Casting Spilt shots

[bowhunter1st]

I know many of you on here don't even like fishing shots, but here in PA it's the only way to get the fly down in the watercolumn this time of year. I realize that a standard fly cast doesn't work, so what technique do you all use to get them out there. I currently use a flip style cast, but that usually doesn't get it out as far as I like and is inaccurate. BTW, I use a 8.5 ft 5 wt.

Out west in NM we often fish with shot and or wire nymphs/weighted nymphs etc. Just open up your casting loop a little...don't cast a tight dry fly loop. Or you could use a belgian style cast. ~RobJ

------------------

"The years of searching in the dark for the truth that one feels but cannot express, the intense desire and the alternations of confidence and misgivings until one breaks through the clarity and understanding are known only to him who has himself experienced them" - Albert Einstein

[djo]

The usual response is to open your loop and go to a heavier rod. I would do easier with a 6 or even an 8 with a couple or three split shots. You will usually get neither the distance or accuracy you expect from a lightly weighted rig.

I fished for years with a friend that would laugh at my "duck and chuck" methods of pitching weighted flies with split shot and tell me that there was a fishing rig that was ideally suited for that type of fishing. Its called a spinning rod and reel. He never won me over, but I would not like to have to defend my position as being completely rational.

David