You aren't casting and mending an entire line–you're casting the Skagit head and mending the running line. Second, think of the fly line differently.

Most real-world runs, however, especially ones with large boulders, hold fish in specific and predictable places, like in front of large rocks or at the tail of a bouldery pool.

Most advice offered on fishing sinking tips assumes the run will hold steelhead throughout its course. Add a rapid downstream and another upstream, and you've found some ideal holding water.Įxcept that water like this, which is so common on fast rivers in mountainous terrain, demands that you break old habits.įirst, pinpoint the places where steelhead are likely to hold. Picture this: a run 200 feet long with waist- to head-deep water, and a series of car-size boulders running down its center. I use a 10-foot tip just about everywhere else. I use 5 feet of T-14 when the water is shallow, the substrate contains large boulders, or the lies I'm targeting are exceptionally small. (RIO commercially produces these tips, called MOWs, so you don't have to splice your own.) Matching the length of the tip to the water is crucial. To these lines, I loop sinking tips that range from 10 feet (with the short rods) to 15 feet (with the long rod), and consist of floating line melded to RIO's T-14 or T-17 sinking-tip line. Most major rod manufacturers have similar rods that will match your casting preferences. For large rivers, I use a 12'8' 8-weight Burkheimer to cast a 600-grain line all the way to the backing if I need to, and allow precise mending over long distances. I also like an 11'7' 7-weight Burkheimer, which casts a 510-grain line this rod pitches a heavy fly all the way to the far bank on medium-size rivers, and yet remains short enough to load under low limbs. My shortest, an 11' 8-weight Beulah switch rod, casts a 420-grain line and perfectly matches those smaller streams with low-hanging limbs. My personal quiver contains three rods for Skagit lines. (To learn more about sustained-anchor casting, see the DVD SkagitMaster Volume 1.) Bucket Buster. These lines can be fished with either single- or two-handed rods, but they require 'sustained-anchor' casting techniques, meaning the water–not the momentum of the airborne line–loads the rod.

Swim the fly