Nymphing help!!!

PhlyPhishMan

PhlyPhishMan

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Feb 18, 2013
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I apparently recently got lucky catching a fish while nymphing. A friend said that I have a bad drift
and after the past two days fishing a good stream, Im starting to think I really suck at nymphing. Please someone give me some good techniques for nymphing. Im heading out after work today and could really use any information you have on the subject! I do not want to use an indicator so if you could please keep that out of the instructions.

thanks in advance!
 
Phly,

I would suggest that you purchase the book, Dynamic Nymphing by George Daniel. From a personal standpoint, the techiques described in George's book have helped me a lot.
 
Make sure your line doesn't get bunched up, indicator or no indicator, if you have to much line out, you won't be able to set the hook. Also mend the line so your fly doesn't get pulled in an awkward way.
 
Why no indicator? Sounds like an indicator is exactly what you need. I am not even talking about detecting strikes, but it sounds like you could benefit from constant visual feedback on your drift/drag. An indicator is a great tool for teaching proper drifts I think. If you are new to the game, I urge you not to be so close-minded.
 
Stick to your guns. Keep the line tight, but not too tight. Watch the line-leader junction, it's a good indicator, but not a bobber. Try to envision what the nymph is doing under water so you can learn as you do. Sometimes, you just have to nymph. I know it is sad when that's the situation, but you can learn to deal with it.
 
I agree with pwk. There are times when fishing with an indicator fishing will out perform high stick or other forms of nymphing. Personally, I fish with and without and indicator depending upon how close I fish, wind conditions, depth of water, stuff on the bottom such as algae or didymo, swinging soft hackles and so on.
 
Nothing wrong with using an indicator. I've seen some pretty light takes that there's no way I would have detected long line nymphing. When I'm close enough to high stick or swinging a wet I don't use one.
 
If you insist on no indicator you could do a lot worse than approaching it like this:

McPhail Nymphing River Ayr

He isn't even using shot on the leader anywhere because he has a couple of tung beadheads on.
 
I agree with Jack, the leader-fly line junction is a great place to focus on when nymphing if not using an indicator. Make sure your nymph is occasionally touching the bottom. You should be able to feel it tick bottom every now and then. Don't expect to feel or even see every take, sometimes you will just sense the take. Never hesitate to raise the rod tip in response to a possible take. You will be surprised how many of them result in a hook up. As you start to hook fish on the subtle takes your confidence level will soar and you will be well on your way. You still will miss a bunch of takes but you will catch a lot of fish as you develop your confidence in nymphing. Good luck!
 
thanks a bunch guys... this is great stuff. i am really gonna sound like a rook right now but
iut of shear desire to land fish im gonna ask. when you lift the line to set the hook, is it a fast n long lift or soft n gentle? is there any special way to do this? also, can someone please describe mending to me? and one last question is it ok to nyphm in a longer fashion to reach harder water? if so what distance is ok? how do you manave your line ect. ect.???
 
maneuver... jeesh this phone sucks
 
Generally what I was told is that it is a side ways swip down stream. The idea is it places the hook in the side if the fishes mouth. That being said I find it really hard to do this when I get a hit. Prrsonally I just lift and drive the hook home. Depending on what strength leader you have and how soft your rod tip is. I'm not bailing fish like the pro bass just a nice strong hook set.

It's not really something that you can focus on. not in my case at least. Just set the hook. You miss some and get most of them.

Marc
 
You don't need to get crazy setting the hook. If your nymphing on a short line and do this you will probably spend more time digging your nymph out of the trees than fishing.
Mending is physically lifting and moving your fly line up or downstream to minimize the drag of the currents on the fly line which effects the natural drift of the fly. If you have no fly line on the surface of the water there is no need to mend your line. Nymphing on a long line is much more challenging in that you need to remove all of the slack line between your rod tip and the fly before the fish rejects the fly on the take and mending your line is much more important. In your above post #10 you could have used the word "mend" in place of the word "maneuver" and it would have made perfect sense and is a lot easier to spell. :) Keep at it, you'll get it!
 
PhlyPhishMan wrote:
thanks a bunch guys... this is great stuff. i am really gonna sound like a rook right now but
iut of shear desire to land fish im gonna ask. when you lift the line to set the hook, is it a fast n long lift or soft n gentle? is there any special way to do this? also, can someone please describe mending to me? and one last question is it ok to nyphm in a longer fashion to reach harder water? if so what distance is ok? how do you manave your line ect. ect.???

If you're nymphing at long distances (say, more than 30 feet), you're probably going to have to use an indicator. There's just no way you'll be able to get a good drift, mend line, and detect strikes from that distance. The one exception could be if you're standing directly downstream of the fish and are in the same current lane so that there's no need to mend. Or also if you're some kind of superhuman nymphing ninja!

I'm still a bit of a nymphing newbie, but I've been reading Dynamic Nymphing, and it really is helpful. It's nice to have a book with a bunch of different styles, tactics, and leader formulations all in one place that I can refer to.

I've been working on my hook sets as well. I find I generally pull too hard - it really can be pretty gentle. Sometimes I basically just give a little tug to see if there's anything at the end of my line, and that seems to be enough.

The one thing I really had trouble with though is that when you're fishing downstream of you, you have to really try to set the hook to the side. If you pull it straight upstream, you'll end up pulling the fly out of the fish's mouth.
 
Am I to understand that you were catching fish with the technique your buddy told you was bad? Then you did what he said to do? The key to nymphing is you want the fly hitting the bottom, if you have that and get hung up once in a while you're doing it right. Make sure it makes a complete swing at the end of the drift, and let it hang there for a few seconds so that the fly rises in the water column.
 
Thanks a bunch guys... This has been very helpful and amusing. I enjoy the humor! This fly fishing thing has really taken over lately and Im truly thankful for the opportunity to learn from a big group of people. I went out after work to a nice stream today, it was blown out. San juan worm got stuck and lost and it was extremely windy. I used some of the earlier advice though and thought that it seemed a little better. I will definitely try all the others advice as well. Hopefully I will get to the point of landing a lot more fish. Am I fishing them or are they fishing me???
 
If I could sum up nymph fishing in one sentence it would be:

Keep as little line as possible between your rod and your fly without impeding the drift (no drag).

However, if you are fishing a nymph at a distance of i.e. 20 feet, you may want to have some slack line to compensate for currents. You have to learn to mend the line with more line on the water. And if you cast upstream, follow the line with the rod tip, retrieving line as it drifts downstream.

Start short and extend your casts further as you learn.
 
outsider wrote:
And if you cast upstream, follow the line with the rod tip, retrieving line as it drifts downstream.

An edit to my last post: When I say retrieve the line, I specifically meant strip the line in with your hand, not reeling in the line.
 
check this out. Great stuff in here. Should be able to answer most of your questions.

http://howtoflyfish.orvis.com/video-lessons

 
If you keep your line taught enough and tip high enough you should have no trouble with hooking them.

As stated before if you are not getting hung up your not fishing deep enough. I am going to get ahook file soon to keep my hooks sharp while they take their beating.

I enjoyed Aaron Jaspers DVD's he makes things easy to follow and even shows you how to tie patterns and leaders. A great teacher.
 
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