San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I recently picked up fly fishing and have had success and a ton of fun using a 5wt rod/reel with 5wt weight forward floating line on panfish and largemouth bass. I’ve learned the limits of the rod and though I can throw various streamers, those that are larger than a #4 or #2 clouser lose efficiency, at least with my technique.

I came into an 8wt setup recently and figured I would have a go at fishing for both LMB and spotted bay bass on the heavier rod. The reel came with an extra spool so I’m interested to know if I should run floating line for LMB and a sinking line for SBB, or any other combination (sink top, etc.) of line type that would be optimal for targeting fresh and salt.

For reference, I usually do my salt fishing on a Tatula combo with a Daiwa 103 bay casting reel using various swim baits.


Thanks for the help.

8wt will be fine for fishing larger flies for LMB, but it's a bit overkill for SBB, the flies for those don't need to be very big, #6 or #4 Clousers should do just fine.

Definitely get a sinking line for SBB, a sink rate of 4-6 ips will work great in the bays. Almost all SBB fishing is on the bottom, depending on where you are fishing that translates to about 8 to 25 feet of water. Throw in current and boat drift and you will appreciate the sinking lines ability to get down into the feeding zone.

For SBB and general saltwater streamer fishing, I like using a short leader, 3' of 10 lb monofilament to small swivel, then another 1' of tippet material, generally 6 lb fluorocarbon.

Good luck, I find catching SBB on a fly rig much more enjoyable than on a conventional rig.

Though I find an 8wt heavier than I like for the bays ( I use 5, 6 and 7wt rods) and 8wt give you a lot of flexibility for fresh and saltwater fishing. Having a sinking line to cast clouser minnows and other streamers to bass holding deeper than about 3-4 feet can bring a lot of bass to hand.

On one spool I would have a floating line.

On the second spool a sinking line for use both in the bays and in lakes. There are two sinking that I like.

One the Rio Avid 24ft Sink tip in the 300 grain size. This is listed in Rio's catalog as a freshwater line but it works well in the salt water. It has a 24ft sink tip as the name implies and the rest is floating. It is a great bay and lake line. Rio also markets a premium 24ft sink tip that is $30 more but the Avid line is just fine.

The other is the more expensive. Rio Outbound short 8wt Intermediate/Medium Sink/Fast sink (Int/3ips/5ips). The first 15 feet sinks at 5 inches per second (its), the second 15 feet at 3 fps, and the rest at about 1.5 ips. The Outbound Short lines excel at casting weighted and/or bulky flies and at casting for distance if you have developed good skills.

Both of these lines would be good for calico bass, bonito, etc if you ever have a chance to get out to the kelp beds.

Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Tapers are similar to the Rio Outbound Short and I think Scientific Anglers still markes a 25ft sink tip similar to the Rio 24 ft sink tip. Cortland and Airflow market similar lines but I'm not as up to date on their current offerings.