VIDEO: Floating the Sighter

by Domenick Swentosky | Oct 2, 2024 | 2 comments

Troutbitten Photo by Josh Darling Floating Sighter 100-6

** NOTE ** Video Appears Below.

There may be nothing more misunderstood in the tight line game than floating the sighter. But it’s a great tactic that solves a lot of problems and offers some unique presentations that fool trout.

However, there’s a lot more to floating the sighter than simply laying line on the water. In fact, without a solid understanding of what’s going on, laying the floating the sighter can hurt the presentation.

Some Key Points

The sighter is a poor suspension device, but it’s a great placeholder
Floating the sighter is great for extending the tight line range.
Everything in one lane is critical.
Some water types are much more suitable for the tactic.
Leader build matter, as does fly weight and rod choice
Combining floating the sighter with pure tight lining in one drift is an excellent way to solve on-stream problems.

All of these points and many more are detailed in the following video. There’s a LOT of information in this one, and the resources provided below are a great jumping off point for exploring more.

PODCAST: Troutbitten | Critical Nymphing Concepts – Line on the Water – S10, Ep6
READ: Troutbitten | Casting – You Need Turnover
VIDEO: Troutbitten | The Golden Ratio of Nymphing
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Casting vs Lobbing

Here’s the video . . .

(Please select 4K or 2k for best video quality)

Fish hard, friends.

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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com

Thank you all, for a wonderful 2022 season! Book now to join me in 2023.

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Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

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2 Comments

Bill on October 4, 2024 at 7:47 pm
Thank you for posting this. I hope you do more videos like this. They are so helpful.
Reply
Jim Dowd on October 26, 2024 at 9:58 am
Well all right then. Good stuff!
I found that using two backing barrels on the sighter helps confirm that drifts remain in one seam when floating the sighter.
Applying silicone paste to the sighter (as you illustrated at the beginning of the video) is a big help too.
Thank you for yet another thoughtful idea.
Reply

VIDEO: Floating the Sighter

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