Interesting Split Shot Thought??

[ifsteve]

Was fishing with a buddy the other day on a well known western lake. We were using identical setups. Two flies under and indicator. And the flies were identical since they were all ones he tied. The day started slow but picking up the occasional fish. Well at least he was. At one point he had landed 5 and missed a couple of others and I had one dip that failed to result in a hook up.

So I tried to figure out what was different, if anything. Well turns out I was using a split shot about 3 ft above my top fly and he wasn't. So I took the split shot off. Wasn't really needed anyway since there was no wind and we were using 4X so the flies were sinking just fine. The rest of the day I matched him fish for fish. Perhaps it was just one of those things but sure seemed like the fish were shying away from the split shot. The water was quite clear and of course under an indicator they had as long as they wanted to inspect the offerings.

Bottom line is that I am not going to use a split shot any more unless its needed to get the flies down or the water is a bit off color. Anybody else had an experience like this?

 

[Matt B]

I think split shot can be useful in rivers at times, sometimes even necessary to catch fish. They can also mess everything up. I don't like split shot in lakes.
I like your observation, though. Good job adapting.
There's 9 pages of discussion of putting other stuff on your line under an indicator other than flies (e.g. swivels and split shot) here: https://pnwflyfishing.com/forum/ind...r-indicator-watchers-whats-your-approach.471/

 

[Brian Miller]

What an incredible opportunity for testing methods; 2 anglers on the same lake with the same flies.

Were you in close proximity to each other? (i.e. one boat???)
Were you both anchored or drifting at the same rate?
Were you using the same indicators?
Were you fishing at the same depth?
Were you both just allowing the flies to suspend or using same retrieve & rate?
Were either of you imparting any other movement to the fly?

 

[Irafly]

What an incredible opportunity for testing methods; 2 anglers on the same lake with the same flies.

Were you in close proximity to each other? (i.e. one boat???)
Were you both anchored or drifting at the same rate?
Were you using the same indicators?
Were you fishing at the same depth?
Were you both just allowing the flies to suspend or using same retrieve & rate?
Were either of you imparting any other movement to the fly?

Good questions, but it seems the one glaring variable was enough to change the results.

I like over thinking these things though and to me it literally is part of the fun.

 

[ifsteve]

What an incredible opportunity for testing methods; 2 anglers on the same lake with the same flies.

Were you in close proximity to each other? (i.e. one boat???)
Were you both anchored or drifting at the same rate?
Were you using the same indicators?
Were you fishing at the same depth?
Were you both just allowing the flies to suspend or using same retrieve & rate?
Were either of you imparting any other movement to the fly?

Yes same boat. Anchored at both ends.
No different indicators. But I have a hard time thinking that could have an impact. Both were about same size.
Yes exact same depth.
Same type of twitching retrieve. Callibaetis were coming off and the fish wanted the fly moved.

 

[Tom Butler]

I'm going on 50 years now of NOT being a fan of split shot. Learned as a kid in the creek fish will take a split shot, or as you noted ignore the offering. I've tried it off and on, always with the same results. I'll take a weighted fly before shot. Shot or swivel in stillwater is a no go for me. If I need weight I'll weight the fly, and add materials that move well to offset the deadening effect.

 

[troutpocket]

I would chalk it up to “fish aren’t that picky until they are”. Particularly when indicator fishing for trout. You obviously have confidence in using split shot and I would put 50/50 odds that if you went back the next week, you could use the shot and not find any difference.

 

[hiddentalus]

On lakes indicator fishing my guess is split shot will slow down motion on the fly (in addition to keeping the fly at dept) which sometimes is a good thing and sometimes not. I will consider using a spilt shot under an indicator when it is windy and I want to fish relatively deep or when the fish don't want much movement to the fly.

 

[hiddentalus]

Reminds me of when we used to trap prawns near Victoria. You were allowed two prawn traps on a line and we used to fish two lines/4 traps. The trap furthest from the float on a line with the smallest float caught the most prawns by far consistently over many weeks of fishing. We ended up weighting the trap closet to the float and using the smallest float possible and the catch rate increased on the trap closet to the float as well.

 

[Bambooflyguy]

You missed your buddy secretly dipping his chironomids in smelly jelly!

 

[tkww]

On lakes indicator fishing my guess is split shot will slow down motion on the fly (in addition to keeping the fly at dept) which sometimes is a good thing and sometimes not.

I think this is it. You were both imparting movement, but having splitshot on your tippet led to your flies' movements being different. Split can act as a sort of anchor / hinge point and lessen the movement that actually reaches the fly. I don't think it was the presence of it that turned the fish off.

 

[Flybox1]

^^^ this.
the shot let your pair drift and sink differently, and the fish didnt like it.
Its also possible your shot got the flies through and down past 'the zone' to quickly.