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[John Revolver]

What is your preference for weight and why?

Split shot?

Inline hollow core?

Pencil lead with tubing?


Dose the particular type of weight you use make THAT much of a difference?

[Fish Assassin]

Depends on the type of lure you're using.

[John Revolver]

Depends on the type of lure you're using.

care to elaborate?

[243Pete]

I use split primarily in very slow moving water like in deep pools on the Cap.
On the Vedder and most other rivers I use a torpedo/ bullet shaped weight 70% of the time and sometimes switch it to hollow pencil lead.

[armytruck]

I like using the hollow pencil lead running on my main line between the float and swivel . It gives me "I beleive" a little less resistance when fighting a fish as apossed to a fixed weight .When the fish is going hard at head shakes , my weight slides up the mainline so there is no "I beleive "sudden jolt to the fish and the hook poping . Just need to make sure to set the hook good . But then, having a fixed weight "may" help to keep the hook stuck in . But , that's how I set it .
Me thinks 

[Nicolas The Fisherman]

99% of the time I use egg/bullet style sinkers when float fishing rivers like the Vedder etc. I run four 1/8 oz bullet egg sinkers when using a 20 gram Drennan which is what I nearly always use. Never been a fan of pinching split shot on the line as I feel it does wear the line out too much. Hollow pencil lead works too. The other 1% of the time i will run a slinky weight. At the end of the day, it's all personal preference. Use what you're confident in as we all know confidence in what you're using is very important.

[typhoon]

99% of the time I use egg/bullet style sinkers when float fishing rivers like the Vedder etc. I run four 1/8 oz bullet egg sinkers when using a 20 gram Drennan which is what I nearly always use. Never been a fan of pinching split shot on the line as I feel it does wear the line out too much. Hollow pencil lead works too. The other 1% of the time i will run a slinky weight. At the end of the day, it's all personal preference. Use what you're confident in as we all know confidence in what you're using is very important.

x2 for egg weights. I use heavier ones (1/4oz maybe) and rarely go under 25g total weight.

[BCfisherman97]

Split shot, especially in low water conditions and smaller gear. For chum and stuff and fishing some heavy water for chinooks in the summer I'll do pencil lead.

[Tylsie]

It depends on the bottom, but I like slinky weights. They can get hung up in heavy debris areas, but in others they shine. Plus, I guess I just prefer to minimize the lead I use. I can make my own in various weights, colours, etc.

[fishmonk]

25 gram oval egg weights for me...

[Spawn Sack]

I've tried them all. Generally I just have hollow core pencil lead pre-cut and I keep them in an old prescription bottle. I generally fish 2.5 inch chunks but keep some 3inch chunks and some 2 inchers. I put a buzz-bomb bumper between the lead and my knot. I like them better than a bead as occasionally the bead cracks and falls off.

I keep a few L, M and S split shot on me too just in case I feed the need to break them out but I haven't in a couple years. IMO with split shot there is too much time spend pinching them on just right, and sometimes they start to ride up/down. However I do like the look of them better on my line, I just can't be bothered and have not noticed I catch any more fish.

I experimented with that fatter pencil lead and used shorter chunks. I just didn't like the look of it and it seemed like it got snagged up more when I was trying to dial in my float depth. Went back to the regular 1/4 inch or whatever it is.

By far the best river fisherman I know, almost never out fish the guy although it happens on occasion and it drives him nuts, uses this god awful 3-way swivel set up where his lead is crimped to a piece of mono coming off the 90 degree part of the 3-way, has never fished flouro leaders, and only uses the cheapest dink floats. I use more expensive floats etc because I like them and they give me confidence but in the end it really comes down to proper offering (size, color, etc), depth and presentation.

[ShaunO]

I prefer old school split shot myself.  Old school in that it does not have the ears to make them removable.  I have various sizes of split shot and what I haven't seen a lot of people comment on is actually knowing how much weight they have.  River speed, depth and lure/bait are going to dictate how much weight you require.  How much weight you require also dictates what size of float you need.  I've weighed my split shot and know that each of the large ones are just shy of 7 grams (about a quarter ounce).  When I use a 25 gram float I will use 3 large or 4 medium split shots to get the float sitting just right in the water.  It doesn't matter which float you use, just so long as you can see the bites and its sized for the weight. 

[Knnn]

Pencil lead and tubing.  Looks ghetto, cheap and nasty and while it may look awful, it works fine.   

[zap brannigan]

split shot all the way.

[John Revolver]

I had a great conversation the other day on the lower Vedder with a really cool old-timer local. This guy knew his stuff.  I was using pencil lead clipped to a snap swivel  for weight and he mentioned his preference for inline hollow core. I had both types with me in my kit so I switched over.

His reasoning was that with pencil lead, you have to pull the weight FIRST and then pull the hook which results in a slightly delayed hook set. With inline hollow core, you are directly connected to your hook/leader at all times with no delay in hook-set. His reasoning made sense to me.  Of course if you have success with pencil lead then if that works for you then that works!

Last steelhead season while on the lower Vedder, I observed an angler pull 2 back to back steelhead out of a run above me. I was amazed so I struck a conversation with him. He REALLY knew his stuff when it came to river hydrology and Steelhead holding patterns. At that time ,I was using split shots with the fins on them. He stated he STRICTLY  uses smooth ball split shots evenly spaced along the line because the "FINS" on the other type of shot would catch the water like a rudder and un-naturally create a flutter effect to his presentation. That also made alot of sense to me.

I think from now on I will switch to using inline hollow core lead exclusively for river drift fishing. When fishing with gear, I need every advantage I can get lol.