Fishing Tackle - Split Shot

Actually Catching Something.
Advice for Parents of Young Anglers

Fish Suppers for Sailors
A guide to fishing for yachtsmen.

Preferred split shot sizes

The only shot you need are SSG, AAA, BB, #3, #6 and maybe some dust.

It is not obvious from the list above but -

1 SSG = 2xAAA = 4xBB = 8x#3 = 16x#6

'Dust' is #8 or smaller. You will probably never need it. It is rare I need anything smaller than #3 on a river unless using a fixed spool reel when #6 can help a little.

The point is that with combinations of just 5 different sizes you can make up any weight to within a sixteenth of an SSG (about a gram.)

Beware: some tackle dealers will insist that #4 is half a BB, they are wrong, it is too light.

Never believe the figure printed on the side of a commercial float, it is rarely within 20% of the correct figure. Get a tall bottle or use a waterbut or similar and test shot your floats at home then paint the true value on the side - It's not worth going finer than #3 in this process as you will always have to adjust for the weight of the bait and weather conditions at the waterside so ultra-precise measures will be wasted.