Fishable weather has been rudely interrupted by plummeting temperatures accompanied by freezing rain, snow, and scattered tornadoes (Yup! Snownadoes!) Deeply immersed in a major pout, I opened my reel bag and began checking the line on each spool.
Many anglers use floating line exclusively. That’s a bad plan. Regardless of the target species, that’s as self-limiting as confining your fly selection to a single pattern.
Three spools for each reel solves the problem. Spool #1 holds a floating line, perhaps even one that is species-specific. It allows anglers to fish the surface to possibly three feet of depth effectively and maybe a bit deeper with an extended leader. Spool #2 should hold an intermediate line that sinks at 1 1/2 to 2 i.p.s. (inches per second) which best targets just below the surface to avoid the line becoming slack due to wind and/or waves. It also enables fishing some depth while avoiding bottom snags and vegetation. Spool #3 should be a faster sinking line, either sink-tip or full-sinking, perhaps one that sinks at between 4 to 6 i.p.s. depending on the type and depth of water you regularly fish. Anglers willing and able to adapt their presentations to the conditions will catch more and larger fish.