What's the difference?

[Swamprat]

Hi All, So I have all these nymphs tied and after looking I see that I have different weights. They fall into categories of 0 to .4 grams. Being new to fly fishing I'm not sure if that is a big difference. Should I keep them separated by weight or are they close enough to mix up? Glenn

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[JerryC]

Did you use lead wire or brass or tungsten bead heads to add weight to them? If they're unweighted then it's not going to make that much of a difference. If you're using lead or non lead wire to weight them, you could use different color threads for the head of the fly to differentiate between your weighted and unweighted flies. It's a easier if you're using bead heads the larger the bead head the heavier the fly.

[Swamprat]

Hey Jerry,
Thanks for the info.....I can probably tell which ones are unweighted but the others are such a mix of beads and lead free wire that I can't tell the difference. In fly fishing, is a .1 gram fly really a big difference from a .4 gram fly?

[Pete]

I doubt that you're going to find too many of us who routinely weigh our flies... Unless all your flies are otherwise identical, the weight isn't a good indicator as to how it's going to behave in the water.

A while back Matt posted a Chimera Caddis pupa fly, that wasn't much more than thread and floss. It's quite light, but sinks well enough so I've never felt any need to add any weight.

Back in my "bass bug" days, I used some very large/heavy, deer hair, cork, or balsa, flies, that were quite heavy, but floated.

Specific gravity might be a better scientific criteria, but most of us just rely on experience, (and the occasional split shot).

[JerryC]

I don't have a scale that accurate and I've pretty much gone to just bead heads for my weighted nymphs so they're fairly easy to determine which is heavier. There is going to be a difference the heavier fly will sink faster depending on the type of water you're fishing. Since you're weighing them just separate them by weight in your fly box. Leave an empty row between the different weights. If you're fishing nymphs you need to fish them as close to the bottom as possible. The faster and deeper the water the heavier the nymph you'll want to use.

[Swamprat]

I doubt that you're going to find too many of us who routinely weigh our flies... Unless all your flies are otherwise identical, the weight isn't a good indicator as to how it's going to behave in the water.

A while back Matt posted a Chimera Caddis pupa fly, that wasn't much more than thread and floss. It's quite light, but sinks well enough so I've never felt any need to add any weight.

Back in my "bass bug" days, I used some very large/heavy, deer hair, cork, or balsa, flies, that were quite heavy, but floated.

Specific gravity might be a better scientific criteria, but most of us just rely on experience, (and the occasional split shot).

I don't have a scale that accurate and I've pretty much gone to just bead heads for my weighted nymphs so they're fairly easy to determine which is heavier. There is going to be a difference the heavier fly will sink faster depending on the type of water you're fishing. Since you're weighing them just separate them by weight in your fly box. Leave an empty row between the different weights. If you're fishing nymphs you need to fish them as close to the bottom as possible. The faster and deeper the water the heavier the nymph you'll want to use.

Thank you Pete and Jerry for the very helpful info.
Glenn