split shot vs. weighted flies

[flyI4]

Its that time of year that I always start thinking about nymphing techniques because there are few dry fly opportunities ,but I want to fish anyway so I suck it up. When it comes to nymphing, I'm not really a purist about not liking it and dont consider it a lower level of fishing, its more so that I just find "tight line nymphing" and euro style nymphing to be so incredibly boring that I literally dont want to fish anymore after fishing that way for a couple hours. Admittedly, it has been an effective method for pocket water for me in the past ,but I still find it boring even when catching fish, because the total lack of casting and hovering over some bucket with your leader out and no/little fly line out takes the funnest part of the sport away from me- the cast.
So, I stubbornly stick to indy style nymphing because at least there is that visual element of seeing the indy go down that somewhat makes me tuned in and take a higher level of interest in what I'm doing. In fishing indy style, I build my own leaders to reduce drag from a heavy butt section, and usually use a small amount of split shot, which I will gradually increase if I don't think I'm getting down. This setup is your classic larger river nymphing setup for riffles that gradually slow and enter a pool. With the euro nymphing setup, I realize that the way to get down is typically through heavy flies (either heavy beads, lead body flies, ect). However, I usually don't tie flies with lead underneath the body, and very rarely use a tungsted bead on my nymphs, which I am going to experiment more with this year. I was hoping to get some insight from guys on the site that use heavy weighted nymphs rather than splitshot on an indy set up. Do you use beads or lead wrapped bodies? Do you use split shot and heavy weighted flies at the same time? I sometimes think that the split shot kills the drift in small streams where it gets hung up alot, which is why I am considering switching over to weighted nymphs for smaller to mid-sized streams.

 

[Trout Nazi]

I don't enjoy the Euro Nymphing either, and basically nymph like a "beginner". I use an indicator, and tie a smaller fly off of the bend of the larger flies hook. Very simple, works well enough for me. For me nymphing is what I do till the flies start popping. I try not to use split shot when possible, so I tie my heavier flies with tungsten beads and/or lead under bodies. My smaller nymphs I either tie with tungsten beads or no bead at all. The variety lets me cover all water depths and flows.

 

[flyI4]

Yep I hear you. Once the season starts going, I sometimes will take the 15 minutes to set up this nice leader and nymph rig pre- hatch , take 5 casts and then I see a fish start rising on the far bank. I then totally start dazing off nymphing because I keep seeing the fish rise and I end up cutting the leader off and switching back to dries making the whole leader setup I previously tied on a waste. That said, there are those days when the bugs and fish just dont show up, and I always am envious of the guy at lydia's who tells me he nymphed up a ton of fish in the riffles on nymphs. I'm more of a pound it all day and maybe hook a few on nymphs type of guy, perhaps because I don't tweak my rig and set up enough to adjust to different nymphing situations. That's what I'm trying to improve on.

 

[flyman23]

I think that when indy fishing with split shot, the shot ticks along the bottom and your nymph or nymphs are more at the fish's level. Of course I will change the amount of split shot during the course of the day depending on current, depth, etc.

 

[sneelhead]

tungsten beads are great. depending on the depth/flow, ill run either a tungsten or brass bead prince/PT/HE/CaddisPupa as my lead fly more or less through out the entire year. behind that i tie up my soft hackles, midges, rs2s, etc etc. only when fishing fast pocket water i.e. gorge after a good rain or short/deep pools will i stack on splits. weighted flies provide for a cleaner drift IMO.

when water temps are up and fish are actively feeding throughout the column its unnecessary to drag bottom and put the fly on their nose. just end up snagging more fish that way.

 

[BioGuy]

For indi fishing, I use shot to determine sink rate/forward velocity of the entire setup vs the current depth and water speed (and it usually takes less than most think). Then I use fly weight to determine where in the water column my flies will be...given 12-14" of tippet between your shot and flies, the weight of the flies will adjust how high above your shot the flies will be. So I would recommend tying the same patterns with no weight, brass, and tungsten/lead to cover different scenarios (cold/warm, no hatch/early hatch/why are you nymphing, deep/shallow, etc.)

 

[Oliver10]

I am a big fan of tungsten flies and of the tungsten putty that you can wrap around the leader.

 

[NJpatbee]

I tie most of my nymphs with tungsten beads and lead (substitute) wire. I fish upstream and guide the fly downstream stripping line to keep the line tight, no indicator - call it what you want. I fish mostly small-mid size streams and this method takes solid concentration and to me is far from boring. Sure, I will throw on a dry once they start or when searching in low water, but I catch a lot of trout using this method. I never liked fly fishing with split shot, but then again I am not nymphing the Delaware.

 

[tomfly]

I like using lead free shot. I find that shot allows you to adjust the weight as needed. Weighted nymphs do not allow for free drifting without any weight. I catch a good amount of fish without any weight in the mid to late spring.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

I'm more of a pound it all day and maybe hook a few on nymphs type of guy, perhaps because I don't tweak my rig and set up enough to adjust to different nymphing situations. That's what I'm trying to improve on.

