Nymphs and Split Shot

[Texastroutfisher]

Hey Everyone,

I have been watching and reading a lot about nymphing. In your opinion, what / where is the best place to put the split shot? In some cases I see it placed above the top fly and in others I see it placed between the top and dropper fly.  Even with tungsten beaded flys do you have a preference? Also, do you think it helps to use the camo shot vs normal shot? Thanks in advance, just trying to get better and be more consistent with my fishing. 

[turfdawg]

Are you talking tight line/Euro or indicator nymphing? For the best strike detection the heaviest weight needs to be on the very end of your line. Anything above that you get a hinge point but if you need everything on/close to bottom that is what you do.

[Texastroutfisher]

Thanks turfdawg. Most of the time I’m indicator nymphing with an airlock indicator.

[turfdawg]

Mar 17, 2019 8:52:57 GMT -6 Texastroutfisher said:

Thanks turfdawg. Most of the time I’m indicator nymphing with an airlock indicator.

Google Kelly Galloups drop shot method

[dainw]

Okay so if I’m suspension nymphing, and I would say this is probably the standard set up most people are using, I’m tying a surgeon’s knot to my leader and connecting 8-10 inches of tippet to my first fly. Ill generally put split shot above that connection point so there’s a stopper and it can’t slide down onto my flies. I think this is the basic indicator nymphing set up. You can customize from there and put split shot between your point and dropper flies too. I don’t think there’s any one right way to rig and probably the best advice is to keep experimenting until you start catching fish. How you rig may change too depending on the water type. You’ll want to use different shot placement in a riffle than you would say a deep run where you want to get deep.

Sidenote, I listened to a podcast recently with George Daniels, and he was basically talking about all the benefits of what is essentially the bounce rig, with the shot at the bottom and the flies tied off of dropper tags. Makes a lot of sense especially when you consider what Bill said above about hinge points.

[glitchmo]

I'm really not a nymphing guy, but I've been playing with the drop shot rigging. I found it easier to cast and less inclined to tangle than other methods I've tried, but I'm far from expert. You can fish it with or without an indicator.

[lipripper1983]

Euro nymphs eliminate the need for split shot by using tungsten beads and lead wire wrapped on the hook shank. If you need more weight, you simply tie on a heavier fly. For indicator nymphing you could try using the drop shot technique. If you don't want to use drop shotting one thing you could do is get some loon knot sense and a small UV light. Put a drop of the knot sense where ever you want your shot and then torch it. You could then put split shot on the leader above and/or below the resin. Or you could use tungsten putty. I like to use UV knot sense and tungsten putty if I'm indicator nymphing.

[turfdawg]

Mar 17, 2019 18:36:10 GMT -6 lipripper1983 said:

Euro nymphs eliminate the need for split shot by using tungsten beads and lead wire wrapped on the hook shank. If you need more weight, you simply tie on a heavier fly. For indicator nymphing you could try using the drop shot technique. If you don't want to use drop shotting one thing you could do is get some loon knot sense and a small UV light. Put a drop of the knot sense where ever you want your shot and then torch it. You could then put split shot on the leader above and/or below the resin. Or you could use tungsten putty. I like to use UV knot sense and tungsten putty if I'm indicator nymphing.

I will agree on this most of the time however I still use split shot if need be depending on situation. Aaron even talked me into getting  larger split shot than I was using.

[FlyAndStream]

There are a lot of different ways to fish and a lot of different scenarios we’re faced with as fly fisherman.

When it comes to euro nymphing, the thing to remember is that we’re not competition anglers – we can use split shot (or suspension devices) when the scenario requires it.

I like a lot of what George Daniels advocates, because he’s mostly a guy reading the water that’s in front of him, willing to try just about anything to catch those fish.

Though, some of these questions can become infinitely regressive – the answer changes if I’m fishing a midge, or a more buoyant egg, is the pool deep, is there enough room to cast upstream in order to get to depth first, where in the water column is the fish feeding, etc.

If your situation requires adding some shot, add it, and if you’re not sure where, experiment with finding the best setup that works for you in any given scenario.