I recently was on a business trip when I stop into a Bass Pro Shops to do some shopping. I went into their fly fishing section. I saw a video entitled “Selective Strategies For Trout” being played on one of their televisions to help the sale of the video. First, the video was excellent. The fisherman on the video was using copper sleeves on his leader to weigh nymphs to help them get down faster to the bottom. Where can one find copper sleeves to place on their leader? I am fairly new to fly fishing and I have not found anything like copper sleeves being sold by any fly fishing supplier. Could anyone help me find where these copper sleeves could be purchased. They seem to be effective and the video stated that they went through the guides of your fly rod very easy. Has anyone on the bulletin board used copper sleeves to weight their nymphs?
You can find them here - [url=http://www.dougswisher.com/accessories.htm:1e074]http://www.dougswisher.com/accessories.htm[/url:1e074]
WCU Boy,
I often use lead ‘crimp sleeves’, those little cylinders used for makeing wire leaders, for the same purpose. They come in a variety of sizes.
Should work as well as copper ones, and can be found in most tackle shops…
Good Luck!
Buddy
How do you keep those sleeves from sliding down to the fly?
Oldfrat, put a knot in your leader below the sleeve.
Same as if you are trying to keep a split shot from sliding down on the fly.
Rob
ok maybe it’s just me…But humor me here…Isn’t a knot in your leader an unwanted thing…as it weakens it???..I could be way off base on this…Just some thoughts.
Unless of course you are meaning above the knot used to join your tippet material to the leader…That one seems feasible!
“I’ve often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before” A.K.Best
Everyone wants to excel in this sport but at the same time we let traditionalists place restrictions on our tactics, methods, and ideas. I always assumed that fly fishing was a sport that allowed imagination, creation, adaptation, investigation, dedication, education, revelation? : Fox Statler, On Spinners (Not the dainty Dry Fly kind) “Spinner’d Minner Fly”
“Wish ya great fishing”
Bill
That’s what I was thinking, Bill. If it is done above the leader to tippet knot, though, the idea of being able to change it easilty would be gone.
Yes if you tie an overhand knot, it will weaken the leader.
Use a blood knot or surgeons and you will have no problems.
Rob
Yeah…I was thinking especially were it a lead tube, kinking the tube gently till it held on the leader. If done gently you could still slide it where you wanted to and not screw up the leader to awfully bad…but the tube would not be reusable after that leader section was done in…as you’d not be able to rethread it on leader of like or greater dia…But depending on price…that may not be much of an issue to those who fish nymph’s a lot!
I really do not have any idea what these sleeves are but they sound a lot like split shot.
Born to fish forced to work.
Alan
There are a couple of ways to use thse things.
Slide it onto the tippet and ‘crimp’ it in place. Not reusable, but they are cheap. Crimped lightly, you can slide them about as you wish.
Slide it onto the leader above the tippet knot and let it slide at will. It will usually stay right at the tippet knot. won’t hurt anything if it moves up.
Or, you can slip on the correct ‘size’ and slide it up your tapered leader until it wedges tight. This gives you some extra weight on the leader, well above the fly, that helps get down without adversely effecting either the cast or the drift. If, by some chance it slips, the tippet knot stops it from sliding down to the fly.
At least that’s how I’ve always used them.
The ‘appeal’ of these in place of split shot is their shape. Being narrow tubes rather than little round balls/ovals, they slip through vegetation and rocks easier, and pick up less moss/algae/junk from the water.
They will also slip through rod guides easily, which can be a plus if you are using them wedged on the leader with a long tippet below them.
No reason they should ‘replace’ split shot, but they can have some uses if you want to find them.
Good Luck!
Buddy
You can also use a piece of toothpick to wedge it in place. Just thread the sleeve on the leader and hold it where you want it, jam in the toothpick, and break off the excess.