Leaders for Nymphing

[Dale49]

Hi All,

Would appreciate your opinions on what type of leader to use while nymphing.

Currently I use a tapered leader. I fish with and without an indicator. When using an indicator with a tapered leader and a long lead, I feel that the heavier length of tapered leader does not allow the nymphs to sink properly and are is affected more by current that does not allow for an effective drift.

Can anyone share your leader techniques when nymphing with an indicator?

Appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

Dale

 

[afishinado]

Dale49 wrote:
Hi All,

Would appreciate your opinions on what type of leader to use while nymphing.

Currently I use a tapered leader. I fish with and without an indicator. When using an indicator with a tapered leader and a long lead, [color=CC0000]I feel that the heavier length of tapered leader does not allow the nymphs to sink properly and are is affected more by current that does not allow for an effective drift.[/color]

Can anyone share your leader techniques when nymphing with an indicator?

Appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

Dale

Dale, truer words have never been spoken.

IMO, the biggest mistake I see most FFers make is to move their indy up on leader and have the heavy diameter line below the indy preventing the flies from sinking and introducing drag. I've seen guys fish rigged like that with a gang of split on to get their 80lb test leader butt to sink, and dragging their fly through the current....if Moby **** hit their fly they probably wouldn't even know it.

There's a lot of ways to rig for nymphing. I've used many different ones over the years: extruded mono tapered leaders (aka "store bought"), knotted mono tapered leaders that I made myself, straight mono, "sighter" with both braided line and amnesia in front of leader and tippet, as well as some other ones I'm sure I've forgotten about.

I've settled on using the furled mono leaders I make for nymphing. They float well, I use paste floatant on them so they do not effect the drift and mend easily. Many of the furled leaders you buy can work well for you too.

I smear some strike putty on them at a few points to use as a sighter or you can incorporate some hi-vis mono into the leader. I tie in and average of 4 - 6' of tippet material to the leader and use the floating leader as my indy. If I use an actual floating indy, I attach it to the long thin diameter tippet and have tippet only between the indy and the flies. That allows my flies to sink quickly (using less weight) and with little or no drag on the flies.

I weight most of my flies and try to use as little split-shot or tungsten putty on my tippet as possible for sensitivity.

HTH.

 

[littlelehigh]

afishinado wrote:

Dale49 wrote:
Hi All,

Would appreciate your opinions on what type of leader to use while nymphing.

Currently I use a tapered leader. I fish with and without an indicator. When using an indicator with a tapered leader and a long lead, [color=CC0000]I feel that the heavier length of tapered leader does not allow the nymphs to sink properly and are is affected more by current that does not allow for an effective drift.[/color]

Can anyone share your leader techniques when nymphing with an indicator?

Appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,

Dale

Dale, truer words have never been spoken.

IMO, the biggest mistake I see most FFers make is to move their indy up on leader and have the heavy diameter line below the indy preventing the flies from sinking and introducing drag. I've seen guys fish rigged like that with a gang of split on to get their 80lb test leader butt to sink, and dragging their fly through the current....if Moby **** hit their fly they probably wouldn't even know it.

There's a lot of ways to rig for nymphing. I've used many different ones over the years: extruded mono tapered leaders (aka "store bought"), knotted mono tapered leaders that I made myself, straight mono, "sighter" with both braided line and amnesia in front of leader and tippet, as well as some other ones I'm sure I've forgotten about.

I've settled on using the furled mono leaders I make for nymphing. They float well, I use paste floatant on them so they do not effect the drift and mend easily. Many of the furled leaders you buy can work well for you too.

I smear some strike putty on them at a few points to use as a sighter or you can incorporate some hi-vis mono into the leader. I tie in and average of 4 - 6' of tippet material to the leader and use the floating leader as my indy. If I use an actual floating indy, I attach it to the long thin diameter tippet and have tippet only between the indy and the flies. That allows my flies to sink quickly (using less weight) and with little or no drag on the flies.

I weight most of my flies and try to use as little split-shot or tungsten putty on my tippet as possible for sensitivity.

HTH.

I think this is great advice afishinado. Personally I have been picking up less fish nymphing than say a few months ago and really didn't know why. Your reply could be my answer. Thank you


This post along with the multiple recommendations from members of the board to fish dry flies downstream could be the 2 most important things I learned on the board this year. FWIW

 

[bam]

Dale, a lot depends on the type of water you're nymphing. If it's shallow water with active fish, no need to switch your rig. I like Afish's recommendation if you want to get your nymphs deep or are fishing long drifts.

Afish, I've never thought of applying flotant to a furled leader. Their tendency to sink and not mend well is the main reason I don't fish them more... might have to give it a shot...

 

[Dale49]

Afish,

Great recommendations

I don't use a furled leader, but I will take you advice using either strike putty or an indicator on thinner tippet and will start to add weight to my nymphs.

Thanks for taking time to reply.

