To Weight or Not to Weight

[deathb4disco]

Rick,

Good article. What's the heaviest weight you use on a fly?

[Jim Hatch]

Hey Rick,

As in your article this week, I have
been tying more and more unweighted flies.
Some of the patterns originally called for
lead but I'm finding them more productive
without. It's important to mention that I'm
fishing still waters much as you are. Any
flow at all would probably make a big
difference. But in my waters, much as in
yours, that darned fly is going to go to
the bottom where I throw it if I don't do
anything to prevent it. My fish are
showing a definite preference for a slow
sinking fly as opposed to a fast sinker.

I also note that in the Midge, scud and
nymph thread I posted here that there were
several mentions of flies with less than
the prescribed weighting. I think you are
onto something.

As to the size of the flies, I expect a bit
of difference there due to my mild winters
here. I believe my midges, scuds and nymphs
may grow a tad larger than yours. While a
#14 midge, scud, or nymph seems much to
their liking, I have pretty good results up
to a #10, or even a #8 on thread midges. My
best day ever with a flyrod was fishing #8
thread midges in a cypress swamp for red
eared sunfish. I took over 50 in a couple
of hours, the smallest being over a pound.

I much enjoy your weekly articles Rick and
your willingness to share what you learn.
There has been so much less good skinny
published over the years on the warmwater
species as opposed to trout. It's great to
have a good source for info as well as a
site where we can share what we learn. Keep
on keeping on.*G* Warm regards, Jim

[Rick Z]

I use all sizes of beads to weight flies, from the smallest to the largest. I use seed beads also, especially on soft hackles.

I also use a seed bead inside larger beads to fill up the space aroudn the shank.

I have been trying some flies with large bead heads and some foam near the bend to keep the tail up. I have been bouncing them along the bottom. Jury still out on how well they work.

Rick

[dixieangler]

Good Articles, Rick. Thanks.

Jim,

The insect sizes are bigger down here also so I'm mostly using what you are in size 8s, 10s, and rarely 12s. For sure, unweighted or lighter weighted flies with slower sink rates at times work better than the heavier weighted ones.


------------------
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL

"Flip a fly"

[rainbowchaser]

The last ouple of years I've been tying a lot of my nymphs for warwater fishing with the lead substitute wire intended for use where lead is outlawed. At about 60% of the density of lead it allows a slower sink rate but still adds enough weight to break the surface tension of the water.

------------------
all leaders tangle; mine are just better at it than most. Jim

[anglerdave]

Yes Rick good article. When I first started tying, I didn't weight anything. Then I started using lead on my Woolly Buggers. Experimented with lead and brass beads and such. For the most part the only fly I tie now both weighted and unweighted are Woolly Buggers. Or if the pattern calls for it, such as SMP, Clousers and some of Rick's patterns. If not then I have moved away from using weight. When I do tie a fly with lead underneath the body, I then wrap some red thread on the nose so I know, which are weighted and which are not.

[deathb4disco]

Guys,

Anybody using sink tip or full sinking lines?

[drolfson]

I have used sinking poly leaders (got mine from Cabela's) from time to time (okay, I have one 'permanently' on one of my reels) and like the option of having the line take the fly down where I want it.

This year, I have mostly used my 3wt though, so I have not used it a lot.

Don

[anglerdave]

db4d

I started using a sink tip on my 6wt this year, that I bought from Cabelas. Prior to that I was using a Climax #3 poly leader and still do on my 5wt.

I like the sink tip because it sinks a bit faster than the poly. Which has come in handy when needing to get deeper faster. I have used it both in ponds and lakes as well as some of the rivers that I fish.