Last year I started fishing more nymphs with spit-shot added to my leader. I have trouble casting with the added split-shot but I realized I had to get my nymphs deeper to be more effective.
Just curious how most of you tye your nymphs!
Weighted ,non-weighted, or both and do you fish them differently!
Qg.
i do not tie weighted flies.
i simply slow down the cast when adding weight to the leader
I use tungsten when I need to go deeper. Very effective for the waters I fish.
I also seldomly weight flies. If there is any weight it is usually through a conehead/bead/etc. I feel you have a lot more flexibility with where you want to put your fly in the water column with adjusting the placement of your weight on your tippet/leader.
You can allways through a bead on while Tying the fly. I never use weight a lot but this year I noticed I’m going to use weight on my nymphs. If you don’t want to just use a sink tip or a poly leader.
Nic
I usually tie the nymphs without weight and rely on the split shot to get the flies down, as I usually use two flies. I do add bead heads to many nymphs but I then don?t add any extra weight.
There are exceptions to that rule. For one thing, some waters are restricted to the use of split shot so only the flies can be weighted.
Also, I will add weight to many stonefly nymphs. I usually use a dropper below the stonefly and the dropper has no added weight. The stonefly will travel just above the bottom, if I have my depth right, and the dropper will be ticking along the bottom behind the stone, but light enough to react to the water currents.
Then too there are some rivers that are really deep for fly fishing and I know I will need to get the flies down fast and deep, so those get added weight.
When casting a nymphing rig, slow and wide open casts are really necessary. I usually tell people to cast sloppy with large loops and very little false casting. With all those hinge points in the line you have to go slow and wide open or it really gets messy.
Larry —sagefisher—
Thank you for the replys…
I found two articles here on ‘nymphing’.
Perhaps they may be of interest…
They are under 'Flyfishing Basics/ Flyfishing 101:
1. Nymph fishing
2. Ten Best Nymphs
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I tried to copy/paste them, but it only gave the Main menu… ???
Tight lines.....
I tie them both ways. I usually weight them with beads, cones, lead or bead chain eyes and also lead core. I use shot on the leader as well. Sinking poly, or sink tips also work well (I swing nymphs a lot and the sinking leaders are great for that). The unweighted nymphs I use for fishing at the surface or higher in the water column.
If your having problems casting shot, try shortening the leader and either chuck and duck cast or, as Normand said, slow the casting stroke way down.
I’m a lot like sagefisher. I generally don’t weight my nymphs except for stoneflys for my trips out west. The weight not only gets the fly down but is an easy way to add bulk.
Other than that, I don’t add weight unless a specific pattern calls for a beadhead like a copper john or pink squirrel.
Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t. It depends on where I’m going to use it. It it’s in fast water, yes. In still or sluggish water, probably. In a lake, no.
I am not an expert on nympthing, and I only tie a few different patterns, but I always catch fish with them. Usually fish, especially trout, seem to hit nympths near the bottom, when it is moving up. If in doubt, I’d weight the nympth. I don’t think it will hurt anything.