I've slowly but steadily been cutting down on the amount of lead I use for a long time.
A few months ago asked myself: "what's the problem?" I didn't have an answer.
So I threw it all out. I tossed all of it: a lifetime collection of lead wire, lead split shot and lead barbell eyes.
The transition was easy.
Tying weighted flies without lead isn't a problem. Various beads, cones, nickel barbells
and brass wire can solve or adapt just about any conceivable pattern.
But I often like to fish with a small, unweighted wet fly at the point, with weight added further up
on a long leader. Fishing deep with small flies is something I learned years ago from my buddy
Randy Berry, who guided on Montana's Big Horn for well over a decade.
How do you do that without lead? You can buy tin shot instead. But I hate the stuff.
It's light, so you need a huge shot, and it never pinches on well, so tin split shots
are continually dropping off and getting lost. I've come up with two other techniques
that work better for me (neither of which could be called an invention, because so
many others do the same). But they're still worth mentioning.
especially if knotted about 2/3rds the way down a long leader. Then I attach my point fly. It gets the job done.
More important, the Clinker almost always catches a fish or two. The Clinker never catches the most fish.
But it often catches the biggest fish of the day. That's big medicine in my book.
I see lots of dry fly fishermen using a two fly Hopper-Dropper rig. And occasionally
you'll see someone fishing near the surface with a traditional cast of two or three wet flies
on droppers.
But I see darned few fishermen using a two wet flies Clinker rig, where one of the
two wet flies is extra-heavy, and the other wet fly has no weight at all (or at most
a small lightweight bead). Tying the Clinker like a Crazy Charlie--so the hook rides up--is
important, so you don't continually snag rocks on the stream bottom.
A few months ago asked myself: "what's the problem?" I didn't have an answer.
So I threw it all out. I tossed all of it: a lifetime collection of lead wire, lead split shot and lead barbell eyes.
The transition was easy.
Tying weighted flies without lead isn't a problem. Various beads, cones, nickel barbells
and brass wire can solve or adapt just about any conceivable pattern.
But I often like to fish with a small, unweighted wet fly at the point, with weight added further up
on a long leader. Fishing deep with small flies is something I learned years ago from my buddy
Randy Berry, who guided on Montana's Big Horn for well over a decade.
How do you do that without lead? You can buy tin shot instead. But I hate the stuff.
It's light, so you need a huge shot, and it never pinches on well, so tin split shots
are continually dropping off and getting lost. I've come up with two other techniques
that work better for me (neither of which could be called an invention, because so
many others do the same). But they're still worth mentioning.
- Tungsten beads can be knotted onto the leader. This is a bit of a pain, because you do have to cut the leader, run the tippet through the bead two times and then tie a surgeon's knot. But it works just fine. You can fish with an unweighted point fly, and get it down deep, where you sometimes want it.
- Or you can fish with Clinkers. A Clinker is any fly that is sparsely-tied and heavy. Then you knot some tippet to the bend of the clinker hook, and then attach the smaller, unweighted point fly.
especially if knotted about 2/3rds the way down a long leader. Then I attach my point fly. It gets the job done.
More important, the Clinker almost always catches a fish or two. The Clinker never catches the most fish.
But it often catches the biggest fish of the day. That's big medicine in my book.
I see lots of dry fly fishermen using a two fly Hopper-Dropper rig. And occasionally
you'll see someone fishing near the surface with a traditional cast of two or three wet flies
on droppers.
But I see darned few fishermen using a two wet flies Clinker rig, where one of the
two wet flies is extra-heavy, and the other wet fly has no weight at all (or at most
a small lightweight bead). Tying the Clinker like a Crazy Charlie--so the hook rides up--is
important, so you don't continually snag rocks on the stream bottom.
