Sink Tips vs. Sinking Leaders: Your Complete Guide to Getting Your Fly in the Zone

For anyone venturing into the world of two-handed fly fishing for steelhead in the Great Lakes region, few topics generate more confusion — or more streamside frustration — than the question of how to get your fly down to where the fish are holding. Sink tips and sinking leaders are two distinct tools with two very different applications, and understanding the difference between them can mean the difference between a productive day on the water and a long, fishless swing through empty water.

To cut through the confusion, we sat down with Dan Purbanik of Chagrin River Outfitters and Jeff Leske, SA pro staff member and two-handed fishing guru in the Great Lakes area, for a deep-dive conversation on all things sink tips and sinking leaders. What follows is an essential primer for anyone looking to dial in their subsurface presentation for Great Lakes steelhead.

T-Material 101: What That Number Actually Means

Walk into any fly shop and you'll see packages of sink tips labeled T8, T10, T11, T12, and beyond. Most anglers assume the number has something to do with sink rate — maybe inches per second? It's a reasonable guess, but it's completely wrong, and clearing up this misconception is the first step toward building a coherent understanding of your tip selection.

The "T" stands for tungsten — the dense metal coating that gives these tips their weight — and the number that follows it represents grains per foot, not sink rate. It's a measure of mass, not speed.

"The T is for tungsten, and the number after it is the grains per foot. So T8 is eight grains per foot, T18 is eighteen grains per foot. It's pretty easy — it's science. But it's not like the European method of sink rate, which is inches per second. We get that question all the time: does T8 mean it sinks eight inches per second? It has nothing to do with the sink rate."

The practical takeaway is straightforward: a higher T-number means more mass per foot, which generally means the tip will sink more aggressively. However, there's an important nuance. As grain weight increases, so does line diameter, which can affect how naturally the tip moves through the water column. This is precisely why modern dual-density and multi-density tip designs have become so popular — by using denser materials in a thinner profile, manufacturers can achieve a faster sink rate without the stiffness and diameter penalty of older T-material designs.

That said, there are situations where straight T-material remains the go-to choice, particularly in heavy, fast water where you need raw weight to punch through current and get your fly into the strike zone quickly.

The Length Question: Why 10 Feet Is the Magic Number

Sink tips are commonly available in 8-foot, 10-foot, and 12-foot lengths, and choosing the right one involves more than just personal preference. Rod length, wading depth, casting style, and even angler height all play a role in determining which length will help you cast more efficiently and fish more effectively.

For the Great Lakes region, where rods in the 10.5- to 12-foot range dominate, 10 feet has emerged as the practical consensus for most situations.

"I like to keep everything within a simple box. Ten-foot tips are my favorite when I'm using a Skagit setup. Now, if I go above a 12-foot rod to a true two-hander, I'd use a 12-foot tip or longer. But in our area, 10 foot is my rule of thumb."

The 8-foot tip, however, shouldn't be dismissed as simply the lesser option. It serves a surprisingly practical purpose — one that has less to do with fishing depth than with casting mechanics. When an angler is wading particularly deep, the effective rod length above the water is shortened, which changes the geometry of the cast. Switching from a 10-foot to an 8-foot tip in those situations can restore casting efficiency almost immediately.

"If an angler's struggling and they're wading really deep, the effective rod length gets shorter. I'll just put on an eight-foot tip, and all of a sudden they're casting like a hero again. Sometimes it's how deep you're wading or your casting style. A taller angler might actually need a 12-foot tip. Play around with it, see what works for you — but 10 foot is a good rule of thumb."

This kind of nuanced, adaptive thinking is what separates anglers who understand their gear from those who are simply guessing. The right tip length isn't just about the fish — it's about you, your rod, and how you're positioned in the water on any given day.

Choosing the Right Sink Rate for Great Lakes Conditions

The Great Lakes steelhead fishery presents unique challenges compared to the classic West Coast swinging scenarios that most two-handed technique literature is written around. The rivers are smaller, more technical, and the fish — migratory rainbows running out of Lake Erie — are cold-blooded creatures operating in frigid water temperatures that often dip into the low 30s Fahrenheit. These fish simply cannot chase a fly the way their summer-run Pacific counterparts might.

