FYI

Ed Ward has showing me this formula for sink-tips, and I’ve been using this for years now. All the sink-tips weigh the same and the length is all the same.

T-14 weighs in at 13.68 grains per foot, 12wt. floating weighs in at 13.46 grains per foot.

All my sink-tips are 10’ long and here is what they look like: (Splice the two materials together and add loops to each end)


2’ of 12wt. – 8’ of T-14
4’ of 12wt. – 6’ of T-14
6’ of 12wt. – 4’ of T-14
8’ of 12wt. – 2’ of T-14

Do you use this same sink tip on all your lines - i.e. same tip for a 7/8 line as a 9/10 line? Thanks. Mark

No, that’s just for my 8, 9 wt. rods.

For my 6, 7 wt. rods I use Airflo (Custom Cut is what it’s called) material that weighs in at ten grains per foot.

I drop down to 10 wt. floating line (same weight as the sinking line), with the same measurements.

Wondering what type of running line you're using.

John P.

I use Slick-Shooter with a twist!

I run a piece of .031 running line the length of the rod, and I splice that into the Slick-Shooter.

This way your holding onto the .031 running line when casting not the Slick-Shooter.

This is Ed Ward method of doing it.

Thanks for the info. I built myself a shooting head system for my 8 wt. IIx using a section of 10 wt. spey line and .027 SA running line. It works pretty good casting on grass (to find the right belly length ~ 29 ft.) with a length of sink tip on the front but I've found it behaves differently on the water. I can't roll it out without putting the belly splice inside the guides especially when hip deep in water.

Maybe your shorter system would eleviate that problem. What do you think?

John P.

With a single-handed line for an “8” weight rod I have found that 12 – 14 feet of a “12” weight line with two foot of taper on the running line side, plus a sink tip of 12 feet (130 – 145 grains) works while. You’ll have to play with the length of 12 weight because all “8” rods are not the same.

H2H - Are you looping your tips onto your 636 gr line? It seems the 10 weight tip of the front taper wouldn't turn over the 12 wt/T-14 tip. Am I missing something? Mo

Yeah, it's works

The 10 weight goes to the running line

In other words your t-14 tips are looped onto the 86" of 11 wt and there is no problem with the little step-up at the tip? Thanks Mark