12-04-2012, 08:41 PM
[center]Weight
[left]Once your flies hit the water, they need time to sink to the Depth of the fish. During any given drift, your flies are in the strike zone for only a short period of time. The deeper and faster the water, the shorter the window will be. This is especially true when wading, as you don't have the advantage of drifting along with your flies in a boat. If your rig doesn't have enough weight to sink your flies quickly, much of your drift is wasted while the flies are out of the strike zone, slowly sinking into position.
A properly weighted nymph rig minimizes the time needed to get your flies into the strike zone, increasing the amount of time they are in front of fish on each drift. Common misconception is that bead-head flies are heavy enough on their own to reach bottom quickly, but depending on the depth and speed of the water, they generally are not. Only the largest tungsten-bead nymphs are of sufficient weight to sink a rig in more than two or three feet of water. These patterns usually imitate only large bugs (such as stoneflies) and are usually not found in the bins of your local fly shop. Typically, brass bead heads are hollow, while tungsten beads are usually solid, combining the advantage of more and denser metal.
Many commercially available flies that are weighted are not weighted sufficiently. With this in mind, if you are targeting trout in more than two feet of water (and probably even less), you will need to add additional weight to your leader to be effective. This is especially true if you are relying on a tapered leader for a nymph rig, which will sink much slower because of it's larger diameter monofilament. With added weight needed to get to the bottom, you will probably have to give up the cute little foam indicator and step up to a more serious yarn or balloon style bobber to adequately float the rig.
When it comes to weighting a nymph rig, there are two predominant philosophies. The first philosophy relies on the flies to provide the primary weight. There's an argument to be made that adding split shot to the leader reduces the sensitivity of the presentation, adds a hinge point, and reduces your ability to detect strikes. Using sufficiently heavy flies with no weight on the leader is a more direct connection to the strike indicator, and many anglers believe such a setup leads to more hookups.
If you're a proponent of this first philosophy and you're fishing an in-line multi-fly rig, you'll want the top fly to be the heavy weight. The first fly in the setup is tied directly to tippet and usually features lead wire, tungsten bead, or both to get it and the trailing patterns down in the water column. Heavily weighted attractor patterns are common flies for this sort of rig. The point fly, and the fly at the end of the rig, is something much smaller and lighter, intended to entice fish the refused the heavily weighted flies.
The second philosophy revolves around unweighted flies and using split shot crimped to the leader to provide the weight. The idea is the unweighted flies (with lower density) will drift along more naturally in the current, pivoting off the split shot that keeps them near the bottom. However, the split shot creates a hinge point on the leader that can make detecting strikes more difficult. Whether the advantage of unweighted flies can overcome the hinge point of the split shot remains debatable. Such a rig usually needs at least 16" of tippet between the point fly and the weight to achieve a natural-appearing drift.
Additionally, lighter flies can never be too heavy, giving the angler more flexibility to adjust the weight with various sizes of shot. If you mainly rely on commercially tied flies that aren't tied with tungsten beads, add split shot to the tippet when needed to match conditions.
In either case, a versatile angler should be familiar with both approaches and employ the method that seems to be working, given the conditions to get the flies near the bottom.
[/left][/center]
[signature]
[left]Once your flies hit the water, they need time to sink to the Depth of the fish. During any given drift, your flies are in the strike zone for only a short period of time. The deeper and faster the water, the shorter the window will be. This is especially true when wading, as you don't have the advantage of drifting along with your flies in a boat. If your rig doesn't have enough weight to sink your flies quickly, much of your drift is wasted while the flies are out of the strike zone, slowly sinking into position.
A properly weighted nymph rig minimizes the time needed to get your flies into the strike zone, increasing the amount of time they are in front of fish on each drift. Common misconception is that bead-head flies are heavy enough on their own to reach bottom quickly, but depending on the depth and speed of the water, they generally are not. Only the largest tungsten-bead nymphs are of sufficient weight to sink a rig in more than two or three feet of water. These patterns usually imitate only large bugs (such as stoneflies) and are usually not found in the bins of your local fly shop. Typically, brass bead heads are hollow, while tungsten beads are usually solid, combining the advantage of more and denser metal.
Many commercially available flies that are weighted are not weighted sufficiently. With this in mind, if you are targeting trout in more than two feet of water (and probably even less), you will need to add additional weight to your leader to be effective. This is especially true if you are relying on a tapered leader for a nymph rig, which will sink much slower because of it's larger diameter monofilament. With added weight needed to get to the bottom, you will probably have to give up the cute little foam indicator and step up to a more serious yarn or balloon style bobber to adequately float the rig.
When it comes to weighting a nymph rig, there are two predominant philosophies. The first philosophy relies on the flies to provide the primary weight. There's an argument to be made that adding split shot to the leader reduces the sensitivity of the presentation, adds a hinge point, and reduces your ability to detect strikes. Using sufficiently heavy flies with no weight on the leader is a more direct connection to the strike indicator, and many anglers believe such a setup leads to more hookups.
If you're a proponent of this first philosophy and you're fishing an in-line multi-fly rig, you'll want the top fly to be the heavy weight. The first fly in the setup is tied directly to tippet and usually features lead wire, tungsten bead, or both to get it and the trailing patterns down in the water column. Heavily weighted attractor patterns are common flies for this sort of rig. The point fly, and the fly at the end of the rig, is something much smaller and lighter, intended to entice fish the refused the heavily weighted flies.
The second philosophy revolves around unweighted flies and using split shot crimped to the leader to provide the weight. The idea is the unweighted flies (with lower density) will drift along more naturally in the current, pivoting off the split shot that keeps them near the bottom. However, the split shot creates a hinge point on the leader that can make detecting strikes more difficult. Whether the advantage of unweighted flies can overcome the hinge point of the split shot remains debatable. Such a rig usually needs at least 16" of tippet between the point fly and the weight to achieve a natural-appearing drift.
Additionally, lighter flies can never be too heavy, giving the angler more flexibility to adjust the weight with various sizes of shot. If you mainly rely on commercially tied flies that aren't tied with tungsten beads, add split shot to the tippet when needed to match conditions.
In either case, a versatile angler should be familiar with both approaches and employ the method that seems to be working, given the conditions to get the flies near the bottom.
[/left][/center]
[signature]