For those of you who don't like to use split-shot, remember that both beads & cones are available in tungsten, a type of metal heavier than even lead. In other places, where they either don't allow split shot or just traditionally don't use it, tungsten has become a real staple on fly patterns- New Zealand, England, etc. You can tie up some oversize flies with big tungsten beads, and then tie lead into the body if you really wanna make it heavy. Then pair it up with a smaller, more natural fly- it can also have a tungsten bead in it if you want. In New Zealand, they are big into tungsten beads, and they avoid gold because they feel it spooks trout, instead they rely on black nickel mostly, sometimes copper too. You can even incorporate 2 beads into the thorax on a Stonefly if you want the maximum in weight. The other cool thing about tungsten beads is that you can use a smaller, more natural sized one to accurately imitate the thorax or head region, and still have more weight then you would with a brass bead. Just some food for thought guys.