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Constructing Your Own

High Density Fast Sinking Shooting Heads

   Many of my "upstream casting, dry fly purest" friends describe a lot of the fly fishing that I do here on the coast as "chucking and striping".  That is if they are in a generous enough mood to refer to some of these techniques as "flyfishing" at all.

      Unfortunately, if you intend to catch fish in many coastal waters day after day, you must be prepared to go "deep".   There are a multitude of fast  sinking lines and shooting heads on the market.  Certainly a far cry from the days when we sometimes resorted to using Mason Lead-Core Deep Water Trolling Line to make fast sink shooting heads.  This Mason product would surly sink fast, but it had all the finer handling characteristics of barbed wire.

     Cortland Line Company produces a vinyl coated lead-core product that they market to the fly fishing community as LC13.   An abbreviation for Lead Core 13 grains/foot, i.e. a 30 foot section weighs 390 grains.      

     Far from being the most supple product it's handling characteristics are tolerable.  On the plus side it has a small diameter in relation to it's weight (it sinks like a rock), and it is dirt cheep as compared to most fly line products.  I can often find it in retail shops for around five dollars for a 30 foot section.  At that price I hardly flinch when I get it hung on the bottom.

      It is that very fact that allows me to catch many fish that I would miss without this or a similar inexpensive product.  I will cast this stuff into places I would never dream of risking a high priced single piece line.  Additionally, I will allow this product to sink to the depths around shipwrecks, coral heads, bridge pilings, and to the bottom of the rockiest rivers.

      If I loose ten 30 foot sections a year that's $50 vs. $680 in single piece lines.  I can do a lot of fishing with $630.  

      With a little experimentation and a little cutting and splicing you can turn that old bass bug taper line into a sink tip line.

      I normally fish a 30 to 38 foot section of LC 13 on a running line.  When looking for maximum depth I chose a single strand mono product like 30 pound Amnesia.  If I am concerned about line handling characteristics l will go to a braided mono running line.  For me the braided mono is easier to deal with, and only marginally affects the sink rate.  In very windy conditions or after dark I will switch to traditional vinyl coated running lines.

      LC 13 is level taper product, i.e. it is the same from one end to the other.  It can be rigged in several ways.  I always put loops in my lines.   On the running line end you can either use a braided mono  loop connection, or you can double over a short section and tie two nail knots about a half inch apart to form the loop.

      On the terminal end I always nail knot a short section of 40 pound mono with a small perfection loop in the end.

      A note of caution:  make sure the LC13 is clear of you rod tip before you attempt to shoot any line.  This product will, upon occasion kink in such a way as to grab your rod tip.  As with any heavy line, the results might spoil your day.