Sinking bass lines, how fast? (sink tip or full sink)

[Josh]

For those who fish bass subsurface, how fast of a sink do you like for your sink tip or full sink fly lines? 3ips? 5ips? Some magic number that I'm too clueless to comprehend?

I am not historically a subsurface bass guy. If I'm fishing for warmwater fish with a fly line, it's almost always a topwater popper. But in the interest of trying new things, I'm going to give streamers/etc a shot.

EDIT: For the purpose of discussion, let's say I'm targeting Western PNW largemouth. Not that smallmouth or eastern WA/OR info isn't welcome.

 

[Pink Nighty]

I think it really depends on how deep you're trying to go. If it's beyond 10 ft or so, from a boat, I think full sink is the way to go. Just way more efficient getting down than even a 15ft fast tip.

However, 10+ft is egregiously deep for most of our bass fisheries imo. Definitely some deep water smallie opps on Whatcom/samish, but not much else.

For less than 10ft, I think its tips all day. Especially bass fishing, I wanna have some type of visual on the line where it disappears into the water. With a full sink they gotta send the bite signal all the way to your hands. I've hooked way too many bass swinging on a line twitch to give that up willingly. It's gotta be close to half the bass I've ever caught that my only clue to the bite was the line doing something weird. I even get nervous with 10+ft tips cuz that might be missing hits.

 

[Peyton00]

I like slow drops....gives the fish time to see my fly and grab it before it hits the muck or grasses etc.
I usually don't fish water over 20 ft.

 

[Josh]

However, 10+ft is egregiously deep for most of our bass fisheries imo. Definitely some deep water smallie opps on Whatcom/samish, but not much else.

Yeah, I'm mostly thinking shallow-ish largemouth fishing. I don't think I have the patience to deal with deeper smallie fishing on the fly. I hardly have the patience to wait for a light ned rig on a spinning rod to drop 20+ feet.

Especially bass fishing, I wanna have some type of visual on the line where it disappears into the water. With a full sink they gotta send the bite signal all the way to your hands.

This is an interesting aspect I had not considered.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Yeah, I'm mostly thinking shallow-ish largemouth fishing. I don't think I have the patience to deal with deeper smallie fishing on the fly. I hardly have the patience to wait for a light ned rig on a spinning rod to drop 20+ feet.


This is an interesting aspect I had not considered.

I usually fish weighted streamers on a floater with a floro leader, or a unweighted with a tip. I almost exclusively fish from shore tho.