jayL
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 9,947
I did a whole lot of steelheading this year. Way more than I could afford, and I burned all my vacation time for it. The tribs are too far away to do all the time, so I've been returning to my favorite trout streams a bit lately. I've found that I'm way more apt to load the leader and tippet up with lead and shot spreads than I used to be. I'm suspicious that my lessons learned on the tribs have caused me to fall in love with lead.
I don't know if this is because I prefer to fish fast water lately, or if I've really made some sort of fishing style shift (if you will), but it just seems right.
To all of you nymphers out there, how do you spread your shot? If not shot, what do you use for weight? For years, I just used weighted flies and never carried many shot, but now they're the most important thing I carry after flies and tippet.
Lately, I've been using a setup similar to the one sal recently discussed:
00------fly1-----oo------fly2
The big ones are usually something like a B or BB, and the small ones are usually about a size 4 or 6, depending on the water I'm fishing--usually the fastest good holding water that I can find. If I must fish slow water, I'll remove a few of them.
I find myself getting minor snags, foul ups, or chunks of moss about every four casts. I get a snag that requires some effort to get out of about once every 20-25 casts. Too much? Too little? The snags and foul ups have been annoying, but I'm catching more fish than before. I've also found that an indicator helps with dropping depth charges, as I call it, and that the bigger ones are better. Usually something like a thingamabobber or poly indicator.
Thoughts/comments? Anyone agree, or are there a bunch of the shot minimalist types around? Discuss.
I don't know if this is because I prefer to fish fast water lately, or if I've really made some sort of fishing style shift (if you will), but it just seems right.
To all of you nymphers out there, how do you spread your shot? If not shot, what do you use for weight? For years, I just used weighted flies and never carried many shot, but now they're the most important thing I carry after flies and tippet.
Lately, I've been using a setup similar to the one sal recently discussed:
00------fly1-----oo------fly2
The big ones are usually something like a B or BB, and the small ones are usually about a size 4 or 6, depending on the water I'm fishing--usually the fastest good holding water that I can find. If I must fish slow water, I'll remove a few of them.
I find myself getting minor snags, foul ups, or chunks of moss about every four casts. I get a snag that requires some effort to get out of about once every 20-25 casts. Too much? Too little? The snags and foul ups have been annoying, but I'm catching more fish than before. I've also found that an indicator helps with dropping depth charges, as I call it, and that the bigger ones are better. Usually something like a thingamabobber or poly indicator.
Thoughts/comments? Anyone agree, or are there a bunch of the shot minimalist types around? Discuss.