Question about Streamers.....re: Sinking leader with fluoro tippet

[Walter1023]

Hey Aaron....until this past saturday I never caught a fish on a streamer because I only fished them a few times as a last resort and mainly stuck with nymphing because it was always productive for me. This past saturday I caught a big rainbow, small brown and a smallmouth (Housatonic) with a #6 Olive Woolly Bugger...needless to say I was very pleased and psyched - I went back Tuesday....decided to do nothing but streamer fish...had 10 solid hookups using the same exact bugger (but none when I added a egg pattern or a small serendipity as a dropper???) which included a few big rainbows - smallmouth and even a 12" perch - I fished below the TMA. My question....I am using the RIO Fast Sinking 7 ' leader on my floating 5 weight line....how much tippet should I add between the sinking leader loop and my fly ? Also....is it a consensus that for both nymphs and streamers...fluoro is the way to go - NOT mono ? and finally....my nicest hookup was a really big rainbow that I couldn't land...but I caught him kind of deaddrfiting the Bugger and using my flyline end as indicator - it got me thinking...if you keep a tight line what about using the sinking leader/floating line for nymphing in certain situations? That said - most of my fish were caught on the retrieve - while stripping in line. Thanks for your response and this great forum.

[AaronJasper]

The first question:

For the leader off of the sink tip I would go between 2 and 3 feet of flourocarbon usually 1 or 2X depending on clarity. Try tying a loop know to the streamer. It will give it a ton of action as the streamer is not in a single fixed position.

As for nymphing with the sinking line it is a definite possibility. !fly mentioned in a previous post under general discussion where he had a great deal of success using the sinking line with more of a dead drift technique.