weighting anchor flies

**frank789** · 03-23-2010, 08:35 PM

I recently watched a fishing buddy JKillinger catch a good number of stocked trout on a Valdi Worm and this started me thinking of replacing my lead shot with a heavy anchor fly. I recently watched a video of Joe Humphrey talk about weighting flies and he said if flies were weighted half to whole hook shank the flies would ride hook point up, which would be ideal to avoid hang-ups. If you tie flies in the round like caddis your OK, but if you tie stones with wing cases or woven stones your light under body the fly would be riding upside down. How do you weight flies to make them heavy enough as anchors but ride in the correct position
Ps Thanks to Mantis for some help in nymphing technique

**frankm205** · 03-25-2010, 10:22 AM

I don't know if the flies are always drifting right side up in the current anyway, so I 'm not sure it makes a big differecne to the trout?

**pete erickson** · 03-25-2010, 12:01 PM

Frank,

Frank #2 is right imo (two Franks! lol)

The stonefly will indeed ride hook point up with that many wraps of lead, and the top will become the bottom, I actually dont mind that my fly imitates a stonefly that is tumbling and or "rolling" down the bottom of the river...I think sometimes the trout actually see the free tumbling stonefly as more vulnerable if it is upside down drifting down with the current. Plus less hangups on the bottom!

hope that helps

cheers
Pete

Unrelated NOTE(unrelated to the Franks' posts): but of course all of this is just plain ole "High Sticking" I been doin it for 50 years! and my grand pappy's been doin it for 50 years before me!

Question then: Did grand pappy use an 11 ft 4 wt rod? Did grand pappy use heavily weighted jig hooks, Did grand pappy incorporate a colored slinky into his 20 ft leader? .Did grand pappy lead his team of 3 flies slightly faster than the current? Did grand pappy use condom tied worm flies, woven caddis anchors? etc, etc.! Did grand pappy go over to Europe and win a bunch of medals at the World Championships during the 80's like the Poles and the Czechs?

hmmmm, maybe this isnt just "high Sticking" lol

sorry for my rant , but the topic of the hook point riding up reminded me of the use of jig hooks, and how it always cracks me up when some ethnocentric American Anglers say that what the Czechs and the Poles came up with in the 80's is just plain old "high Sticking"

**Mantis** · 03-25-2010, 01:03 PM

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**pete erickson** · 03-25-2010, 02:14 PM

I would totally agree with that Mantis,

I must admit, ten years ago, I was in the camp that what these Euros were doing was just simply "high Sticking" but then I traveled to Europe, got my but kicked by them over and over and over, till I finally started to just watch what they were doing...

simply put: Euro Nymphing is dynamic while high sticking tends to be static( or singular in its approach)

cheers
pete

**Bret Bishop** · 03-25-2010, 11:53 PM

Pete,

Why the rant? Step away from the vice and get some sleep.

The reality is that someone who is a good high stick nympher can assimilate the lessons Euro Nymphing teaches and become dynamic, even deadly, as a nymph fisherman. I look at Norm as an example of this.

Anyway, the next time you hear that Euro nymphing is only high sticking, think of it as a teachable moment.