weighting flies

[Jonn Graham]

Last night I was playing at the vise working in making my own clousers. I do not have any lead eyes and was wondering what I would use to weight the clouser? Then I had an idea. I have quite a few of Storm's lead suspend dots. They are round, sticky lead weights used to go on jerkbaits. They are pliable and I figured I could wrap them on the shank of the hook before tying the fly.

 

Tried them out last night and they did wrap well on the hook shank. Totally hidden after the fly is tied. Anyone else ever try this? Are there any problems.

[Steve S.]

I would imagine they would work well in weighting a fly, just as a non-toxic wire wrap would. One of the benefits of using the barbell eyes and their positioning on the hook, is creating a fly that rides hook up, improving its ability to run snag free. Also, some like the effect of the eyes at the end of the barbells.

[aloomens]

Last night I was playing at the vise working in making my own clousers. I do not have any lead eyes and was wondering what I would use to weight the clouser? Then I had an idea. I have quite a few of Storm's lead suspend dots. They are round, sticky lead weights used to go on jerkbaits. They are pliable and I figured I could wrap them on the shank of the hook before tying the fly.

 

Tried them out last night and they did wrap well on the hook shank. Totally hidden after the fly is tied. Anyone else ever try this? Are there any problems.

 

I've used lead tape. You just peel it off and wrap around the hook. Sounds like what you are describing, just in in tape format. Works pretty much the same as lead wire, but you can layer the tape on one side of the hook if you want (since it's sticky). It works great for things like wooly buggers etc.

 

To me though the clouser is so effective because of the way it moves in the water, because you can get the weight concentrated in just the right spot on the hook shank with lead eyes.

[Norm M]

Lead weight on hook = jig?

 

You toss your weighted hook above the target and let gravity and current bring it to the fish.

 

Kinda like throwing a hair jig , no?

[asherman]

I use lead tape on a few fly patterns that I tie as well using both lead and lead substitute wire. Using the tape or wire you can helps tie a fly that is easier to get a horizontal movement in the the water as opposed to to using lead eyes which end to make a fly behave more like a jig.

[Mark K]

I would imagine they would work well in weighting a fly, just as a non-toxic wire wrap would. One of the benefits of using the barbell eyes and their positioning on the hook, is creating a fly that rides hook up, improving its ability to run snag free. Also, some like the effect of the eyes at the end of the barbells.

 

 

What he said.

You could also just wrap lead wire around the shank. But why? Without the eyes, a clouser is just another fly.