How deep can a sinking line get you?

[harryhh]

One of the places I plan to fish for large and smallmouth is in coal strip mines. I know that one of the ponds is 50ft. deep. Other ponds may be deeper.

How deep can I expect to get with a line that has a 3.5ft/sec sink rate using a streamer?

Are there flies or methods where I might be able to get to 50ft.?

Thanks,
Harry
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[flygoddess]

All lines will hit the bottom. The Sink rate or Type tells you how fast it will get there.
Generally you want to cast, wait a few minutes then strip the line in. And intermediate line will maybe hit 3' to 5', where a Type VII will be on the bottom.
There is also the count down method. Cast that intermediate or Type III line and count to 10, then 20 till you find the zone.
If you are looking for ONE sinking line then I would have to say a Type III.
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[harryhh]

While looking at sinking lines I didn't see anything about Type, just sinking rates. After I ordered one with a rate of 3.5 to 4ft./sec, I found a chart with Types 1 thru 8. The line I ordered is a Type 3.

While I figured the line will eventually get to the bottom of the 50ft. pond, I was thinking of it staying there when I retrieved the line.

If this line doesn't work for the real deep places, it will be very useful for the intermediate. Now that I know about the Type numbers, I can always get one that sinks faster and hopefully stays deep.

Thanks,
Harry
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[flygoddess]

Full sinking lines are usually marked WF5 type III. Meaning weight forward 5 weight sink 3. Sink tips put a number instead of a type.
Most full sinking lines are either Density Compensated meaning the weight is distributed in the line it's self to form a straight line to the fly.
Then there is Wet Cell where the weight is more in the running portion of the line so it will form a belly . The running line sinks faster than the tip.

So basically, you will need to cast maybe 70' +of line if you are casting in front of you say 20' for that line to hit the bottom. Once you start stripping line in the fly will start to come to the surface with the line.

Maybe look at some line called Depth Charge. It is 30' of grain weight line transitioning into 70' of intermediate. This will drag the fly along the bottom.
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[harryhh]

Thanks again for the information flygoddess.

A really good cast for me is about 40 feet of line and 10 more for the leader and tippet. For my normal cast you can subtract about 10 feet.

I'm practicing in some coal strip mines, and there's some weeds and trees around. Not a great deal, but enough that I don't have anyplace to cast comfortably.

As I write this, I can think of one place farther down the pond that may give me more room to cast. I should try that out.
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