I have recently strted fly fishing for whites. Found out real quick the line and leader for Colorado Trout does not work real well. Snapped of the first couple of flys. I am looking to go to a sinking line. I have one 5 lbs and one 8 lbs fly rod. What is the recommended line? Is it better to use a leader or just tie to the line? I have always used a leader but in doing some reading it appears some folks do not. Amy help would be appreciated!

when im fishing for anything but trout i just use a straight shot of mono or florocarbon about 7 1/2 feet in length...if the water is clear and i could get away with it 10-12 lb florocarbon

Seems you've found a kickin' new niche. Sandies are a blast on fly stuff. Are you fishing lakes or streams? Either the 5wt or the eight should work nicely, depends on the fish size and your preference, and wind.
Having flies "snap" off can be caused by a number of things. Could be too small of a leader for a heavy fly. Ya could also be not letting the backcast go alllll the waaaayyyyy baaaack. Do you hear a "whip crack" sound as you begin your forward cast? If so...Remember, it's just as far on the backcast as your forward cast is. Try giving cast and backcast both the same amount of time.
As far as line. General rule is five wt line for the five wt and eight wt for the eight.
Leader? for sandies I use six lb Stren. They aren't particular about presentation when feeding. You can go a little heavier if there are hybrids or stripers around.
Feel free to drop me a line and I'll try to answer in more detail.
Tight Lines

I have the same question as Bill; was the fly broken off fighting a fish or while casting? If its just fighting fish then heavier tippet would be the way to go.

If you would, please outline for us what leader and tippet you are using?

Also, are you sandy fishing in creeks or out in the reservoir?

On the leader part, I will disagree with the guys and advise that there be at least a little taper. If nothing else buy a spool of 20# Omniflex and a spool of 10# and tie together a three foot piece of each. That would give you a 10# test tippet which ought to be fine for sandies. There are other leader formulae (this is a good one) but having at least that little bit of taper will give some better rollout of the fly.

Again, please let us know what tippet and leader you are fishing.

best

If i was fly fishing for sandbass I use mostly 10 pound leader 5wt floating line is fine . I usely fly fish with 6 wt tfo fly rod with rio line with 9 foot 10# leader the reson is that they have sharp fin and very fine tooth and will cut the line 8wt will be good for bass if you use big flies

Robin:
Please stop giving away the mystique of Fly Flinging. You, of all people, should only offer 20-10-8-6-4 weight tapers, especially for beginners. (they should have fun tying that many barrel knots, while standing in a rushing stream and feeling the wind blow their carefully laid knot out of their hands.)
After all, if you let them know that two lengths of 10 and 20# test works, they might get serious abdout our favorite method of getting frustrated, and they will be parked in our favorite pool instead of sitting on the bank and crying...
Ross

I would suggest trying a knotless tapered leader of around 3x tippit to start with. This should work fine with your lighter rod which will be the most fun for most of the sandies you are likely to catch while learning. Also, you might go to [url=Http://www.fedflyfishers.org][url=Http://www.fedflyfishers.org][url=Http://www.fedflyfishers.org]Http://www.fedflyfishers.org[/url][/url][/url] to find the closest FFF flyfishing club and visit one of their meetings. I suspect someone in the Austin Fly Fishers will take you under their wing and invite you to go on one of their outings. Most of these clubs have a casting coach who will helo you iron out any casting paoblems, and we all have them. You live in a wonderful area for a fly fisherman in Texas. I spent close to a decade falling in the rivers of the hill country while I lived in that area.

Big Dale