There is a lot of confusion around sink tips, and we get asked all sorts of questions about sink tips all of the time. We commonly hear people ask "I'm going to the ****** River, what sink tip should I use?" and it's really not that simple. What are they? Which one should I choose? What does T14 mean? Well we're here to help you better understand the world of sink tips. And I could talk about this topic for days, Haha! There are many different kinds of sink tips that are available these days, and knowing which ones will work for you can be a little intimidating at first. So we're going to give you a full run down on everything "sink tip" so that next time you walk into a fly shop you'll know what to get.
Level T Sink Tips
Level T sink tips are made from T material, which is a tungsten impregnated material that can be purchased in bulk or as a finished sink tip from various companies. When purchased in bulk, the material is cut to length and the loops are welded in both ends to create a sink tip. T material is measured by grains per foot. Airflo has T7, T10 and T14, while RIO has T8, T11, T14, T17 and T20. For example T8 means that there are 8 grains per foot, T14 there are 14 grains per foot. So 13 feet of T8 weighs right around 104 grains. Most fly shops in the Pacific Northwest have it available for purchase in bulk, and will even cut and weld the loops for you. These types of sink tips have been around for a long time, and are very effective for swinging flies.
Anglers often have an assortment of tips with them at any given time. Commonly a 7 foot tip, a 10 foot, 12 foot, and for the brave of heart, even a 15 foot tip, or longer. This would cover most water types an anadromous angler would encounter. The theory here is the longer the sink tip, the deeper your fly gets. Now this presents a problem for the novice caster. Going from fishing a run that calls for 7' of T10 to the next run where 15' of T14 is more appropriate changes your cast drastically. These sink tips will get your fly into the zone but you'll really have to adjust your casting stroke for the different length, and weight of the different sink tips.
RIO MOW Tips
Pictured above: RIO Skagit MOW Tips.
RIO MOW Tips are maybe the most commonly used sink tips these days, and for good reason. They are easy to cast, and they are very effective sink tips. Where do they come from? Well, MOW is actually an acronym that stands for McCune, O'Donnell, & Ward. Mike McCune, Scott O'Donnell and Ed Ward. These three guys are pioneers of Spey casting here in the Pacific Northwest and many of us owe a lot of gratitude to these three guys for paving the way. In 2010 Mike, Scott and Ed developed the MOW tips with RIO Products. This was game changing!
MOW Tips are available in many different forms. There are MOW Tips, and there are iMOW Tips, MOW Long Tips, and now 3D MOW tips. There's a Light, Medium, Heavy, and Extra Heavy series of tips. The Light series simply means that these are T8 tips (8 grains per foot). Medium MOW's are made with T11 (11 grains per foot). Heavy MOW's are made with T14 (14 grains per foot), and the Extra heavy MOW's are made with T17 (17 grains per foot). So what does that really mean for sink rate. Lets break it down...
- T8 - Sinks at 6-7 inches per second
- T11 - Sinks at 7-8 inches per second
- T14 - Sinks at 8-9 inches per second
- T17 - Sinks at 9-10 inches per second
One common misunderstanding about sink tips is that an angler can just grab a 10 foot chunk of T8, T11, and T14 and cover every water type. And though this has some truth, it's not the best way to go. As far as sink rate goes, meaning how fast your sink tip actually sinks, there is not much difference between T8 and T14. We're talking 2 inches per second difference if you're lucky. Fly choice, leader length, and leader diameter all play into this equation for how deep your fly is actually getting. So when it comes to choosing a sink tip, it is better to consider the overall length of the sink tip vs the overall weight of the sink tip. Think of it like this... If you put a 5 foot long pole into a pool at a 45 degree angle, and a 12 foot long pole into the pool at the same angle, which one is going to reach a deeper depth in the pool? Obviously, the 12 foot pole is going to get deeper. And for the most part, it's the same with sink tips. The longer the tip, the deeper it'll swing.
So when you're choosing what MOW tips to get, you should first understand that the weight of your Skagit head comes into play here. You need mass to turnover mass. To keep it simple, if you put a really heavy sink tip on a light Skagit head it's not going to cast well, and it's going to be a real struggle. You can put a light sink tip on a really heavy Skagit head and it will work, but understand that there is a balance here. There is an ideal weight of sink tip for different weight Skagit heads and one will certainly cast nicer than others. This kind of goes into the design of Skagit heads.
Jordan's Burkie loaded up!
Skagit heads were designed to be fished with a tip. And every rod has a grain window. Lets take a common rod like 13' 7wt. Most 13' 7 weight rods will cast a 525gr Skagit head all day long. But you need to add a sink tip to that 525gr Skagit head to make it work. So if you put a 100 grain sink tip on that 525 grain head, now you've got 625 grains at the tip of that 13' 7wt. Sometimes I wonder why rod manufacturers don't include the tip weight when they list a grain window for a rod. But that's how it's done and neither here nor there.
This all sounds very nerdy and scientific, but I promise you its not that difficult once you get the basic concepts! And once you've been doing it for a while, choosing a sink tip becomes second nature. For a more clear idea of this I'll put a breakdown below of general Skagit head to sink tip recommendations.