If you take the time to ensure your rig is down where the fish are feeding as you move over different types of water, you'll wind up catching a lot more fish. But if you're just not in to nymphing, you might not care enough. I used to be a lazy nymph angler until I started guiding and then I payed very close attention to whatever the set up was I had my clients use. And I later found I caught a lot more fish on nymphs when I'm fishing these days as a result.

When it comes to weight, I do it all. Some flies I use tungsten, some lead wrap and sometimes I also add split shot. I tie certain flies for certain situations. For instance, there is a short but very deep plunge pool below a riffle on the lower Musky that few anglers ever fish correctly. You need a ton of weight to get down to where the fish are and I tie woolly buggers and caddis pupa with both tungsten beads and lead body wrap and I sometimes still need split shot to get down immediately. If your flies are too light, you won't get them down in the zone or at least not for most of your drift. If you're not breaking off nymphs, you're not fishing them deep enough.

 

[HydeLowRider]

I would recommend getting copies of Joseph Humphrey's Trout Tactics / On The Trout Stream with George Humphrey's and George Daniels Dynamic Nymphing.

My quick take is that Mr. Humphrey really provides a solid discussion and presentation of mandatory fundamentals. His focus on accurate presentation and insuring placement of the imitation into the feeding zone is essential. I particularly like his strategy of not using an indicator but really focusing on watching the drift, trout and leader to be especially familiar with my particular background. I never use an indicator when nymphing, unless when fishing large fisheries or heavily pressured fisheries (dry flydropper and emerger/nymph trailer).

George extends these fundamentals with additional layering of extended techniques and strategies that incorporate exposure to international fisheries and fly fisherman. George's focus on incorporation of hot spot imitation design, incorporation of weight into nymphs, necessity of flexible leader designs and an array of imitations based upon weighing is ingenious insight and revelation for an old school nymph fisherman like myself.

I find that my follow-up discussions with George really gives me more confidence on how to approach large fisheries like The Delaware, Rio Grande, Pine Creek, etc.

 

[flyI4]

The leader design has been something I'm big on when I do nymph fish. Having it tapered right so that you have thin diameter line (3x and lighter) beneath the surface and a short heavy section for your indy has been pretty successful for me as far as indy nymphing goes, and allows the flies to get down quickly. I imagine the same holds true for fishing without an indy. For some hatches I will fish without an indy, for instance fishing large wets/ nymphs during the march brown and Iso hatches seems to be effective, especially on the quarter downstream swing because those nymphs are active nymphs that trigger strikes on the "emergence" type presentation. Caddis pupa in early may when the fish are gorging on apple caddis has also been decent, but sometimes I am convinced there is just so much food there that nymphing is low percentage with all the pupa out there. During these situations, weight doesn't seem to be as important because the fish are willing to change feeding lanes to take the fly though so a little different than your typical, fish not looking up and hanging on the bottom nymphing scenario.

 

[thrashers.wheat]

I use brass beads on all of the nymphs I tie. I also wrap a lead substitute around just behind the bead. I fish with non-lead split shot just above my tippet knot. When I need to get down further, I'll put on some lead.

Aside from the bead and wrapping the body, I've found that the material used is also very important. I tie a pseudo PT with red & olive wire to mimic the variation of pheasant tail fibers for the body. You could also use quick-descent dubbing, of which I don't particularly care for. I could also say that line management is a huge factor in sinking flies.

 

[Trout Guy]

I'm a big fan of using weighted flies instead of using unweighted flies with split shot. Mostly because I hate when split shot slides down the tippet and because I feel that I get more breakoffs where the shot is crimped.

I'll tie most of my nymphs in different weights with either tungsten beads, brass beads and with no beads. Depending on the stream I'll select each of my flies with direct correlation to what water I'm fishing. I primarily like fishing with only weighted flies in small infertile streams, where your really only fishing short drifts and pocket water.

However, I still use split shot in some instances, mostly when I need to drag down a deep pool/run or if I'm usuing really small flies infront of picky fish.

 

[lightenup]

I use just shot and some bead heads.....I try not to overcomplicate things as much as possible...get the fly in front of the fishes nose, as naturally as possible...the way I see it the less things to manipulate the better........I carry four different sized shot, and use them according to the situation presented, I don't always figure it out, but if I do sometimes, that's enough.....

 

[JeffK]

I go both ways, but generally go with weighted nymphs. However, sometimes in slower water a weighted nymph just doesn't float right. A rough rule for weight is get to the zone in 3 seconds. For real depth bombs a tungsten hump or double tungsten beads can really get down quickly. The nymph should also be tied thin and streamlined.

That said, nymph fishing can be engaging if you fish to targets you imagine. Just covering water is boring, but guessing where the fish should be lying and coming up with a plan to present a fly to those spots keeps me going. It takes concentration and I can easily lose it if I am not catching fish. When I am in "the zone" the fishing is interesting and productive. When I just chuck and chance it my enjoyment and success both go down the drain.

I also agree with Brian. Use as light a leader as possible to at least the depth of water. The smaller diameter tippet offers less resistance to the nymph sinking.

I find I can enjoy nymphing when I fish to lies and don't just cover water. However, it is harder to keep focused than in dry fly fishing where a rising fish can always keep you interested.