I really don’t know how deep calcasieu is, I do believe people wade fish there.
I do the vast majority of my saltwater fly fishing for Speckled trout and redfish with weight forward floating line in water from inches to about 5-6 feet. If it’s deep and the fish are deeper, then I might and have turned to a sink tip like a teeny line. I sight fish and fish structure like grass lines, oyster reef margins, marsh drains, etc. Calcasieu might have similar structure, I don’t know.
I rely on slightly longer fluorocarbon leaders and flies lightly weighted with tungsten once the water is getting much over three feet and the fish are near the bottom structure. Tungsten sinks much faster than lead or brass of equivalent weight and allows me to use less overall weight for a faster sink rate. The problem with sink tips and sinking line around oyster reef is that the line will tend to contact the sharp snagging shell before the fly gets in the zone. Around oyster shell and other bottom obstructions, I’ve found I often want my fly to be the lowest thing to avoid hanging up leaders or lines. I don’t know if calcasieu has oyster shell or not, it’s just something to consider.
Flies that ride hook point up are very nice in shallow areas with grass and shell. Weed guards are okay, but I try to not use them as they interfere with hook sets in my experience. Redfish Crack, redfish Ritalin are a couple of Texas favorites and I know one member here uses redfish crack over in Mississippi.
But yes, people use sink tips and intermediate lines. I’ve used both. I find pulling up the sinking portion of a sink tip from the depths not as enjoyable as fishing floating line so I avoid them where possible. Slow Intermediates sound better and more user friendly. I’ve used an intermediate clear tip and that was enjoyable. It’s good that you are taking several lines. I’d have a variety flies with different levels of buoyancy from floating to ones lightly weighted with tungsten. I’d avoid too many big super heavy lead weighted patterns as they aren’t much fun to sling. You might have to tie your own tungsten patterns as they can be hard to find in the saltwater selections.
