Sighters

[Caleb Bagley]

I've fell in love with using a section of orange dacron backing for my sighter. It's where my confidence is right now. I do worry though about it spooking fish. Especially on some of the small,clear creeks that I frequent. Am I over-thinking this? Or should I go to a more dull colored sighter?

[Mason Sims]

Caleb, If you think it might be scareing fish then give suffix sedge a try in the orange color it is highly visible out of the water and almost invisible in the water. hope this helps.

[Mark Hanes]

I really like to use the two tone Jan Siman sighter material but is low water I will go with the gold high vis stren that is a little on the lighter side.  The Suffix is also good stuff.  If you eyes can see it the blue stren also works in low water with spooky fish but I would only use it if the fish were extremely spooky and if that is the case its worth a look.

[Caleb Bagley]

Thanks for the responses. I actually just picked up some Gold Stren. It seemed to be not as vibrant as the backing or the amnesia.

[Alain Barthelemy]

Caleb

I believe that spooky fish react more to motion than to visibility. If you take a bright object and hold it still, fish will not really spook in most cases. When you move your sighter downstream at the pace of the current, it acts like just another thing in the drift for fish looking up. You can minimize disturbance with more gentle presentations.  In George Daniel's book he states that the only place he ever fished that required a drab fly line was the crystalline waters in New Zealand.

[Caleb Bagley]

That's a great point Alain.I remember seeing that in George's book. I think sometimes I give them (the fish) too much credit. Also in the book I saw how he floats a pretty long gold curly on dead water, that also got me thinking about it.