Another nymphing question.

[jreichel]

On one of my last outings last fall on Little Sandy Creek I had fished a stretch with a dry fly and caught several fish from 5 to 12 inches. As usual when I got to were I usually finish my evening I switched from a dry to a nymph to fish this little waterfall made by a stream improvement device. I do this every time I fish this spot because there is always a nice rainbow in the turbulent foam of the fall. And this evening was no exception. But that's when things got interesting. The pool just below this spot (that I could fish just by turning around) has an undercut bank with all kinds of tree roots in the water. So I turned around and drifted that nymph through there and caught 2 more fish one was small and from the center of the pool The other was a larger brown about 16 inches and came from under the tree root as it should have. Very classic but still surprised me since I had just fish that pool with a dry and fiddled around there quit a bit wile fishing the fall above it. The water was very low and clear. I figured that brownie would have lock jaw by the time I caught him. Now I'm thinking...... (smoke rolling from ears).... I know another spot similar to this, undercut roots and all that I fished earlier. So I beet feet to it to nymph it before I loose all light and dang if I didn't get rewarded with another nice brownie about he same size. :-D


So my question after that long set up is. Do you think I would have caught those bigger fish if I had nymphed the two spots in the middle of the day or was my success due to the fading light of evening? I forgot to mention I was high sticking very close to the fish with a 7.5 foot rod and the first fish was caught with what I considered a lot of day light but still not mid day.

I have been itching to try this again to see for my self but haven't had an opportunity. I have always tried not to get that close to fish when the water is that clear but now I am rethinking that strategy. Is this one of those epiphany moments or just dumb luck?

Thanks
Jeff

 

[surveyor06]

Hard to say but most insects dislodge themselves in the twilight hours. Thats why its best to nymph at first and last night. This is how insects populate a stream. Trout that position themselves in places like tree roots and undercut are waiting for something to drift by and I find will usually take advantage of that. I will go out on a limb and say you would have caught them during the day. Sounds like they were in a safe, shaded spot. Good call on following your gut and going back to those other locations, those are the moments when everything comes together, pretty cool feeling.

 

[pcray1231]

Tough to say.

It's fairly frequent, especially with browns, that they'll abandon opportunism and focus on something specific, like nymphs only in a specific current lane. Thus the dry could fail to bring em out of there when a nymph woulda done the trick.

It's also fairly frequent, especially with browns, where it doesn't matter much what you do if you're not there at the right time, and dawn and dusk are more often than not the right time.

So I don't think anyone could say either way for sure. What's important is that you abandoned your normal routine by casting a nymph there to begin with, and it worked. Better yet, you recognized that the new tactic worked in that situation, and seeked out a similar situation, where you repeated your success.

 

[jreichel]

It is a great feeling when things come together. I need to do more nymphing tight to cover, The two things that have kept me from it is one I really like fishing dries and two I really don't like getting snagged then having to decide weather to spook any trout that mite be in there wile getting my fly back or break off loosing the fly and spending time re-rigging. :-{

Anyway thanks for the feedback. Always good to get another prospective.

 

[bkasten]

What about hanging a nymph off the back of your dry fly 3 or 4 feet? This way you are covering both bases at once. I almost always start this way unless there are fish rising like crazy or if the water is too high.