Intermediate Sink Tips vs Level Sink Tips

Clam Gun

Clam Gun

Smolt
Is there really an advantage to having a couple of feet of intermediate line at the beginning of your sink tip? The marketing points are "better casting", "better hookups" due to a more level connection to your fly and less of a kink. Does anyone notice a difference or has anyone taken underwater footage? Also, what up with the 50/50 floating, sink. Does anyone rock these for places like behind big boulders, etc.? Let me know what you think!
 
I don't really get it. If you are using 10 or 12 feet of full t-material, the butt end of the sink tip pulls the tip of the floating skagit head down anyway, so it seems like the same effect. Feels like one of those things that was dreamed up to create another SKU or had too much time to think instead of fish. I'm skeptical, but someone can convince me.

I use the 50/50 for pocket water and boulders (what it was intended for). I also use it for water where a full tip hangs up too much. 50/50 with an unweighted fly and cast more downstream can get you into shallow lip of the tailout. I use the 50/50 a lot with weighted streamers for SRC's.

I try and keep it simple. 10 feet of t-11, and a 50/50 sink tip. Everything else is for people who have a hyper-specific situation, or for people with a pro discount.

Here is Ed Ward talking about how to fish MOW tips. There is a video of him showing the high stick, then drop, but I can't find it.

 
I use a 50/50 and also a 7.5/2.5 tip. I dont usually go to a level t piece unless the run I'm fishing is particularly swift. Otherwise I achieve depth through fly construction/weight and casting angle. If I want to get deep, a sparse heavy fly and longer leader are my gear changes. It's crazy how fast they get down if your fly doesnt create too much drag. Throw it 90°, extend the rod arm towards it with the tip high and slowly drop the tip as it comes downstream of you. You can be 10ft deep in no time.

They dont hold down there tho, especially in swifter currents. But theres nothing better for working both sides of a seam and then swinging into the soft water.
 
The answer is different for different situations but in general yeah the less hinge the better and the int can help that. A few other places it helps is if fishing surf to reduce line movement and loss of contact to the fly. Also, you can feel how much easier it is to get an inter/sinking section out to recast than a floating sink section to recast because of less hinging drag. That can tell you something about how the line is fishing. Depth is less the issue as there are ways to get deep without a bunch of weight as posted above. The issue is getting the best connection to your fly.
 
To me the use of intermediate line sections is a solution in search of a problem. I haven't noticed a problem with my sink tips, so I don't bother with using any intermediate sections of fly line.
 
when it comes to trout in lakes, a midge line floater with 5' intermediate tip is very effective when using Callibaetis nymphs. A slow strip and pause well mimics their ascending behavior, with many/most of the takes taking place on the pause as the nymph starts to drop at the pause. Jeff at The Fly Shop explained this technique in one of his blogs, tried it out, and immediately saw an increase in takes over dry and intermediate line techniques.
 
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