Dale

 

[troutslammer]

an easy nymph rig - cut a 5x or 6x leader about 48 " from the end (butt ) blood knot or triple surgeons on a piece of 3x or 4x about 4-5 ' there u have it , put ur indie on the thin 3x or 4x

 

[pcray1231]

If I know I'm going to be nymphing I just use a flat leader. Say, 7 feet of 2x or 3x, and then a foot or two of 4x or 5x at the business end. It also helps if I use two nymphs with a dropper, as you have the thicker tippet handy and can just leave an extended tag end. It works well to get deep.

Of course, if I expect to be switching back and forth to dries it forces you to change leaders, which is a pain. If thats the case often I go the lazy route and just use my normal tapered leader with a very long tippet. It makes for a long leader but if you have weight on you can cast it, then when it comes time to switch you just cut back the tippet.

 

[jayL]

Tapered leaders are guaranteed to cause drag when nymphing. The different diameters of the sections sink and drift at different rates, which is pretty much the definition of drag.

 

[troutslammer]

i never had much luck with streight tippet turning over my rig , i still use tapered for the butt , but its not under water

 

[jayL]

To turn stuff over, I use a shorter leader. I also haul at the end of my cast.

 

[pcray1231]

1. Open your casting stroke. My flat-leader heavily weighted nymphing resembles more of a lob than a traditional fly cast.

2. It only has to turn over enough not to tangle up. Doesn't have to straighten out, in fact, you don't want it to, as that would result in drag regardless of your leader design.

 

[afishinado]

Keep your butt out of the water and you'll be fine!

 

[GreenWeenie]

You need a longer tippet and more weight than you think.

The major cause of drag when using an indicator is the surface water flows faster than the water right on the bottom and there are two different velocities at the bottom – right ON the bottom and just above the bottom. And the deeper the water the greater the velocity difference between surface and bottom can be. A too short dropper of too heavy tippet with not enough weight will guarantee that your nymph is being pulled along by the indicator and looking anything but natural. And don’t try and fish 15 foot sections at a time. You will at best get 5 feet of drag free dropper drift before the surface indicator simply starts pulling the dropper along.

 

[pcray1231]

Greenweenie,

But you can get away with a lot less tippet if there is no taper below the indi. Yes, surface waters are faster than bottom water. However, if the line is thicker near the surface and thinner at the bottom, that only enhances the effect, as the surface water puts more pressure on the line. It's not so much the diameter of the tippet, its the consistency of that diameter, the line has to interact with it all evenly.

Still, your point about the difference in speed between surface and bottom holds, and it's especially meaningful when using indicators, as the indi has a lot of resistance and goes with the surface water. Too long a tippet only delays the inevitable by putting some slack between the indi and the fly. That slack is bad, it means you'll miss a lot of fish. Instead, try "checking" the float. That just means moving it upstream periodically to put it back over the fly. It takes some practice in different water types to figure out how often and how much, but if you get it, you can maintain better contact between the nymph and indi and still reduce drag at the same time.

A good way to get good at it is when the fishing sucks, put on a highly visible fly. Glo-bugs, etc. Something you can see so you can get a feel for how far to check the indi.

 

[troutslammer]

did any of you ever fish upstream with an indicator fishing a riffle directly above you that u stood below , the fly is trailing behind the indie if it is shallow fast water , ya know what , it still works good even when the fly isn't directly under the indie , all conditions are different , all guys rig a little different , whatever works for ya keep doing it , but alot of good suggestions here

 

[afishinado]

Like this....

 

[one_more_cast]

Man there's a lot of good input on this subject. I love the pictures and advice afishinado. I never thought about the tapered leader having so much of an effect on drag. I knew the water on top was faster than the water on the bottom but that's about it. I overheard someone in a fly shop telling a guy to use 4' of 5x tippet to help the nymphs sink faster but didn't think about the drag. I've been trying to use a chech nymphing approach more because I don't like to use indicators but I just came accross one called a "fish pimp" that's super easy to put on and adjust and it even casts well. That little tidbit about "checking" the indicator that pcray explained sounds like a winner. I just hope I remember to try it out the next time I'm on the water.

 

[jdaddy]

Would a "reverse" taper add any benefit? Since we are not worried about turning over lead, indi, flies when lobbing high stick style, would using a reverse taper help counter act the flow differences in the water column? My initial thought is that it would make a difference, however there has to be a reason people have not recommended doing so.

 

[wsender]

afish, that is some true MS Paint mastery! 🙂

Love the diagram and input on the subject though, keep up the good work. I'm learning so much I hope I still have room for Calc. in a couple of week.

 

[jdaddy]

I was using this as a reference point for someone and wanted to point out that in afishinado's pictures that I believe he is specifically trying to point out not having the larger, varying diameter below the indicator. Otherwise, "NOT this" photo demonstrates better nymphing techniques, i.e. much less leader butt on the water, much better contact with the rig resulting in better feel, longer leader/tippet, lead to get the fly down, etc. The "This" photo is simply going float through the mid to upper water column depending upon flow.