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Understanding the fundamentals of sink-tips is an essential part of modern steelhead fishing. Unfortunately, determining which sink-tip to use under what conditions and water types can be promblematic. For example, you pick up a type 6 sink-tip at your local shop and read the package that states that it sinks at 6 inches per second. Now you go out to local river put the tip on and fish the top end of a sexy riffle break only to discover that you can see your fly through the whole swing. This article will attempt to elucidate how to select a sink-tip given different water types while skipping a lot of the jargon that accompanies and often confuses sink-tip fishing.

First, you will need a variety of different tips to match the different rivers and water types you will encounter. I suggest getting a type 3 and type 6 sink-tip at about 12ft to be your low water/shallow water tips. For most situations a variety of different length T-14 tips will be mandatory. T-14 sinks at about 8 inches a second making it one of the fastest sinking materials on the market and perfect for winter steelhead fishing. A range of lengths 8, 10 and 12 foot sections will cover your bases under normal winter conditions.

Selecting a sink-tip for a given piece of water takes some experience but I will try to at least give you a general frame of reference. Under low water condtions, particularly in the winter, you want to avoid heavy tips and stick with either a Type 3 or Type 6. In steelhead runs with large scattered boulders and slow to moderate current speeds stick with a Type 3 to avoid continually hanging up. In water with cobble and basketball-sized rocks use your Type 6 to get down to the fish. Under relatively normal conditions you will typically want to use T-14. A run that has little structure and a defined current seam where the fast water meets the slow water, will fish best with 8 or 10 ft. of T-14 depending on water speed and depth. This will enable you to get the proper depth and maintain control of your fly through the critical parts of the swing. In broad water of medium depth and current speed use 10 ft. of T-14 to get your fly down and keep it down through the entire swing. You can avoid hanging up and gain proper depth by quartering your cast further downstream preventing the fly from sinking as much or upstream allowing your sink-tip to sink.

When the water is high, deep or fast fish 12 ft. of T-14 quartering your cast straight across or upstream. Be sure to put a heavy mend in the line to allow your tip to sink and one small mend right before it starts swinging to straighten everything out. Under these conditions be sure to stay tight to the line and control the speed of your swing. Make your fly crawl across the current which will help keep the fly down. When there are boulders present be sure to visualize where your fly is. You want the fly to swing in front, alongside and in the current seam behind the boulder. Don’t worry about casting across the boulder only to have the fly hang up. Be sure to fish the fly into the frog water at the bottom end of your swing, particularly in really cold water and expect some hang ups. Remember we want the fish to move to the fly so don’t feel the need to be ticking the bottom. In fact I can think of nothing more frustrating than my fly constantly ticking across the bottom and frequently hanging up.

The best way to determine which tip to use is to fish a lot under different conditions and don’t be afraid to experiment. Fishing a good piece of water several times, particularly in the winter with different tips, will help you come to some generalizations and increase your chances of hooking up. The best approach under normal water conditions is to begin with 10 ft. of T-14 and from there you can change. The key is to get out there and do it and be sure to take mental notes of water you fish and how you fish it. Each time you find something that works well it will build confidence and help elucidate the otherwise technically complicated realm of sink-tip fishing.

Link to Sink-Tips