poly/versileaders

[Smallie14]

I am trying to get more into the switch rod fishing, and the more I read, the more confused I get. A quick background, I am fishing the ohio tribs, with a scott a3 11' 8weight switch rod. Id like to do a little more swinging with this rod, but so far it had been unsuccessful. I have sections of t-8 that I bought, and cut to lengths of 3, 6, and 9 feet in length, however I feel like this sinks faster than what I need. I have been looking into poly leaders and such and have noticed they have different sink rates as well as lengths. Could anyone possibly shed some light on to these leaders? Also, would a 10 foot polyleader really be appropriate for ohio streams? They are generally shallow and smaller than most, and my feeling is 10 feet of sink tip is overkill, but I am new to this type of fishing. Any recommendations on lengths and sink rate for ohio streams?

Any help would be appreciated.

[ArcticSnowMonkey]

I fish Rio Versileaders on my spey rod w/Windcutter line and it works well. They basically just work like a short sink tip. For Ohio streams, if flows are low/slow you can just use a floating line/normal leader and swing (in my experience). But, when flows are up and/or fishing faster or deeper water, the 10' Versileader is helpful when swinging. But I think the three w/the lowest sink rates would cover your bases in Ohio. BTW, I only use about a 3' straight weight mono leader when using a sink tip...you don't need a long, tapered leader and, in fact, it can actually hamper getting your fly down like a shorter leader on a sinking poly tip. I have used some of the faster (heavier) sink tips on a recent trip for Atlantic salmon in Canada, but that was in streams w/deeper/faster flow than in Ohio. I have steelie fished and fly fished a long time (both over 25 years), but am relatively new to spey, so maybe someone more experienced in spey can chime in with their opinion on this advice.

ASM

[PAFLYBOY]

When I fish the OH tribs with my switch rod(TFO Deer Creek 6wt) I use 10 foot Salmon Weight(as opposed to the Trout weight) Polyleaders in the various sink rates of: slow through extra-super fast(I'd love to know how they came up with those designations!). With those sink rates I feel that I can fish most of the water depths effectively in the areas that I fish. However, if you like to use large or heavily weighted streamers you may find that the poly's don't turn them over as effectively as the t-8. Tight lines, see you all on the tribs.

[sidt87]

I don't fish OH tribs, but I've been fishing polyleaders exclusively this past fall with my skagit head and intruder flies. I'm still pretty new to the spey game but they do turn over my flies but it takes a little more effort/technique than lighter flies. I've rarely used any T materials but PA is right, they turn over larger flies much better. Try it out and they should work for!