Flip Pallot

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

SA now sells "Tri-Color"  tippet for that purpose, color change every 10", or something like that. Although I suppose that more people use "Amnesia" spliced into the leader.   I recall as a boy driving fish for the men to "grab" that they all preferred white as a sighter color. 

 

Suit yourself, but colored mono just sinks, and when you're 25'-40' away you can't see it.    

A full ORANGE line doesn't allow me to notice those tiny little twitches, but that little piece of visuality alerts me to every little pause. 

That little section of 8-9wt. floating fly line stays up even in the broken water of a fast riffle.   Doesn't impede the cast at all.  Allows for perfect mends because you can see if your mending is moving more than just the fly line.....which makes it beneficial for fishing dry flys too. 

Works better than anything for me. 👍

[tjm]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

colored mono just sinks, and when you're 25'-40' away you can't see it.    

So it is a suspension device rather than a "sighter". You confused me with "sighter for nymphing". My fault, I guess. 

I'm not a modern nympher, having learned from Sawyer's and Hidy's books, with some influence from articles about Ted Fay and Joe Humphreys' book, in every instance using the line to detect unseen strikes. So may have knowledge gaps, but my online reading indicates that an "indicator" floats and is a suspension device, or bobber while  a "sighter"  is visible above and below water and used in contact nymphing.  Theory being, I think,  that any floating device causes a hinge and  interrupts the constant contact between fly and hand.  I've never really learned the indicator method, tried it many times with never a strike, so far as I know. But then I never caught many fish using a bobber with bait either., I think I'm just not a good spectator and my attention wanders.

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

7 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

Sighter=indicator=bobber

Cool story though!

 

Nothing better than correcting a “fly fisherman” when he says indicator.  You mean a bobber😂

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

Theory being, I think,  that any floating device causes a hinge and  interrupts the constant contact between fly and hand. 

 

Even if the "floating device" is the FLY LINE ?

The little snippet of heavier orange line at the line/leader connection simply keeps the tip of the fly line from riding beneath the surface.  And it gives your eyes something to concentrate on.   There is no hinge.   

[tjm]

 

5 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

 

Even if the "floating device" is the FLY LINE ?

Pretty much. I think that's the reason for the mono rig and "Euro nymphing lines".  Ted Fay used heavily weighted flies that kept his leader-line taut and Humphreys used split shot, but both stood a lot closer to the fish than 40'.  

13 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

The little snippet of heavier orange line at the line/leader connection simply keeps the tip of the fly line from riding beneath the surface.  And it gives your eyes something to concentrate on.   There is no hinge.   

It works for you.   I suppose bend might be more accurate than hinge, unless the nymph is a floater.   

In  my case, I think that trying to "watch the indicator"  distracts me from fishing. It has been a most unsuccessful tactic for me, anyhow. 

So, I know nothing about Pallot, was he a nymph fisherman? 

[fishinwrench]

29 minutes ago, tjm said:

So, I know nothing about Pallot, was he a nymph fisherman? 

 

I'm sure that he was proficient at it, but he was more famous for warm water/saltwater stuff.....Hence his stockpile of old 8-9wt. orange lines. 😊

[fishinwrench]

On 8/30/2025 at 1:22 PM, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Saw another article said it complications during a surgery.  🤷‍♂️

That's the politically correct way to say that Doctors killed him. 😔

[Gavin]

So long Flip. He was a nice man amd he gave me some casting pointers 25 years ago. Hope he saw a tarpon gulp, get tight, and jump a few times before his light switch got… turned off.

[Lloyd]

Sorry to hear this.

One summer day in the late 90s I was chasing stripers with a buddy of mine around Menemsha, a fishing village on the north side of Martha's Vineyard. When we pulled up to the dock who did we see but Flip Pallot. We had watched many episodes of The Walkers Cay Chronicles and I was in equal parts awe and disbelief. But my brazen friend, who at the time was about 15 years old, walked straight up to Flip and asked if he'd like to join us on his 13 foot Boston Whaler. And Flip said sure, why not? He was short on time so we only motored a few hundred feet down the channel before dropping anchor, putting us within casting range of a sandy flat where stripers cruised. It was mid-day and the water was super clear, so I didn't expect to catch anything on artificials. Live mackerel had been the ticket for those conditions. But Flip pulled out a streamer and began working the current seams with his fly rod, and within about 20 minutes he nailed a decent bass. My friend and I were throwing jointed plugs on spinning gear and we couldn't conjure a single hit. The entire time Flip was as friendly as could be, asking us all about our recent adventures and regaling us with a few tales of his own. Soon after that we had to head back to the dock, but the memory was made. Flip Pallot was a great fisherman, and a gentleman.   

[Gavin]

I booked him to speak at Ozark Fly Fishers in St. Louis 20 something years ago. Nice guy,  but his fee was pricey, and it was not a great presentation. He was on my do not book list along with "NO SHOW" Lefty Kreh and every Arkansas trout guide.