From time to time there has been a certain amount of discussion on this forum regarding the difficulties of obtaining UL fly lines in sink-tip or sinking configurations.

Anyway, a while back a friend of mine was returning to the UK and I asked him to see if he could pick up any books on the subject of fly-fishing. As that is where the sport was originally developed to a large degree, it seemed that it would be interesting to get the British take on it. One of the books he brought me was originally published in 1958, with its ninth printing in 1987. The title is “Fly Fishing” by Maurice Wiggin, from which I quote.

“Nowadays, virtually all the lines you will be offered in tackle shops are made of plastic. Some are sold with a thin heavy core, even a wire core – for sinking. More are sold with innumerable air bubbles trapped within the plastic, to make them float – for ever, the makers claim. And there are several varieties in between the floater and the sinker. There are floating lines with sinking tips – just the last yard or two sinks. There are slow-sinking lines and there are fast-sinking lines. And in addition to these variations, there are, as I said, different profiles available – level, double-taper, weight-forward, and shooting-head.

It all sounds very jolly. But is it? I don’t really think so. Do you really want to have to buy half a dozen lines – and perhaps half a dozen reels or reel spools to store them on – in order to be well-equipped to cope with all conditions that may arise? Some do; some don’t. I will merely point out that the old-fashioned silk line will perform all the functions, provided you don’t mind doing a bit of work (and it really isn’t more laborious than changing over from one plastic line to another). If you leave it ungreased, or degrease it with a bit of rag drenched in detergent, it will sink perfectly. If you grease it all, all of it will sink. You can play all the tunes on the old silk line. And finally, it has what I personally, with a whole lifetime of experience behind me, consider a crowning advantage – its high specific gravity and small diameter cut down wind resistance and make it a nicer line to cast with, a thinner line on the water, than any plastic line.”

I was wondering if any forum members have ever tried this approach in ultralight weights, whether with silk lines or their substitutes, such as Cortland Sylk, dyneema, backing, braided or twisted nylon, etc, and what your thoughts might be about the possibilities.

As I understand it, the author (Maurice Wiggin) was suggesting to use an entire silk line as a sink-tip or sinking line. By dressing the line with something like Mucilin, except for the 5 or 10 feet at the tip, it would work as a sink-tip.

I don't actually know how slow silk lines sink, as they are currently well beyond my budget. Tapered, braided nylon lines seem interesting, but probably very hard to find.

For the last two or three years, I have been using twisted nylon for ultralight lines. One of the first things noticed is that with no dressing, the do sink. As the day wears on and the dressing wears off, they act like intermediate lines, sinking slowly. That's interesting when the water is a bit choppy. It gets the line under the surface chop and belly in the line is less of an issue. But there is one drawback for many -- they are level lines.