silfeid
New member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2017
- Messages
- 26
I'm fairly new to fly fishing - I've been gradually transitioning away from spin fishing to fly fishing for the past few years, acquiring more gear and knowledge each season. I'm at a stage currently where I will prospect new waters with an UL spinning set-up and if I find fish in decent numbers, I'll return with the fly rod later in the season and see what I can make happen. I imagine in a few years the spinning gear will mostly gather dust, but for now I'm something of a hybrid fisherman, as I imagine many here are. For what it's worth, I'm pretty nearly a C&R puritan - I will keep maybe two fish a year maximum, if they are large enough and caught in waters that are heavily stocked and heavily fished; I will never keep a brook trout regardless of its size or origins.
Anyway, over the past few years, I've acquired a decent assortment of flies, probably forty or fifty patterns of all sorts - dries, nymphs, emergers, streamers, etc. The Yough above and especially below Ohiopyle are my favorite larger waters to fish in SWPA (where I live), so I've been sure to consult some hatch charts etc. and buy dry flies that imitate the typical Yough hatches. What I haven't done, at least not yet, is purchase nymphs or emergers that also match those species of aquatic insects. I'm not really sure why I haven't, to be honest - there just seems to be much less emphasis on this aspect of the "match," and I get the sense that a lot of nymph patterns are general stand-ins for many species.
So my question is, how important is this, in yinz's opinion(s)? Will a Copper John or a Prince Nymph work roughly equally well to imitate a Black Caddis nymph in April and a Green Drake nymph in May? Or would it be worthwhile to acquire nymphs that imitate each individual species (some seem hard to find)? What nymphs have you had success with on the Yough, be it Upper, Middle, or Lower, and how do these necessarily relate to the endemic hatches of the river?
Anyway, over the past few years, I've acquired a decent assortment of flies, probably forty or fifty patterns of all sorts - dries, nymphs, emergers, streamers, etc. The Yough above and especially below Ohiopyle are my favorite larger waters to fish in SWPA (where I live), so I've been sure to consult some hatch charts etc. and buy dry flies that imitate the typical Yough hatches. What I haven't done, at least not yet, is purchase nymphs or emergers that also match those species of aquatic insects. I'm not really sure why I haven't, to be honest - there just seems to be much less emphasis on this aspect of the "match," and I get the sense that a lot of nymph patterns are general stand-ins for many species.
So my question is, how important is this, in yinz's opinion(s)? Will a Copper John or a Prince Nymph work roughly equally well to imitate a Black Caddis nymph in April and a Green Drake nymph in May? Or would it be worthwhile to acquire nymphs that imitate each individual species (some seem hard to find)? What nymphs have you had success with on the Yough, be it Upper, Middle, or Lower, and how do these necessarily relate to the endemic hatches of the river?