New setup...

[mkwerx]

I broke down and got another setup for salmon/steelheading. I wasn't pleased with the 10' Albright I bought last year - it was too heavy and just not right for my casting style.

Went in to Wholesale Sports yesterday just to kill time - walked out with a Lamiglas 9' 10 weight, Okuma Helious 10/11 large arbor reel, and a type III sink tip #8 line. Have spent about half an hour or so casting it in the backyard today - me like! :D Much nicer, and handier than the Albright setup.
I went with the sinktip this time because I wasn't pleased with the performance of a full floater last year. I'm thinking that if the type III isnt enough - I can add one of the mini-tips to the end of it and make it sink faster, as well as giving me more than 10' of sinking line.

I don't know how you guys that swing flies all day like this sink rate or not. When you're fishing a sinktip - you usually keep leaders shorter, right? When I fish floating lines with sinking flies for trout/bass/etc I normally use a 10+ foot leader (well, I usually run 10' leaders for dries also...) - but I'm thinking that I should downsize to something around 4-6 feet, or should I go shorter/longer? The tip of my line is black - instead of the green of the floating section, if that seems to make a difference.

As a general rule - what do you guys like color/size wise when swinging for coho? Pink, orange and white - or darker colors like black/purple/blue? Nymphs?

I'm spending next week fishing as much as I can - I'll be hitting the Clack Wednesday morning next week with a flyrod and a couple of gear rods at the ready - but I'd really like to connect to a fish with the flyrod.

Advice welcome. Thanks.

[AndyK]

I have a Lamiglas 10 wt (G1298) and it is no exaggeration to say I have caught 100’s and 100’s of salmon with that rod (Chinook, Coho & Chum). I have had no problems with the rod.

I have no experience with the reel you bought.

I use a multi-tip line when swinging most rivers for salmon. That way I can change the tip based on the river conditions.

Use a four to six-foot leader with a type three (or faster) sink tip (a nine foot or longer for an Intermediate or floating line).

Normally I use size 4 or 2 flies for Coho. Color seems to change each year from river to river. Some years pale pink was the color; other years it was purple, hot pink or chartreuse. I would suggest casting your fly over some fish (where you know there are fish) and if you don’t get any takes after a few casts, change colors.

[mkwerx]

Thanks Andy.

This isn't my first Lami flyrod - I've had a couple of the 8 weight versions of this rod in the past. They were great rods - the only reason I sold them was because I never really used them. This #10 so far seems to be a keeper - at least for backyard casting. I don't think it's going to give me any problems on the water.

I thought about getting the multi-tip setup, but was reluctant to spend the $130 for the only system that Wholesale Sports had. I don't even recall the maker - I think it was a Scientific Anglers product, but I can't be sure. I saw the pricetag and was a tad taken aback. If I'm going to pay that much for a line - I'm going to River City or Kaufmann's - and I'm going to talk to some people who have used those setups first.

I've had sinktips before for trout rods - didn't use them much - I'm usually more of a dry line + long leader guy myself.

They also had a few shooting heads, with loop connectors, so adding one of the aftermarket add-on sink tips wouldn't be an issue there.

I think I'm eventually going to get a spare spool for my reel, and get a floating line for it, and pick up maybe one of the heavier type IV or V sink tip add-ons if I need heavier, faster sinking ability on my sink tip line. Truthfully, if I can't reach the fish without a super-fast sinking flyline, I'm going to switch from the flyrod to either a casting or spinning rod. I'm not a purist by any stretch of the imagination.

Thanks again for the advice.

[Kevin2023]

sounds like you have a killer setup there. What model rod?

[surfnfish]

Thanks Andy.

This isn't my first Lami flyrod - I've had a couple of the 8 weight versions of this rod in the past. They were great rods - the only reason I sold them was because I never really used them. This #10 so far seems to be a keeper - at least for backyard casting. I don't think it's going to give me any problems on the water.

I thought about getting the multi-tip setup, but was reluctant to spend the $130 for the only system that Wholesale Sports had. I don't even recall the maker - I think it was a Scientific Anglers product, but I can't be sure. I saw the pricetag and was a tad taken aback. If I'm going to pay that much for a line - I'm going to River City or Kaufmann's - and I'm going to talk to some people who have used those setups first.

I've had sinktips before for trout rods - didn't use them much - I'm usually more of a dry line + long leader guy myself.

They also had a few shooting heads, with loop connectors, so adding one of the aftermarket add-on sink tips wouldn't be an issue there.

I think I'm eventually going to get a spare spool for my reel, and get a floating line for it, and pick up maybe one of the heavier type IV or V sink tip add-ons if I need heavier, faster sinking ability on my sink tip line. Truthfully, if I can't reach the fish without a super-fast sinking flyline, I'm going to switch from the flyrod to either a casting or spinning rod. I'm not a purist by any stretch of the imagination.

Thanks again for the advice.



I'd suggest cutting the line on your sink-tip where it transitions into the head. Install a Rio loop tip on what is now the front of your running line. Make sure you get the right size loop. Once you have slid it on the running line end, secure it just up from the end of the loop and just down from the loop itself with a nail knot, and then coat those knots with Loon UV Nail KNot (must have, inexpensive product which goes off in a few moments in the sun like superglue without the mess.)

Now install another loop on the back end of the sink-tip, which is now a shooting head. You can pick up shooting heads very cheap shopping on line. If you don't want to spend the $$ on another spool and floating line set-up, you can also buy a floating shooting head.

I used this set-up on my single hand rods for many years, carrying a floating tip, intermediate, sinking and fast sinking.

A heavier sink rate shooting head won't necessarily give you more distance. All the heads will shoot more or less the same distance when the appropriate loaded double haul is used for each head...

good luck!

I would