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[Squampton]

I have a problem presenting and controlling my fly at the right depth in a river. Heres some specs to hopefully help you diagnose the issue. I've got a 7wt temple fork fly rod, with (7wt) full floating Rio gold line. I've attached a 12 foot section of sinking 9wt type six versi tip to the end. I normally use a short leader, about two feet with an un-weighted fly on the end while pursuing the various anadromous fish often in 5-8 feet of water. What happens is this: I cast my line, and the middle of the versi tip forms a huge belly, so my fly is up near the surface and the middle of the sinktip is near dredging the bottom. How can I keep the sinktip descending evenly through the water?

[tburns]

use a beadhead fly

[whereismyfloat]

casting angles can make big difference. at what angle are you throwing your line relative to the current flow?

[nickredway]

The belly you are getting in your line has nothing to do with the sink tip or whether your fly is weighed or not, it is because when you cast across stream you fly line is perpendicular to the current, if you do nothing the current will pull the line into a belly, whipping it across the current at speed and causing amongst other things the problems you are describing. You need to mend the line upstream after it has landed to make it more parallel to the current, this will sink the fly whilst the belly created by the mend works out, when the the fly does begin to swing across the current it will be at a slower more natural speed. This is a very simplistic explanation but if you a a google search for wet fly swing, mending line explained etc you will find some better more detailed explanations. It is easier to show than explain in words.

[nickredway]

The first half of this clip, what he is calling the "slow swing" demonstrates the kind of upsteam mend I am talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uq2TrQu0SGU
Hope this helps.

[rustybee]

Thanks for sharing that link, Nick.

[RalphH]

that's a good video Nick and it may help Squampton!

However it sounds like at least one of two things - possibly both are causing this vertical bow.

The versatips are tapered so there is less weight at the front. The leader and fly has very little weight and can't sink much on it's own. The back of the tip is restrained by the floating line so the result is the pronounced U you observed. You can see this even with a full sinking line fishing still water. Many sinking lines are density compensated so the tip of the line uses a coating with more mass than the belly and the line sinks uniformly.

Also there are often upwelling currents in deep turbulent water - a boiling effect as water moves into deeper water hits a rocky bottom and is deflected up to the surface. This can lift an unweighted fly and leader right to the surface in several feet of water while the heavy sinking portion remains 4 or 5 feet below.

What to do? Keep the leader sort but you have done that. Weighting the fly with lead wire, a good size bead or barbells may help. Use a heavier tip. Get some T-8 or T-11 and make a tip from that. Some folks cut the the taper section of the tip off - turn your 15 foot tip into 10 to 12 feet. A radical approach is the put a folded nail knot loop into the front of the tip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HlF7pR8CHE)
and loop the front of the tip to the main part of your versaline so the heavy back section becomes the front of the line. I have done this without problem but some folks have trouble with a hinging effect. 

Hope these suggestions help.

[SPEYMAN]

Make sure the line is not wraped around your rod when casting. Opening scene on video.

[tburns]

The belly you are getting in your line has nothing to do with the sink tip or whether your fly is weighed or not, it is because when you cast across stream you fly line is perpendicular to the current, if you do nothing the current will pull the line into a belly, whipping it across the current at speed and causing amongst other things the problems you are describing. You need to mend the line upstream after it has landed to make it more parallel to the current, this will sink the fly whilst the belly created by the mend works out, when the the fly does begin to swing across the current it will be at a slower more natural speed. This is a very simplistic explanation but if you a a google search for wet fly swing, mending line explained etc you will find some better more detailed explanations. It is easier to show than explain in words.

from what I have learned of physics the sinking rate of an object is a function of its density.  i agree with what you are saying, but I don't think you can dismiss the fact that something with a large crosssectional area and low mass will not sink as fast as your sink tip.

[Squampton]

Thanks for the tips and clips everyone! I'll be sure to try out all these methods next time i'm on the water

[nickredway]

Yeah you guys are right I didn't read his post properly, from his description it sounds like he is probably fishing some boily water so using a weighted fly and / or heavier tip would help.

[whereismyfloat]

Good advice from RalphH ... but the casting angle can make a huge difference too. Recommend researching a "reach cast". Essentially as you quarter downstream while your cast is in the air, you reach the rod tip upstream and allow your line to land more parallel to the current. The water on the surface moves fast than the water below. If you're perpendicular to the current, the fast surface water grabs your floating line and pulls it faster than the sink tip contributing to the bow.

[Knnn]

I agree the reach cast or even the wiggle cast will go a long way to help.  I find these guys to give good instructional videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14njsZy47qg