"We have migratory trout in cold water — they don't move real far. So we do have to be a little more slow, more methodical than normal. You need to give those fish a chance to see it and maybe eat it."

With that context in mind, tip selection in this fishery tends to run a bit heavier than you might expect. Both Leske and Purbanik follow a similar framework based on cubic feet per second (CFS) flow readings:

• Around 250 CFS (average flows): A tip sinking at roughly 2–4 inches per second is the go-to. This covers the broadest range of typical winter and early spring conditions.
• 350–400+ CFS (elevated flows): Step up to a 3–5 inches per second tip. In higher, faster water, fish tuck into deeper holding lies that a lighter tip simply can't reach.
• 650+ CFS (high water events): Only then does it make sense to reach for something in the 6–7 inches per second range — and even then, only on bigger systems like the Grand River.

Leske describes his general approach as "muscling the tip" — intentionally fishing slightly heavier than the textbook minimum to maintain a meaningful connection with the bottom of the water column. The logic is that rod position and line manipulation give you the ability to lift the fly up when needed, but you can't manufacture depth that a too-light tip isn't providing.

"I'd rather fish a little heavier tip than normal, because with rod position I can lead it up or steer it. When I get to a little deep spot or faster current, I can just step into it and feed the fly in there. I'd rather be on the heavier side than the light side."

The Touch-and-Go Technique: Reading Bottom Contact

One of the most valuable pieces of practical advice to emerge from this conversation is a bottom-contact philosophy specific to cold-water swinging in tight, technical rivers. On the West Coast, conventional swinging technique keeps the fly up off the bottom through the entire presentation. In the Great Lakes, the topography and fish behavior call for a different approach.

"In our geographic area, I call it 'touch and go.' During the course of the swing, I want the angler to touch bottom at least one time — or at least nick it. Because it's so up and down, when you hit bottom, it puts the parking brake on the fly, just for a moment. Like European nymphing where you nick the bottom — we want to touch it once, then relieve the pressure and let it go. Are you going to get a few snags? Yeah. But that's one way I like to approach it."

This technique serves two purposes: it confirms that your fly is actually in the strike zone, and it briefly pauses the fly's movement in a way that can trigger a reaction strike from a lethargic cold-water fish. Think of it as a depth-check and a presentation tool rolled into one momentary event during the swing. Done correctly, it's a natural extension of good bottom-reading instincts rather than a sloppy, snag-heavy approach.

Modern Tip Technology: Multi-Density and Triple-Density Designs

While traditional T-material tips remain effective, the industry has moved toward more sophisticated multi-density constructions that offer a smoother presentation and more consistent depth control. The most notable recent development is the triple-density tip format, which uses a graduated series of sink rates along the length of the tip rather than a single uniform density.

"In the last year or so, I've been a big fan of those new triple-density MoTips. I like the way they stay down in the water column — you don't get that little belly in the line. And it's not that hard float-to-sink transition. It's floating, intermediate, a little sink, then a little more sink. A smoother transition from the Skagit head into the tip and into the fly. I just like the way they fish and move through the water column."

This kind of graduated design eliminates the sharp hinge point that can develop between a floating Skagit head and a dense, fast-sinking tip — a phenomenon that can make the fly behave unnaturally and affect both casting and presentation. For anglers who fish a variety of depths and current speeds throughout the day, a multi-density tip offers more versatility with a single setup.

SA's TC tips, which operate on a similar graduated-density principle, have also earned strong reviews from anglers fishing the region. The bottom line from both experts: whichever system you choose, commit to learning it thoroughly rather than constantly switching between different manufacturers and formats.

"Once you find the tip that works for you, it's probably better to stick with it and learn how to use it properly."

Sinking Leaders: A Different Tool for a Different Job

Sink tips and sinking leaders are often discussed in the same breath, but they serve fundamentally different purposes and are built on different principles. Understanding the distinction is critical to rigging correctly for your specific setup.

