Adding Weight When Nymphing

[Stagger_Lee]

Correct me if I'm wrong but when nymphing for trout, the object is to have your nymph at the bottom of the surface.

They only times I rig up with extra weight is when Im with you guys, just doesn't dawn on me when I'm alone fishing WW.

How does one decide how much weight to use and the right depth to set it at considering different sections have different depths?

 

[streamerguy]

You usually want your nymphs bouncing along the bottom. If your getting snagged up often, you have too much weight. If you're not ticking the bottom once in a while you need to add more weight. When using a bobber(aka strike indicator lol) the general rule is to have it set about 1.5 times the water depth, just experiment when on the water and see what works. I perfer to "tight line" or " high stick" nymph where you aren't using in indy, it's all about feeling your line. I usually have my spit shot about 6in or so above my fly.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

To expand on what streamerguy wrote...

Unless you're fishing a nymph as an emerging bug, you want to get it as close to the bottom as possible (typically).

The lowest portion of a stream is called the "cushion". Due to friction between the moving water and the streambed, this water moves slower than water further up in the water column. Fish use this feature to conserve energy by staying out of the faster flows, and since the naturals are coming from the bottom, this is where your fly should be.

There are exceptions, such as cressbugs and scuds clinging to vegetation, and swimming nymphs migrating to their area of emergence, but getting your nymphs to the bottom is key.

Keep in mind, when you fish with split shot, you're fishing the shot, not the fly. By that, I mean there's likely gonna be slack between your nymph and the split shot. The nymph can be any distance away from the shot that the last bit of tippet between shot and fly allows. Could even be downstream of the shot.

For this reason, you might want to keep the distance between shot and fly fairly short. I often keep this distance from 6-8", and almost never more than 1'.

Think about it. If the fly is drifting downstream of the shot, and a fish takes the nymph, the slack has to be taken up until the shot is affected. Once the shot is affected, you can detect the take (unless you can see the take). This applies to fishing by feel, as well as using some sort of strike indicator.

Fish can spit a fly out really quick, so keeping the distance between shot and fly short gives you a better chance at detecting a strike.

How much weight you add depends on the current speed, depth, and fly design. The shot should tick bottom regularly, and get hung up occasionally too. It's a balancing act - too little weight, and the fly isn't down where it needs to be. Too much weight, and you get hung up every drift. In between lies the answer.

One way to avoid the delay caused by slack between the shot and fly is to use weighted nymphs. While this works well, it can affect the movement of the fly, as compared to the naturals.

Hope I haven't scared you. ;-)

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Paflyfish.com ... better than any FFishing instructional book you purchase. Customized to the topics you want to discuss and answers you want :-D

Thanks Gents

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Stagger, also learn the "Tuck" cast. With this cast you drive the fly into the water first. The fly is the first thing to hit the water. You can even vary the angle that the fly enters the water so you can fish a wider variety of conditions without changing your weight.

 

[dc410]

Get yourself a good assortment of split shot right down to the "wee" little ones. Don't be too lazy to take off a larger shot and add a smaller one. Sometimes those "wee" little ones make the difference between "too much" or "too little" weight. Don't feel bad about taking a little extra time to make adjustments on the stretches of water that just scream "TROUT". Remember, many times when nymphing the devil is in the details. When you start to understand the importance of having your nymph where it needs to be, you will catch a ton more fish. Have fun with it!

 

[afishinado]

As Heritage Ed wrote above, too much weight added to your line hurts strike detection. Try buying or tying some weighted flies. In fast and/or deep water use weighted flies and add just enough weight to get you on the the bottom.

Also you may want to use Tungsten Putty instead of the tiny micro shot, which is a pain to put on and almost impossible to remove. The TP can be used along with the splitshot, it's easy to add or subtract weight with it to balance your rig. When using it, roll in onto your your tippet in a thin line (like spaghetti - not a football).

Work on getting you nymph down near the bottom and focus on getting a drag-free drift through the run.......and they will come.

Good luck.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

More good stuff guys. I am now more convinced part of the reason I was getting all those hits this Sunday is b/ pcray & surveyor made sure I was rigged up correctly.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

My biggest mistake starting out nymphing was placing the weight too far away from the fly. My naive logic was that I wanted it farther from the fly to prevent spooking the trout. So listen closely to HA.
I also learned by trial an error that putty is superior to the microshot like afish wrote. However, as I progressed, I stopped using the microshot or putty (still do rarely) because the amount of weight added by these methods is negligible and the same effect on depth can be achiveved by casting techniques like WTT wrote or incorporating lead substitutes in the fly (bead or wire).

I know I'm not providing new information, but sometimes its good to hear it from two or more people

 

[Foxgap239]

I have always put my split shot at about 14 to 16" away from the fly as taught by my mentor (H-A"s too). That said though, I have found lately that 12" is a very nice and productive distance. So i find myself agreeing with H-A.

See you guys thought I was going to start another controversy with H-A, didn't ya's! :-D

 

[perrycountypappy]

Lee everything these guys told you will help and you will get better at this the more you fish. The more you fish the more you will get a "feeling" for that right amount as it "ticks" along.

 

[Gorosaurus]

I've purchased that tungsten putty, but I had almost given up on it after a year of 'trying.' The only way I could get it to do anything was to apply it to the head of a wooly bugger or other streamer. I have never heard of this 'spaghetti' method and I am very intrigued. Any other pointers?

I've found that football shape also works reasonably well for the floating putty, but there are no instructions with either of these products. Are different shapes preferable to either the floating or sinking putties?

 

[mutzinbaugh]

try draging your nymph rig with the tip of your rod slightly faster or equal to the speed of the water flow. i tried this technique this year and found at the end of the day there were more nymphs in my flybox and not on the bottom of the creek. your rod tip is no higher than your hand holding the rod. it is a tight line method so you do not need a bobber and will probably land more trout

don't get me wrong even with lead weighted flies the dinsies are still on my floro and i still tick the bottom.

 

[Keppenbill]

Pick up a copy of dynamic nymphing. I have had a hard time too bought the book yesterday and read up on high sticking and today it helped alot. like afish said weighted nymphs the split shot kills the detection of a hit.