought to the trout by wind (small currents).

Conclusion:

If trout move upwind they have a bigger opportunity to find food. Second, if they swim straight behind each other, the first will have all the food and the one behind will have nothing. A reason they swim sideways, next to each other.

This is also one reason it is not easy to tempt a tarpon to take the fly.... because when they are swimming one behind the other in a "string" they are not usually feeding. G.

Knowing this; the best way to meet a trout is to cast sideway. This way you will have much more change to meet a trout and you are always casting to new fish.

Different than with many salt water fish.... With tarpon, for example, the idea is to have your fly moving in the direction the fish is moving so he finds himself already chasing it. The wider the angle between the retrieve and the path of the fish, the less likely you will get a strike. If the angle is SO wide that the fly is more or less coming toward the fish, most salty fish won't take. As Lefty once said, "FLIES DON'T ATTACK FISH"..... an unnatural event. G.

When you cast right in front you will only meet the same fish a couple of times. He will get scared.

If you add the third dimension and think about the different feeding levels you will understand that when you use 3 flies your changes are increasing again.

I made a few quick sketches to clarify the above.

If you look carefully you see that one angler (right hand casters, left hand casters, a mix ) is always having a greater change to catch fish.

Well done, Elie ! Helps a lot if both anglers have experience with this method and are used to fishing with one another.

When very windy, this is NOT easy ! On my skiff, I have a little "rule" : The angler in the bow, has the duty to always be aware of the stern angler's fly line position.

In high winds, sometimes the bow angler gains advantage by keeping his back cast very low. If anchored, he can accidentally catch the anchor rode and foul. When that is a risk, I place a 3 lb. lead trolling ball on a carabiner clipped to the rode so it hangs straight down. G.

Regards,

Elie

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THERMOCLINE

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More from Elie ... on Thermoclines :

Hi Gordy,

I like to do all kinds of flyfishing: salt, fresh, lakes, rivers, …

Yes, the thermoclyne is one of the causes that trout can feed at a certain level. This has to do with the stratification of water layers in lakes. The stratification is happening on the deeper lakes due to temperature and wind. During summer the temperature of the top layers of water are increasing and the amount of dissolved oxygen is decreasing. Trout need a certain amount of dissolved oxygen in water to survive. So, they will seek for the deeper cold water levels.

The stratification divides the water in 2 levels (to keep it simple) a top layer and bottom layer with in between the thermoclyne. Wind blowing over the water will bring fresh oxygen in the water. Due to the thermoclyne only the top layer will be foreseen with fresh oxygen and in the bottom layer the dissolved oxygen will decrease. This is the reason that you will find most of the trout around the thermoclyne during hot spells.

Yes, also midges can hover around the thermoclyne. Even more important when midges are merging to the surface they don’t make their way straight from the bottom to the surface. They will take pauses at certain levels. An other reason that trout can feed at a particular level.

We have also big clouds of daphnia in the water. This daphnia is like a big protein soup for trout. Trout can get very locked on them. The daphnia is mostly found at a certain depth. But they can hover through the water layers by influence of the sun. A cloud in front of the sun can let them merger a few meters. This means change flyline!!!

(To be complete: There is a summer stratification and a winter stratification (ice). In spring and in autumn the whole water turns upside down)

Regards,

Elie

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Elie...    While a true thermocline is a horizontal temperature gradient at a particular depth, there are also sharp temperature divisions in some waters which are VERTICAL.   This can happen in fresh water at seams where one body of water flows into another. One glaring example in salt water is the Gulf stream flowing in juxtaposition to waters on either side of it. These vertical temperature lines also hold plankton, forage, and pelagics.

The temperature gradient is one of many things which can collect flotsam and jetsam .... and, therfore the fish which feed on them . In both fresh and salt waters, "scum lines" and "scud lines" can appear when its windy as the result of spiral currents at and near the surface in long lines usually at an angle to the wind of about 45 degrees. Oceanographers tell us that this is caused by the wind coupled with the Coriolis effect which is also partly related to the Earth's rotation. This phenomenon is described in simple terms by Gary Borger. *

* PRESENTATION, Gary Borger, pp. 76-77.

All this may seem to some like information we really don't need. I assure you, however, that this kind of knowledge can make a big difference in one's fishing success !

Gordy

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                                                               SINKING LEADERS & SINKING LINES

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From Mack Martin:

Gordy:

Regarding the use of sinking leaders, there are several advantages with there use:

a. they can be cast with a typical small loop and will cut through the wind well with the smaller loop and reduced leader diameter.

b. depending on sink speed they are quite good at positioning the fly in the water column as desired.

c. overpowered conventional casts will result in significant kick, so good casting techniques are in order unless the slapping of the fly is acceptable.
d. casting the sinking leaders with heavy flies typically require open loops or Belgian cast but they rarely ever tangle.

e. although the leaders are relatively short, picking them up will generally require a role cast first.

Leaders with split shot or dropper flies are best cast with open loops or often with a Belgian cast. Although this is not generally a problem, the sinking leaders allow for some increased accuracy with conventional casts. I have also found that the sinking leaders are suited best to short taper weight forward lines or triangle taper (compound-convex taper) lines.

Mack Martin

Atlanta Fly Fishing School

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Mack....   Thanks !   The sink leader is something with which I have had no experience.   So we'll all learn from your message.

Gordy

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Clarification from Dan Pangaldi . My comments in red italics   G. :

Hi Gordy,

My apologies for not being clear on some of my descriptions. The "integrated" sinking line I'm referring to is a one piece 100 or 105ft. line consisting of an intermediate running line usually 70ft. tan or amber in color integrated with a high density sinking head 30-35ft. These lines cast like a shooting head but are much easier to handle.

Why not use a density compensated full sink line ? With practice, they cast well and sink FAST.  The stack mends are tricky, but with experience they can be made effectively....    G.

A comment on casting the sinking line, depending on the drift rate there will be times you won't want to make long casts away from the boat. A mid-range cast and multiple stacks will achieve the maximum depth.

Agree !    G.

Fishing Race Point, Long Point and Woods End on Cape Cod the stripers are often lurking in 25 to 60ft. of water under the huge schools of sand eels...a sinking line is a must.

Always scanning for birds, bait, swirls or splashes praying for them to feed on top.

Thanks,

Dan

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