Tying and fishing nymphs

Thats what I do, and if I want weight I use a bead.

Its 6 one way, and a 1/2 dozen the other.

How many times do you fish a totally weightless nymph? For me, its 5% or less of the time I fish nymphs. Appropriately, 5% or less of my nymphs are tied weightless. I find a weighted nymph much easier to cast and manage than an indicator/shot/nymph rig, so if I can avoid that, I do. Faster water requires adding shot even to a weighted nymph. For an unweighted, it'd be even more.

The soft lead also makes for a better looking body on my nymphs.

YMMV, though, of course.

I don't fish nymphs much (prefer soft hackle flies)
I only weigh down large down and dirty patterns.
The lead creates too much bulk on small bugs.
I do use beadheads.
Another reason I don't use lead wraps is because sometimes you need to fish shallow, like tail out sections and the weight takes it into the stream bed.
If I use a float, I stagger micro shot like the pinners.

Good Question! Most likely anyone who fishes nymphs has their own likes and dislikes. Personally, there is nothing I like better than to fish the riffles and fast water with a nymph. I'd much rather fish there than the pools any day. I tie them mostly unweighted except for the beadheads, but occasionally I will tie them with either a lead wrap or in the case of the Hex nymph and other stoneflies,  I tie the lead in pieces on either side of the hook which gives the body a flat profile from the side. (See the stonefly tutorial) and when I need to get the unweighted nymphs down, I add weight.  As far as weight, I've used split shot, soft twist on lead, and also the lead putty. After trying these - I personally like the micro split shot because I find it easier to adjust but that just me.  I will say that my experience with the putty didn't last long mainly because of the cost. It's nice in that it will come off when you get hung up but for me that's the only good thing about it. When it's below freezing the putty gets real hard to work. About the only time I use an indicator (which really isn't too often) is when fishing for steel because of the soft take. Other times, I use the high stick method, fish a short line and keep the fly line out of the water somewhat. Right where the leader attaches to the fly line - at that point is where I keep it just on top of the water and that is what I watch for the hesitation. Plus, this way I think it's easier to control the "lift" at the end of the drift. For me - quite often this is where the take has been. - just as the nymph is coming up off the bottom.  A longer rod helps with this. Of course if you need to cast out a ways - it may not be possible to keep the fly line out of the water so I kind of make do by still watching the leader/line transition point.

As far as tying -  if you do weight the flies, it may help to tie those in a different color thread. That way you can distinguish the weighted from the others. Believe me that in time they may be hard to tell apart. Sorry for the lengthy answer but personally I like to fish the nymph.

I tie and fish unweighted nymphs more than bead heads on a regular basis with excellent success.

Learning mends and casts that get your fly down faster are critical. 

I rarely weight my nymphs other than using a beadhead. There are a few reasons.

The biggest reason is that you should be changing the amount of weight you're using each time you change spots. No two spots are exactly the same, and you have to adjust the amount of weight accordingly. You can do this by adding or removing shot from your leader, however, you can't adjust the weight on a fly while your fishing.

Another reason I don't use weight is it often makes nymphs too bulky, especially in smaller nymphs like a baetis.

The other reason is I often use nymphs fished in the surface film during a hatch. Trout often key in on the emerging nymphs before the dun starts to crawl out. You can't keep a weighted nymph in the surface film.

Do you think that weighing the shank of a nymph changes the action during a drift, either in favor for, or against enticing more strikes? 

ORIGINAL: tippy-toe

IMO a bead would be enough weight, I think wrapping lead would give a drifting nymph a less natural look....but who knows...

 
Thats what I was thinking, but I was also wondering if the extra weight gets the nymph to the bottom faster and keeps it in the strike zone longer.

on unweighted flys just slide a bead on the tippet before tying on
tungsten bead will drop it deeper and you can remove the bead when you want

yes, that you hit the "nail on the head" with completely correct information.

Excellent post.