fly tying lead wire
Weighted nymphs without oversized heads
Lead wire is one of the easiest and most effective ways to add weight to your nymphs. The additional weight helps your artificial flies sink faster and keeps them in the desired fishing depth for longer. Flexible and comparatively soft, lead wire is easy to work with and adapts perfectly to different fly shapes. This allows you to create realistic underbodies and natural nymph silhouettes directly during the tying process. In this way, you can tie highly realistic imitations of insect larvae that sink efficiently even without oversized tungsten beads. Lead wire also allows you to distribute the weight evenly along the hook shank and precisely balance your nymphs by positioning the wire wraps strategically. As a result, your flies not only look more lifelike but also drift far more naturally in the current. This enables you to tie more effective nymph patterns and fish them much more successfully.
Lead wire is used to weigh down nymphs and wets nymphs. It is tie on the hook by winding, forming a sub-body that will then be covered by the fly tying material. Often used in combination with tungsten beads, this allows you to get a very heavy nymph without having to oversize the beads, with the risk of making the silhouette of your dressing out of proportion. Flat lead wire is often used to weigh down small wets nymphs without a tungsten beads.