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?
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?