Long line fly rod Euro Nymphing - ticking bottom every second

[ollie]

What defines fly fishing as "fly fishing" is the state law.  It varies with location.

 

Ain't that the truth!  I was surprised and almost shocked when we went to CO to fish. Not knowing the regs completely we asked about them when we bought our license. Their state doesn't really clearly define what is a "lure" so we asked. Anybody who knows me or fished with me knows I throw jigs for trout and always have. So we wanted to clarify what we could throw. My buddy wanted to throw rooster tails and cranks and most of them all have trebles as you know. We asked and the guy told us we could use a lure for trout. So barbless or single hook I said? He looks me in the eye and says, "a lure is a lure with or without trebles". We would have guessed that CO would have had stricter laws like MO or AR but apparently not. My guess is the whole tourism thing.

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Lol triggered!

Oh I'm just being difficult. It's no different that traditional nymphing, which I also don't really like. I'd rather watch paint dry opposed to an indicator. I'll do it, don't get me wrong, but meh.

I like throwing streamers 98% of the time. Still haven't perfected it on Taney. Maybe I'll go to the White to gain some confidence. 

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

 

Oh I'm just being difficult. It's no different that traditional nymphing, which I also don't really like. I'd rather watch paint dry opposed to an indicator. I'll do it, don't get me wrong, but meh

Traditional nymphing, the way I was taught, has no bobber involved.  

It's all about line control and line management.   Basically you are setting a trap with each drift.   Just enough slack so that the fly drifts with the current.....but just tight enough that if anything intercepts the fly then everything begins immediately tightening up.   As soon as you notice things tightening up.... sweep set immediately.   Usually the tightening line has already started the hook point into its jaw.  A 100% true "dead drift" is never necessary...... thankfully, because that's impossible anyway. The faster the water....the better the initial hookset.   

Takes practice but works flawlessly in everything except dead slow water.   Get it mastered and you'll consistently outfish the best indicator -nymphers in the world.  

It's harder for a fish to eject a hook that has tension on it.  👍

[tjm]

Try that same cast and drift sometime while attempting to move the nymph just barely faster than the water, with the line fully tight, the guys that wrote books way back when thought that little extra tension helped, ymmv

 

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

Try that same cast and drift sometime while attempting to move the nymph just barely faster than the water, with the line fully tight, the guys that wrote books way back when thought that little extra tension helped, ymmv

 

It sho'nuff helps the hookup ratio.   

A fish taking a fly on a tightline swing will oftentimes try to take the rod out of your hands.    It's not because the fish is hammering the fly..... it's because the fish gets hooked the second he closes his mouth on it, and he FREAKS !   😁

[snagged in outlet 3]

I grew up fishing nymphs without a bobber.  It can absolutely be better than with a bobber.  But the opposite is true to.  It’s fishing.  They just like one way or another on any different day.  

I was fishing a whacky rig this summer for a few weeks.  Then they just turned off to it.   I was reeling it in quickly when a smallie smoked it.  I started fishing it like fast retrieve jerk bait and you could not get it away from them fast enough.   Let it drift naturally with the occasional twitch and nothing.  

[tjm]

The bobber does a few things, it sets and controls the depth of drift so that he angler doesn't have to time the entry/sink precisely to the trout's position, it keeps the line between it and the fly tight to aid in hookups, it also if allowed to "dead drift" drags the submerged fly that little bit fast than the current is at the fish's depth because the  surface moves faster. In essence the bobber takes the place of my line hand. The bobber lets many people catch fish that other wise wouldn't, but it is detrimental to me in that it creates a hinge and a total disconnect between me and the fly, it also distracts me so that I don't watch the fish, and I cannot cast one. I can't fathom watching the "sighter" that is popular today in contact nymphing either, because it is not where the fish is and there is always a delay between the bump/take and the sighter or indicator movement.   I can't concentrate on both the fish and whatever indicator. I don't mind if you do though.

[snagged in outlet 3]

15 minutes ago, tjm said:

The bobber does a few things, it sets and controls the depth of drift so that he angler doesn't have to time the entry/sink precisely to the trout's position, it keeps the line between it and the fly tight to aid in hookups, it also if allowed to "dead drift" drags the submerged fly that little bit fast than the current is at the fish's depth because the  surface moves faster. In essence the bobber takes the place of my line hand. The bobber lets many people catch fish that other wise wouldn't, but it is detrimental to me in that it creates a hinge and a total disconnect between me and the fly, it also distracts me so that I don't watch the fish, and I cannot cast one. I can't fathom watching the "sighter" that is popular today in contact nymphing either, because it is not where the fish is and there is always a delay between the bump/take and the sighter or indicator movement.   I can't concentrate on both the fish and whatever indicator. I don't mind if you do though.

That’s why I like palsa indicators.   Kind of an in between option.  

[fishinwrench]

Any time you pinch an indicator on your leader it is as if your concentration stops THERE.   If all you care about is catching some fish then FINE it's plenty effective.  But there's something zen, magical, or whatever about allowing my concentration to go all the way to the point of the hook.    

It just makes the whole process immune from boredom.  🙂 

If I'm going to concentrate on something floating on the surface then I'd rather be trying to pull one up to kiss a dry fly.   

[tjm]

I tried those palsa too and managed to kinda get the line out, but they still distract me and leave the line dead.

I saw a young lady a year or so ago at RRSP who had a NZ kind of indicator at the very top of her longish  leader that she rarely let touch the water and she was taking fish almost every cast,  don't think fly ever got near the bottom. Don't think she ever looked at the indicator either.