How do fly fisherman get their offering down so quick?

[tpcollins]

I Salmon fished Thursday and Friday below Tippy from a boat and saw several people using flyrods. I've chuck n' duck before but I could see they were using what seemed to be floating line. I asked one pair of guy that were hauling them in what they were using and they said a single egg behind an egg sucking leech.

But I couldn't figure out how they were getting these down to the fish holding below? Is the best way to use a sinking tip extension or add shot on the tippet? I could see that they were basically roll casting so I wouldn't think there was an unusual amount of weight near the fly. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[fishes-with-fly]

If they were at Tippy they weren't fly fisherman, they were flossers with fly rods. The real fly fisherman were on the Big Man in drift boats or working hard on one of it's tribs. Avoid Tippy if at all possible, it's a joke.

[tpcollins]

Flossers - is that another term for a snagger? Thanks.

[speyday]

Now wait a minute. Lets answer the question and keep the 'tippy' bias and agendas out.

If guys are roll casting and getting stuff down on traditional fly rigs, its one of probably 2 things.

If they are trying to dead drift an egg fly, They have some shot pinched on to the leader, yes.....and when the rig hits the water, they immediately manipulate/mend some slack into the leader; letting it and the shot punch down without tension. allowing it to get down quick.

Usually, they will cast well upstream of the desired area to let this process happen...that way, it arrives at the right depth without twitching things around.

Did they do any of that and have the line sort of serpentining around without tention as it went past them?

If no, then maybe they were swinging flies, they probably had a portion of the front end of the flyline or leader be a sinking version, like you inquired about.........normally these tips or leaders are made of tungsten rubber (which sinks really fast). This would have been if they cast straight out, and their presentation was to sort of sribe a downstream ark that looks just like what the chuck and duck crowd does. or the guys who throw spinners. its the flyfishing version of that.

Despite what might be automatically scoffed at on water, a skilled/ good fly fisherman can get that stuff down pretty quick using a 'real genuine' fly rig like the 2 mentioned above and proper casts and mends.

One think that helps immensely is to throw away those store bought tapered leaders. The diameter/bulk of the lower half retards sinking, and is horrible for salmon and steelhead fisherman who need to get down fast. Make a leader out of 16#, 12#, and tippet? And make it out of florocarbon? And the sink rate changes dramatically.

Hope y ou had a great trip. You post on this site every single year without fail in order to prepare. cool!

[fishes-with-fly]

No bias and no agenda. I've been there. It's a joke. I've seen the techniques used and the "users". Hard to believe they would pass on tribs like Bear Creek but then again they aren't there for the experience are they.

[tpcollins]

Actually I messed up in my original post - I meant to say once their fly hit the water near the bank, they started stripping immediately. I figured out what they were trying to do - I just couldn't figure out "how" they got the streamers down so quickly and be able to start striiping right away. I don't think the current is that great up nearer the banks as it is out in the middle of the river.

[buckeye17]

Ditto to what speyday said. A good mend or a little t-11 goes a long way towards sinking a fly without using a bunch of weight. Also, don't look at everyone that strips a fly as someone trying to snag fish.....Many a steelhead, brown and even fresh salmon have fallen victim to a stripped streamer in the fall. Try it sometime, its pretty awesome to see a 10+ pound fish bum rush a bunny leach.

[bunyanbug]

Also, if you are tying your own steamers you can add a great deal of weight to them and they will sink like a stone.

[Count Dooku]

Easier with a switch rod, but can be done with a single handed,,,,

I prefer a Center Pin

but this works well too,

http://www.thefishwhisperer.com/The_Fis ... ricks.html

[Fishndude]

There is a well known guide who was parked across from the boat launch at Tippy last weekend, and put his clients on quite a few fish, using flies. A lot of the fish were Cohos, and they will slam a stripped streamer at times. He has pics on his website. As far as I could tell, they were fair hooking all of their fish. They were definitely in the minority in that.