Alternatives to sunken fly lines

Do other anglers find that sunken fly lines are awkward to cast? At the end of the retrieve you've got to pull the sunk line out of the depths, do a quick false cast above the water then go into the double haul technique.

To fish on the bottom of shallow lakes about 7 or 8 ft deep, I've tried using plastic sinking leaders about 4ft long, which convert the line to a crude sink tip. The trouble with this system is it ruins the natural unrolling of the fly line, and the tip tends to land in a heap on the water.

I've occasionally tried floating fly lines with a long leader and a heavy weighted fly on the point. The difficulty here is contolling the fly when casting in gusty winds.

What methods do other anglers use to fish flies deeply?

Coffin lead?

What you do is rollcast the sunken line out of the water and then straight into a back cast. It's very easy to perform.

Beware of the fish that grabs your fly just as it's about to leave the water.

The use of long leaders and floating lines requires a great deal of skill. Casting these into the wind can be very difficult and my advice to many who cant manage it is to use an intermediate (very slow sinking) line and a knotless tapered leader.

I don't find sinking lines are that difficult to cast.

I tend to leave quite a bit of the head still in the water then stop the retrieve, draw the rod back to pull some of the line out of the water, then roll cast the rest into the air in front of me (it's easier to demonstrate than describe). This means that you've then only got to shoot some line in a couple of false casts and you're out and fishing again.

HAve a look at this movie clip which demonstrates it better:

Roll to cast

Personally I find it quite important to fish to fly back all the way because so many times I have caught fish right at my own feet, that have followed the fly and taken it at the last second. It's the same when boat fishing in that you have to fish the fly back as near to the boat as possible, for the same reason.

I realise that sometimes when fishing the fly back on a very long leader, it sometimes is a bit awkward to keep in touch with the fly, and often one has one's arms stretched to full capacity, but my view is that despite any problem that may be caused by having the fly so near, will often be outweighed by additional fish on the bank.

I think I have lost count of the times when the tip of my fly line has been out of the water and the nylon cast, when the fly is still 2 or 3 ft. down when the nylon cast just shoots out again as a fish has grabbed the fly.

So to answer your question, the fact that your fly line is sunk and causes problems when recasting, it is worth putting up with effectively having to restart the cast each time, when fishing are inclined to follow the fly right way to the bank

If your on the bank just take a few steps back as the end of the retrive approches. This will still leave enough line out to start the cast again.

Thank you all for your comments