Sinking leaders — products like SA's Sonar leaders or Rio's Versileader — are designed primarily for use with single-hand rods and Scandi-style shooting heads. Unlike sink tips, which are measured in grains per foot, sinking leaders are measured in inches per second sink rate. Critically, that sink rate applies specifically to the butt section of the leader — the end that attaches to your fly line — not uniformly along the entire length.

In terms of grain weight, SA's Sonar leaders come in at approximately 50 grains, while Rio's offerings run slightly heavier at around 65 grains. Both are available in standard 10-foot lengths, with 6-foot versions available for single-hand rod applications where a shorter leader is more appropriate.

Can you use a sinking leader with a Skagit head? Technically yes, but it's not their intended application. Their design makes them particularly well-suited to Scandi lines and single-hand rods, where the lighter grain weights and smoother density transitions complement the line's casting characteristics.

The Leader Length Rule: Don't Kick Your Anchor

Perhaps the most practically important — and most commonly overlooked — aspect of rigging sink tips and sinking leaders is the question of how much monofilament tippet to attach. Get this wrong and your casting will fall apart, regardless of how well you've dialed in your tip selection.

The core principle is straightforward: when fishing a floating tip or a Scandi floating line, the monofilament leader behind it must be at least as long as your rod. This is not a suggestion — it's a functional requirement of Spey casting mechanics. The leader provides the fixed point of water contact (the anchor) that allows a D-loop to form and the cast to load properly. A leader that's too short — say, two or three feet — will cause the anchor to kick out, spinning the caster around and ruining the cast entirely.

"If you have a floating tip on a Skagit or a Scandi line floating, the monofilament leader after that should be at least the length of your rod. You can't have a two- or three-footer, otherwise you're just going to kick your anchor and spin around like crazy."

The rules change, however, when you're fishing a sinking tip or sinking leader. Because the tip itself is sinking into the water and creating the necessary line stick for the cast, you have much more flexibility in leader length. Your tippet section can be as short as 14 inches or as long as four to five feet, depending on your presentation preferences — the sinking portion of the system is doing the anchoring work that a long mono leader would otherwise have to provide.

Practical Takeaways: Building a Simple, Effective Tip System

If this conversation reveals anything, it's that the world of sink tips and sinking leaders is simultaneously more nuanced and more approachable than it might first appear. The technology has evolved significantly, the options are genuinely good across multiple manufacturers, and the underlying principles — once understood — are logical and learnable.

For Great Lakes steelhead anglers building their tip selection from scratch, the practical recommendations from Leske and Purbanik distill down to a manageable starting point:

• Start with 10-foot tips as your baseline length. Adjust to 8-foot when wading deep or casting struggles emerge, and to 12-foot if you're fishing a longer two-hander or you're a particularly tall angler.
• Build a small assortment of tips in the 2–4 and 3–5 inches per second sink rate range to cover the majority of typical flows. Reserve heavier tips for genuinely high-water situations.
• Consider a multi-density or triple-density tip if you want a smoother presentation and more water-column versatility without constantly swapping tips.
• Remember the touch-and-go philosophy: if you're not occasionally nicking bottom during the swing, you're probably not deep enough in cold water conditions.
• Always match your monofilament leader length to your setup — rod-length or longer for floating configurations, short tippet for sinking tips and leaders.

"Stick with one company, get a nice assortment of tips within that length, and figure them out. Learn how to fish them. It's experimental — but once you understand what you're working with, it all starts to make sense on the water."

And when in doubt? Walk into the shop. The staff at Chagrin River Outfitters — and knowledgeable fly shops everywhere — can assess your setup, your target water, and your skill level to cut through the noise and point you toward exactly what you need. As Leske puts it, that's precisely where the guide's job begins: taking you from the weeds to the wheelhouse, one tip selection at a time. For more information and to browse their full selection of sink tips and sinking leaders, visit chagrinriveroutfitters.com.