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Use intermediate and sink/tip lines so you can get rid of the split shot and be fly-fishing again. I use them sometime along the way in almost any long day of fishing on rivers or streams. Depending on brand, all sink gradually, some slightly faster than others. One advantage is their versatility when prospecting. They sink slow enough to give a good float with a dry, fast enough to get a nymph, streamer, or wet fly down just a bit. You augment this capability by the position of the cast and the planned drift or swing. With a short leader and a long drift, they take the fly to the depth and place the current wants it to go, which is also the place the fish will be. You can also grease the tip or leader butt to keep a fly up a touch longer. They cast like a sinking line--that is, being slightly thinner in diameter they shoot well--but they can fish like a floating line. Very comfortable to fish in many situations. Absolutely they are harder to mend than a floater, and take a little more effort to pick up for the next cast, although not all the work of a full sinker. They cast so accurrately and help control the fly so well, though, that you'll be catching fish, not just chucking and ducking. When fish are feeding subsurface--from the film to 3 or 4 feet, an intermmediate offers tremendous control of the fly, it's thin diameter being less affected by the surface current, which it gradually cuts through to drift at the current pace (which is slower) of the flow underneath. It swims the fly in a way that is slightly different than a floating or sink tip line would. Sometimes this capability is exactly the difference in catching fish or not--on another day, the same fly in the same place will fish better off a floater or sink tip. I wouldn't go to any river or stream without an intermmediate line for possible use depending on conditions. If you're still not convinced, buy another floater of low-riding type. Northern (Aqua-Nova) makes these in .99 specific gravity, a great all around floating line, whose tip will go to slow-sinking pretty quick if it's not dressed. Same for several other near neutral buoyancy lines, the inexpensive Scientific Angers Air Cel being another. Some of these will do in a pinch what an intermmediate will do slightly better. Or use an old floating line whose first twenty feet are battered and cracked from chunking split shot on sloppy leaders. There is a useless line until you let it go down gradually; through wear and abuse it has become what it could have been to begin with, an intermmediate. Ironically, I've heard people complain that the tip of their floating line sinks slightly whether a new or worn line, but this is often an advantage. You can get good intermmediate lines in WF or DT, the latter offering even better control in casting and presentation, for less than $25--less than round trip gasoline for one fishing trip. Kinnelle budget fly lines on Ebay usually has a good selection. You can dangle a fly off a pole with split shot hung off an intermmediate line also if you still want to fish that way.