PODCAST: Critical Nymphing Concepts #5 — Weight: The Fundamental Factor — S10, Ep5

by | Feb 11, 2024 | 8 comments

 The Troutbitten Podcast is available everywhere that you listen to your podcasts.

** Note **  The Podcast Player, along with links to your favorite players is below.

This discussion is all about weight. It’s the fundamental factor in nymphing. Because as soon as you choose to leave the surface, once you clip off the dry fly and fish anything else . . . weight is necessary.

Even wet flies have some weight. They’re designed not to float but to break the surface with at least the weight of the hook. With streamers, of course, weight is required to get the flies to whatever depth is necessary — and we do that with all types of weight, whether that’s a sinking line, split shot or weight built into the fly.

Then of course, with nymphs, we need weight, just like streamers, to get the flies to some kind of depth and actually fish them.

You can’t avoid it. Weight is the fundamental factor. Meaning, it’s probably more important than the fly itself. More weight or less is more consequential than what dubbing, feather or ribbing is wound around the hook shank.

We use all types of weight, and there are good reasons for all of these: tungsten beads, split shot and drop shot. Our topic is how each of these weight choices, along with the decision for more or less weight, helps us match river situations and meet the trout with a presentation they’re looking for.

This is a technical topic that is built on many Troutbitten resources that have come before it . . .

Resources

READ: Troutbitten | No Limits — Use Every Type of Weight Available
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Weight In Fly Fishing: Beads, Shot, Sinking Lines and More
READ: Troutbitten | Series | Drop Shot Nymphing on a Tight Line Rig
VIDEO: Troutbitten | Don’t Hate the Split Shot – Have a System
READ: Troutbitten | Pattern vs Presentation
READ: Troutbitten | Split Shot vs Weighted Flies

Here’s the podcast . . .

Listen with the player above, or . . .

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Season Ten of the Troutbitten Podcast continues next week with episode six. So look for that in your Troutbitten podcast feed.

Fish hard, friends.

 

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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com

 

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Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

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8 Comments

  1. Great cast. After reading know your weight and measures I started weighing all of my flies. It was a huge help. Like you said people’s opinions of weight are relative. I asked a buddy how heavy he was fishing and he said real heavy. I asked him the bead size and he was around 20 centigrams. Thats is light to me.

    I hate Myles Garrett.

    Reply
  2. This podcast led me back to your series on the drop shot rig. It is detailed and very informative. Thanks. I had no idea you bottom bounced so often. So the next time someone gives me the hairy eyeball because I told them I was bottom bouncing, I can tell them, “well Domenick Swentosky does it.”

    Reply
  3. In my personal opinion drop shotting is the best way to fish two flies in most waters, especially tailwaters. It is a deadly system used by saltwater and freshwater anglers. Fishing with weight off the bottom is probably one of the oldest methods of fishing. You can’t beat it 90 percent of the time. Enjoyed your podcast.

    Reply
  4. I loved Austin teasing you about having a conversion chart in your vest pocket — I could use one after this podcast! I’m not a gram scale nerd, like some :), but if I wished to substitute split shot for an anchor fly, what weight/size split shot is the equivalent to 2.8, 3.8, or 4.6 tungsten bead fly?

    Thanks!

    Reply

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Domenick Swentosky

Central Pennsylvania

Hi. I’m a father of two young boys, a husband, author, fly fishing guide and a musician. I fish for wild brown trout in the cool limestone waters of Central Pennsylvania year round. This is my home, and I love it. Friends. Family. And the river.

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