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Here is a great example of a beginner fishing discussion:

How do I determine when I need to go to a sinking line or
sinking tip line when there is no discernable hatch on the stream I am fishing? Its obviously possible to fish weighted nymphs or to add shot to my leader and continue to use my floating line under some conditions. I'm sure if I could take some lessons or fish with an experienced person I would learn about such things, but I probably won't have that opportunity for some time. I will appreciate all useful advice to an experienced fisherman, but beginning fly fisherman.

In the streams I fish, of moderate-to-low depth, a floating line and using weighted nymphs and/or split shots is preferable, at least IMHO. It would have to be deep water, including lakes, to make me switch to a full sinking line. A sink-tip line has been helpful in deeper rivers.

Forget sinking or sink tips unless fishing big brawling deep and fast streams. In fact forget them even there. Go with floating line and bead head flies plus shot to get down to where the fish are. IMHO sinking lines only get down enough at around 8 or nine weights and who wants to fish streams with big poles like that ?. It ain't fly fishing anymore. Get someone to show you upstream nymphing with weight and you'll do fine. Also when rivers are high and fast----play golf or do yardwork. Good luck.

I am not very experience in still water but from what I have learned about it, choosing a full sinker or intermediate is usually a matter of experience and trial and error, unfortunately. Determining factors are of course the fish's holding depth and so many factors affect this. ive even heard many say that they take a rod with each line and go through them varying the allowed sink time until they come up with the right formula. Try being on the water when the fish are rising and gauging how fast they
fall back into deeper water, an hour after dryfly-time ends a sink-tip may be good and then about mid-day you may try crawling a nymph along the deeper drop offs with a full sinker. Good luck to one rookie from another, its not an easy subject and Im afraid theres no single answer to that question.

For most stream fishing a floating line is all you need. For dead-drift tactics a floating line is the only thing that really works. However, for swimming flies such as streamers and perhaps soft hackles, a sinking tip line works well. The sink tip keeps the fly down at the depth you want, and the floating part of the line allows you to mend and control the speed and direction of swing. It also works pretty well for "Close Enough to a Dead Drift" tactics such as used in high fast water or when fishing from a boat in a fairly laminar flow (for specifics see my article of that title in the March/April 1998 American Angler magazine).

Sink tip lines also work ok in lakes though a full sinking line is usually a better choice in stillwaters. Full sinking lines will allow you to keep your fly fishing at depth easier as long as you don't have a current flow that necessitates mending the line -- you can't mend a sunken line.