#47 Fly Fishing, Nymphing and the Weighting Game, AKA Split Shot

Fly Fishing with Nymphs and the Weighting game, (Not waiting)

As I was learning to fly fish, like most people, I started with the basic  Fly Fishing Nymph rig, which consists of a leader, tippet, strike indicator, weight, and a fly or two,

and split shot, or other types of weight, or just fly fishing with nymphs and split shot.

I had about 50 fly boxes stuffed with about 10,000 flies in them ( most of which I carried on my person 100% of the time). The thing I noticed was that even with all of these great flies that were guaranteed to catch fish, my catch rate was average at best. I had purchased the state of the art gear and rods at the time, but I was still only a marginal fisherman when it came to nymphing.

It was not until several seasons had passed that I learned what I call the “Holy Grail” of nymphing, and that is “weight”.

Weight not Wait

There was a gentleman that I would fish with from time to time, and I noticed one day that both he and I were using the same flies, the same rod, line, reel, but he was always getting more fish in his net than I was. One day over lunch we were chatting about things, and I asked him what gives?

He leaned over to me and said, “what type of weight are you using”? I thought to myself, lead weight of course, is there any other type of weight. He then opened his little plastic box and showed me the “Holy Grail”. His box of split shot had about 6 different sizes in that little box of magic. He had normal size split shot, but then he had shot all the way down to darn tiny.

Assorted split shot

He later went on to explain to me that even though we were fishing the same river, he was using weights, or fractions of weight to adjust his flies to be in just the right strike zone???

Currently, I would just crack open my bag of “Gremlin” split shot and pinch one on and go for it, never thinking if I was using the right amount of weight. After I learned how to adjust my nymph rig with the right amount of lead and get my quote, un-quote magic flies to the correct strike zone, is when things began to change in my favor.

He told me to start adding shot until my flies would get stuck on the bottom of the river. Once I had been hit bottom, he told me to then remove one of my Godzilla size shot and add one of the micro shot that he had is his plastic box. He said, that subtracting and adding the micro shot was the key to getting the fly in the correct level of the water column that you are fishing at that moment.

If you are going to move to a different section of water, you will need to re-adjust your weight all over again to ensure that you are in the correct level of water.

New way to look at a problem:

So now that you have listened to me drone on about what I had learned that day, the next question is how do you, the new angler put this into practice? The first thing I tell you is to go out and purchase a small selection of split shot, (I’m not telling you to go and break the bank), just go and buy a few different sizes of split shot.

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I think you should start with the basics and have a few size options on you while nymphing. The basics would be to carry a size “B” shot which is the smallest, and then oddly enough it goes up to “BB” for the next size up. This would be what I consider the basics, and then if you want to get fancy then you can start to add some of the smaller sizes. The smaller sizes are going to be reading in sizes from #1 down to # 6.

Here is a quick chart to help you with the weights:

Size BB= .40 g

Size B = .35 g

Size 1 = .30 g

Size 3 = .25 g

Size 4 = .20 g

Size 5 = .15 g

Size 6 = .10 g

I think you can get the idea here when it comes to how much does a split shot weigh? As for me, when I nymph I carry the following sizes in my fishing pack: I carry a few size “BB” a few size “B” and a few size #1 and a few size #3. The reason I carry these sizes is because I want to be able to fine tune the depth that you want to fish. I can either add or subtract a few of the smaller ones to make micro adjustments to my rig.

One more thing, there are products on the market that are known as “Mud” or Putty”. What these are is a soft malleable weighted clay like product that you can pinch off a small amount and roll it on to your leader as a way to micro adjust your fly rig. The nice thing about these products is that you can remove and re-use them.

Here is a few things you need to consider before adding weights:

·        Determine where in the water column you want your flies to be.

·        Determine how deep is the water you are fishing.

·        Gauge the speed of the water and decide how much weight you need. ( Remember the water will be slower at the bottom of the water, than it is on the surface.)

·        After you have weighted your rig make a test cast upstream to see if you have it correctly weighted.

·        If your cast did not get the flies down you might have to make an adjustment to weight.

·        Make another cast or two to ensure the flies are at the right depth.

How Fish see it

How do I know if it’s correct?

That is a great question to ask, and yes there is those people who can just look at the water and guess correctly every time, but I’m not one of those people. I need to make several casts to get the weight right. The way I know I’m at the right depth is when I see my indicator making tight “ticks” on the strike indicator, without getting suck on the bottom on every cast.

So, what I do is first to add what I think is the right amount of weight and make a few casts, I will usually start lighter than I think, then if I do not see my indicator “ticking” I will gradually add one of my micro shot to the line. If I still do not see the indicator “ticking” I will add one more micro shot until I see the consistent “ticking” of the indicator.

Things you need to consider:

Big flies are bulkier in the water, therefore will take more effort and weight to reach the bottom. Large diameter tippet will also slow down the rate of sink, and inversely small flies and small tippet has less resistance in the water and will sink faster. What does that mean? It means that if you tie on a size 8 nymph with 3x tippet and plan to fish water that is 4 ft. deep, your fly could travel up to 10+ feet before it ever gets close to the bottom of the river. So, you might have to start by adding 3 size “BB” to start and maybe more depending on the speed of the water.

Casting:

If you talk to 10 people about how much weight you need to use while you are nymphing you will get 10 different answers. The correct answer is to use the amount of weight that gets you bit!!! When it comes to casting a nymph rig with all of this weight on it, you are on your own. What I mean is that casting a large amount of lead on your line is literally a “chuck-and-duck”. With added weight a fly line can be a real pain in the butt, or side of the head if you are not careful. So, be careful when you are chucking lead.

Getting stuck:

The reality is when you are fishing with weight, you are “going to get stuck,” it is a fact, but there are a few things you can do to mitigate your losses. When you inevitably get stuck, and you will get stuck, DO NOT YANK ON IT!!!!, you heard me do not rip it. Instead give it a light tug and see if you comes free, if not try walking upstream a few feet and repeat the light upstream tugs. For  me this will work about 90% of the time, if the gentle tugs fail, then you have my blessing to RIP IT!!. Normally what will happen is the split shot will simply get stuck between a few rocks, so the gentle tug can sometimes just back up the wagon, and then you are free!!

Note to self: if or when you get your rig un-stuck, feel the line to make sure there is no major nicks or abrasions in the line.

Conclusion:

I have shared with you some of the things that I struggled with as I was learning to be a Nymph Master (lol), but hopefully you will be able to read through my ramblings and be able to cut down your learning curve so you will be able to walk up to the water’s edge, tie up your rig, and start to stick fish right off the bat.

Good luck out there and have fun.

Again, if you have any questions or comment feel free to reach out to me

Cheers

Gary