- T8 - Skagit heads 200gr to 475gr
- T11 - Skagit heads 475gr to 575gr
- T14 - Skagit heads 575gr and up
- T17 - Skagit heads 650gr and up
Now, let's dive deeper into the world of MOW tips. There are many different configurations within the MOW tip family, and they allow an angler to be very tactical while keeping a consistent feel while casting. There is a full floating tip, there's full sinking tips, and there are tips with a floating and sinking portion. The tips with both floating and sinking portions allow you to fish, or more importantly cast a tip that is a consistent length and weight, but has a varying sinking length, keeping you casts consistent and familiar. Having a tip length that is the same but being able to achieve different depths with the fly was something many anglers dreamt of for a long time before the MOW tips were available. Before I go into why and when one might fish a certain MOW tip, take a look at the different configurations that they come in down below.
MOW Tips:
- 10' Floating
- 7.5' Floating/2.5' Sinking
- 5' Floating/5' Sinking
- 2.5' Floating/7.5' Sinking
- 10' Sinking
- 12.5' Sinking
iMOW Tips
- 10' Intermediate
- 7.5' Intermediate/2.5' Fast Sinking
- 5' Intermediate/5' Fast Sinking
- 2.5' Intermediate/7.5' Fast Sinking
So when does an angler choose one tip over another. Well, that's always the million dollar question and there is no right or wrong answer. Conditions and a general hunch will go a long way in choosing the right tip at the right time. But the full floating will be deployed with a leader that is about the length of the rod when you want to skate dry flies or fish just subsurface. The tips with only 2.5' of sinking material will be used for fishing very shallow, or very slow insides of runs. Now the 5/5 is really the golden child in the family, and can be a deadly affective tool if fished the way it was meant to be fished. You can fish the 5/5 in shallow water situations and catch fish doing so. But where it really shines is in the boulder gardens and cutbanks. Imagine your on river left and on river right there is a deep and narrow slot on the far side underneath the high bank and that's where the fish are holding. Your classic 10-15' sink tip is not going to cut it here. You need to get your fly down as fast as possible to swing it at depth in that narrow slot. In this situation it would be best to have the vaunted 5/5 with a heavy fly. You'll be able to cast straight across pull the tension off and let that fly plummet into the zone, swing through the slot and then come up in the water column before snagging up on the shallow shelf on your side of the river.
As I mentioned before, the 5/5 MOW tip can be absolutely deadly in the boulder gardens as well. Picture yourself in a run that has a big submerged boulder slightly below you and 70 feet from the bank, and another one a little father below you and 40 feet from the bank. With the 5/5 you can set your cast up above the first boulder, kick a mend into it inducing slack allowing the fly to sink on the outside of the boulder and right before it gets there you engage the fly, let it come tight and swing behind that boulder (or in front ). And then as your swing progresses you can repeat what you did on the first rock. Presenting your fly intentionally and purposefully and in a strategic fashion.
An angler casts a 5/5 MOW tip to meticulously pick apart a juicy boulder garden on the Olympic Peninsula.
The 2.5 foot by 7.5 foot sink, the 10 foot sink, and the 12.5 foot sinking tips can be used in your more typical steelhead water. Broad tailouts, sweeping gravel bars and plunge pools will all be great water to fish these tips. If you don't need to get your fly down that much, like at the head of a run just as the riffle tapers out, then go with the 7.5 feet of sinking material. In the bucket, maybe switch to the 12.5' tip, and in the greasy tailout, the 10' tip might be the best suited tip.
15' RIO Replacement Tips
Pictured above: RIO 15ft InTouch Replacements Tips.
RIO 15' Replacement Tips date back to the days of the Windcutter in the late 1990's early 2000's, and possibly even before that. A lot of the old guard in the world of Spey prefer these tips, and it's what I and Michael (the owner of Pacific Fly Fishers) prefer as well, and often recommend. RIO does make 10' Replacement tips, but those are different critter and a subject for another day. These are density compensated sink tips. Which means that the front end of the tip sinks faster than the back end, allowing the tip to sink uniformly. One great thing about these sink tips is you can get sink tips that sink at different rates that weigh the same and they're all the same length, and that is awesome! 15' Replacement Tips come in floating, intermediate, type 3, type 6, and type 8, and are available in 5 different grain weights. Typically we recommend the 7wt, 8wt, or 9wt tips depending on the weight of the rod and the taper of the head that they will be going on. These tips can be fished on short Skagit heads, the standard length Skagit heads these days of around 21-25' and they are great on more traditional Skagit heads like the RIO Flight that are a little longer.
In the Fall of 2025 the 15' Replacement Tips will be discontinued unfortunately, but they will be replaced with RIO "Classic Tips"
Pictured above is a perfect spot for fishing the RIO 15' Replacement tips. A gravel bar that has even flow and medium depth. Tyler (pictured) swings a 9wt 15' Type 6 tip.
So now that you're an expert on sink tips hopefully the next time you're gearing up for a swing trip you'll be confident that you've got the right tip looped onto you're Skagit head. Just remember that the biggest consideration to make when purchasing sink tips, is that you want to be matching the weight of the sink tip to the shooting head you'll be using. Then when you're on the water making your best guess on how much of a sink tip you need for the piece of water you're fishing. And remember that salmon, trout, and steelhead look up, so I'd always error on the side of fishing a little lighter and being above the fish rather than fishing too heavy and snagging up on the bottom.
Tight Lines.