If you’re fishing streamers with the goal of specifically targeting bigger trout, you know that getting your fly to sink is a really important part of the equation.
Weighted flies, split shot and sinktips are all popular options for getting your fly down, but they’ve each got drawbacks.
- Weighted flies don’t provide options for adjusting weight without changing flies.
- Split shot can be cumbersome to cast and sometimes results in less- than optimal presentation of streamers.
- Sinktips (and sinking lines, for that matter) really limit your ability to control your fly once the line hits the water.
Today, Michael White checks in from Chile West to tell us about another option for getting your streamer to sink – bullethead bass weights.
If you’re reading this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see the video on YouTube.
Also known as ‘worm weights’ these weights are simply lead or tungsten cones with a hole drilled through the middle, that slide freely on your leader. Here’s an example. Yes, that’s a link to Bass Pro Shops and no, this is not traditional fly fishing gear.
Here are some reasons we like fishing bullethead weights with streamers.
- They get down, fast.
- Fished with a floating line, they give you a tremendous ability to steer your fly around structure – much more than with a sinktip or sinking line.
- When stripped they produce a mega-jigging action that can drive fish crazy.
- They’re really simple to rig – just slip ’em on.
Casting these rigs is not easy. It’s really critical that you open up your casting loop to avoid a 1/4 oz chunk of lead impacting and smashing the tip of your rod. To make matters worse, these rigs fish most effectively when used in conjunction with a fairly long leader by streamer standards – 9 or 10 feet. That long leader allows you all sorts of depth control depending on how you work your fly, but yeah…casting these rigs is not easy, or pretty.
If you’ve done some streamer fishing and think you could use a rig that gives both depth and lots of control of your fly throughout your presentation, get dirty and give some bullethead bass weights a try!
This is great way to dredge some big fish, especially salmon(Kings and sockeyes) to grab a bigger fish. On the swing with some jigging action the weight will actually slide up the leader a little and allow the flie to flare, especially a fish taco or an intruder. When you cant get sink tip under bank this perfect. One really big issue, is that you can not let it bang anywhere on your blank, because any of those hits can and will cause an imperfection that breaks the rod under a big fish. I was thinking this might solve the challenge of big chinooks down in Chile that was discussed earlier this year….?
Hush man ! Maybe with faster waters 1/4oz is good or using a heavier rod, but I am often using 1/8 or even a 1/16. I prefer black and still experimenting with red.